NAACP passes resolution blasting Tea Party 'racism'

[NickCole]

Why did the woman so quickly resign then. Doesn't make sense.

It makes sense.

She said what she said, it's right on the video.

She resigned when it became public.

The NAACP named her actions shameful and the reaction from many in the audience disturbing.

And those who are unable to recognize the truth of the situation reveal a lot about themselves in so doing.

It makes sense.

 

[construct]

Can I just say that I agree with both NickCole and palemale? Is that even possible? Yes, I think so, but I'm not about to try to play mediator!

 

[nguypete]

I didn't both reading all 3 pages, but I've noticed people calling blacks racists...

Has anyone discussed the difference between racism and prejudice? One is institutionalized and has power. Individuals within the NAACP may have prejudices, but this is still a white man's world -- look at our government.

In no way do their prejudices affect "white america" as the white citizens have affected them.

 

[NickCole]

Can I just say that I agree with both NickCole and palemale? Is that even possible?

It's possible if you like having a fence pole up your ass , otherwise no it's not possible.

My position is that the video, what Sherrod said and the audience response to it, demonstrates the black prejudice against whites I described earlier in this thread that palemale insists doesn't exist. Is it possible to agree that it exists and agree that it doesn't exist?

Or maybe there's something else you're saying you agree with us about?

 

[NickCole]

Latest being reported might answer the question of why she resigned:

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- A black former Agriculture Department employee, who resigned after a video clip surfaced of her discussing a white farmer, insisted Tuesday she "went all out" to help the man keep his farm and said she resigned under pressure from the Obama administration.

Shirley Sherrod, who resigned Monday as the department's director of rural development for Georgia, told CNN she had four calls telling her the White House wanted her to resign.

"They asked me to resign, and in fact they harassed me as I was driving back to the state office from West Point, Georgia, yesterday," she said. The last call "asked me to pull to the side of the road and do it [resign]," she said.

"I don't feel good about it, because I know I didn't do anything wrong," she said. "... During my time at USDA, I gave it all I had." ...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/20/agriculture.employee.naacp/

If her characterization is true, it's unfortunate and she has a lot of company under that bus ObamaCo threw her under.

But aside from the resignation and the rest, to the point that I posted the video to support: she said what she said to that black audience and they responded as they did. And I reiterate: it's understandable but if we don't face it we'll never genuinely get beyond racism.

 

[construct]

It's possible if you like having a fence pole up your ass , otherwise no it's not possible.

My position is that the video, what Sherrod said and the audience response to it, demonstrates the black prejudice against whites I described earlier in this thread that palemale insists doesn't exist. Is it possible to agree that it exists and agree that it doesn't exist?

Or maybe there's something else you're saying you agree with us about?

I agree that there are instances of black prejudice in individual black people. I also believe that many black people have adopted a kind of identity politics that allows them to internalize a victim role far beyond whatever particular instances of racist discrimination they might have experienced.

I also believe that the particular instances of prejudiced acts that may have been committed by black people have not had the effect of substantially shifting the balance of power to such a degree that black prejudice against white folk can properly be described as racist in the narrow sense. (Racism is a system of maintaining a power structure favoring one race to the detriment of others.) I think this is what palemale was getting at when he says that black prejudice against white people does not exist, and if that is correct, it is this that I agree with him about.

While you and palemale share much of this analysis, there are some parts at which you may disagree (and perhaps even disagree with me). Nevertheless, I think there is enough commonality that the differences can be reconciled.

Certainly the Sherrod video is an example of a particular instance of black prejudice. She was wrong. The NAACP denounced her actions in the incident which she reported, and they denounced the positive response she received about that incident from some of the audience. Thus we see that at least one of the organizations often criticized as contributing to so-called black racism in fact rejects that attitude.

Now, let me continue by stressing that ours is a racist society. We are all embedded in that society, and all of us have internalized to one degree or another the racism in it which resists change. Change has occurred within our society. The expressions of its racism have changed. New strategies for changing the racist power-relation have developed, and some of the old ones have been set aside or rejected. Likewise, people have developed different approaches for correcting for and to some degree expunging the racism they had internalized from their upbringing.

