The sudden attack on black 'reverse racism' and black bigotry fails to end where Geraldo Rivera left off (check this link for more on that).
Shirley Sherrod, a black USDA official has resigned from her position at the request of USDA deputy secretary Tom Vilsack, after it was discovered that Sherrod neglected to fully assist a white man who was in danger of losing his farm---nearly 24 years ago.
In this incident (which Sherrod spoke about at the March 2010 NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet), Sherrod was in the position to provide a white man much needed assistance in saving his farm but instead, since she was more concerned about black farmers, referred him to “one of his own” (referring to a member of his own race). Sherrod states that this experience quickly taught her that the agricultural issue at hand was less about race and more about the have and have-nots. Sherrod later went back to that farmer and his family and helped them as she was originally expected.
Due to her speech and its exposure, Sherrod was forced by the USDA (who were supposedly pressured by the White House) to immediately resign from her position. In fact, her resignation was so immediate that she had to draft her letter of resignation while in her car on the side of the road.. Sherrod submitted the letter via her Blackberry.
It is a well known fact that the USDA (not one person but the whole establishment) has a long history of discriminating against minority farmers. Never once did anyone decide to shut down the entire USDA for its institutionalized discriminatory acts, yet Ms. Sherrod is forced to resign for actions that occurred nearly 24 years ago? Such actions that, despite their possible effects on one white man in the past, taught Sherrod a lesson---one that she shared with the NAACP so that they may too learn of the importance of issues within class and not race? She was forced to resign over that?
I guess equality really doesn’t mean much---according to my logic, Ms. Sherrod, a black female, had every right to want to see that white man fail. She had every right to look at him and wish his ultimate demise simply because she had more pressing issues to attend to (like saving the farms of her fellow brown, black, red and yellow brethren and sistren). She had every right to feel the need to discriminate against that man, regardless of what he may or may not have done to her, yet she still found the goodwill to return to him and provide help. She realized that she was wrong and did what she had to do to make it right. But she was still forced to resign---24 years later?!?! This doesn't make sense...
I do not, at any time or in any situation condone discrimination. I feel that everyone, regardless of race, religion, sex, familial affiliation, sexual orientation, etc. should be granted an equal opportunity for anything that they want to do. However, I do not find it necessary to judge a person because they feel a justified need to discriminate against a group of people who spent lifetimes discriminating against them. Sherrod, while inappropriate in her actions, should NOT have been forced to resign (on the side of the road via a Blackberry message no less) for a lesson-learned that happened 24 years ago.
How can we (Americans) celebrate a yearly ‘independence day’ for a country that institutionally discriminates against minority populations and who robbed Natives of their land while introducing them to alcoholism and disease, act like it’s ok to force resignation on Shirley Sherrod? Please.
Pick a fight with yourself, America, and not people like Shirley Sherrod, Malik Zulu Shabazz –The New Black Panther Party and the NAACP. You have your own demons--battle those bastards before you even think about stepping to us.
*Droppin’ the proverbial mic.*
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