I think this explication of my understanding points toward some agreement between you and palemale. I'd love to hear his response to it. I think I have at least understood your basic framework and agree with large parts (if not all) of it. I am a little less sure of his, but I think I've got him basically right.

 

[MercuryJones]

Certainly the Sherrod video is an example of a particular instance of black prejudice. She was wrong.

Well... that was her point. She went on to say that her attitude was wrong and she learned from it - but that was edited out. http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/

The farming family in her story has come to her defense, saying she helped them. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/20/eveningnews/main6696637.shtml

"She saved our farm, 400 something acres, almost 500 acres," said Roger Spooner. "She saved our farm."

 

[palemale]

She clearly should not be in the position she resigned from. Even though she felt the man was being disrespectful to her, she was obligated to do whatever she had to do to help him.

I don't think one can extrapolate anything more than that from the clip because it is incomplete. I'm not sure what you expected the audience to do. Throw things at her? Shout her down? We don't know what happened when she finished her speech. Perhaps no one applauded when she finished. Perhaps she was challenged by audience members in a Q&A session after the speech. She may have said things after the speech that put her earlier comments in a different context than appears to be here. We don't know because it is a portion of the full event.

In any event, she should have been forced to resign or be fired. She had no excuse for not doing everything she could to help unless the man was crazy or belligerent and she had to do the minimum amount of effort to get him out of her office. And if that was the case, it was wrong of her to imply to a public audience that her decision was based on his race instead of a legitimate reason.

I STAND CORRECTED.

I heard the true story about this video clip and speech on NPR this evening. It turns out the events happened in the eighties. Ms. Sherrod was using the story as an example of her evolving attitudes on race and to highlight that blacks and whites are bound by similar economic circumstances. Also, she went on to help the white farmer save his farm, became friends with him and his wife, and remain friends to this day. The white couple issued a statement that she Ms. Sherrod helped save their farm and that the story has been blown way out of context.

So, I repudiate what I wrote above. I was wrong and it was wrong of the White House to demand her resignation. Nice work, Nick. Nothing like relying on right wing, racist fear mongers to spread a little racial some other website. Good work, I hope you are proud of yourself.

 

[construct]

Well and good, Merc. I'm glad you set the record straight about Ms. Sherrod. Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm glad Ms. Sherrod has moved beyond her limited response back then, and I hope she gets her job back.

Still, even thought the story she told happened twenty or thirty years ago, the story stands as an example of the kind of incidents that could legitimately be described as black a persons prejudiced reaction toward a white person. I don't think these incidents ceased to happen in 1990. So I don't concede that part of my analysis of the structure of race relations in contemporary American society.

I'm still eager to hear from palemale whether I had understood his broader points about incidents of black prejudice as they relate to the lack of a prevalent and empowering reverse racism. I still think I understood him correctly.

 

[palemale]

I never said the black prejudice against whites (or any other group for that matter) did not exist. I disputed Nick's point that it was a problem that fanned the flames of racism (as I understood Nick to mean that it caused or exacerbated white prejudice). It certainly exists. I just don't encounter it and I do not believe it is a major problem. The much bigger problem is when people fear monger and race bait by puffing up idiots like Reverend Wright, or manufacture alleged black prejudice where it doesn't exist, as with Ms. Sherrod, to score political points or take pot shots at President Obama.

Ms. Sherrod, who has been smeared all day for being racist, has now lost her job even though she has been good at what she does, has helped whites and blacks, and speaks to groups about the importance of getting beyond race and understanding that the problems ordinary people face are economic problems shared by people of all races. That is a tragic thing. She seems to be a good person who has been defamed in the most malicious way by right wing media outlets and bloggers (and the idiots who rely on their garbage).

 

[laikaNYC]

Well... that was her point. She went on to say that her attitude was wrong and she learned from it - but that was edited out. http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/

The farming family in her story has come to her defense, saying she helped them. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/20/eveningnews/main6696637.shtml

Leave it to Mercury to rationalize in defense of a liberal. Imagine if this had been a Republican saying the same about a black farmer. It would be top story on MSNBC 24/7

 

[construct]

I never said the black prejudice against whites (or any other group for that matter) did not exist. I disputed Nick's point that it was a problem that fanned the flames of racism (as I understood Nick to mean that it caused or exacerbated white prejudice). It certainly exists. I just don't encounter it and I do not believe it is a major problem. The much bigger problem is when people fear monger and race bait by puffing up idiots like Reverend Wright, or manufacture alleged black prejudice where it doesn't exist, as with Ms. Sherrod, to score political points or take pot shots at President Obama.

Ms. Sherrod, who has been smeared all day for being racist, has now lost her job even though she has been good at what she does, has helped whites and blacks, and speaks to groups about the importance of getting beyond race and understanding that the problems ordinary people face are economic problems shared by people of all races. That is a tragic thing. She seems to be a good person who has been defamed in the most malicious way by right wing media outlets and bloggers (and the idiots who rely on their garbage).

Then I guess I did understand you on the issue I was wondering about, although I do believe there is an actual phenomenon that has been called 'backlash.' I think of it more as "revealed racism"--the revealing of a racism that was already there and had previously been hidden.

As to Ms. Sherrod's professional situation, I agree with you completely. We were hoodwinked. We were blindsided. We were taken for a ride. I'm upset with the right-wing race-baiters as well. As I said, I hope that her situation can be put right. And if she doesn't return to her old post, I hope she gets a better one that pays more money and that she finds more personally fulfilling. She's gotten a raw deal. She deserves a good final outcome.

 

[construct]

Leave it to Mercury to rationalize in defense of a liberal. Imagine if this had been a Republican saying the same about a black farmer. It would be top story on MSNBC 24/7

It doesn't sound to me like Mercury is rationalizing in defense of a liberal. It sounds to me like Roger Spooner is rationalizing in defense of a liberal. I suppose you might want to give him a ring at his farm that the liberal saved for him and take him to task.

Leave it to you to grasp at straws when the half-truths of the wing-nuts are revealed to be flat-out lies.

 

[laikaNYC]

If she did nothing wrong why did the White House call her THREE times and has for her resignation? Only the wingnuts on the left are defending her actions.

 

[MercuryJones]

As to Ms. Sherrod's professional situation, I agree with you completely. We were hoodwinked. We were blindsided. We were taken for a ride. I'm upset with the right-wing race-baiters as well. As I said, I hope that her situation can be put right. And if she doesn't return to her old post, I hope she gets a better one that pays more money and that she finds more personally fulfilling. She's gotten a raw deal. She deserves a good final outcome.

Indeed. Ms. Sherrod did her job, and by the only account available did it well. She did not discriminate.

Beyond that, she has shared her experience with others to discourage racial discrimination.

It shouldn't be shocking any more to know there are right-wing extremists who won't hesitate to slander someone who's done nothing wrong to score some political point.

 

[construct]

If she did nothing wrong why did the White House call her THREE times and has for her resignation? Only the wingnuts on the left are defending her actions.

The left wing extremists are not called 'wingnuts.' They're called 'moonbats.' Can't you get anything right?!

 

[laikaNYC]

What the left-wingers don't know is that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the White House made the decision to fire her before Fox News made any mention of it.

Fail

 

[MercuryJones]

It doesn't sound to me like Mercury is rationalizing in defense of a liberal. It sounds to me like Roger Spooner is rationalizing in defense of a liberal. I suppose you might want to give him a ring at his farm that the liberal saved for him and take him to task.

Here's the agitators:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUcH0ABKDII[/ame]

 

[construct]

Here's the agitators:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUcH0ABKDII

Thanks for that clip. I think it, along with your previous post, should be (though I really wonder if it will be) enough to shift our evaluation of her speech.

Now, let me go on to comment about the administration's response. It does not surprise me that the administration asked immediately for Ms. Sherrod's resignation. This strikes me as very similar to the Clinton administration's asking for Jocelyn Elder's resignation for suggesting publicly that masturbation be presented as a safe-sex option. In both cases, statements with good intent were taken out of context by the administrations' detractors and used as a cudgel. Both brought instant embarrassment to their superiors, and both were immediately asked to resign. Both were quickly seen to have been grossly misrepresented by the wingnuts. Ms. Elders did not get her job back. I hope the Obama administration turns out to be better than that.

 

[MercuryJones]

I agree, Construct.

The NAACP reacted too quickly, and went too far. The administration, or some part of it, did as well. (I don't think we know where that happened.)

The NAACP has retracted their earlier statements. The administration should offer her job back.