“Shirley Sherrod, a USDA official in Georgia, has resigned after publicly admitting that race played a factor in her decision to limit how much aid would be given to a white farmer.”

So begins many an article covering the alleged racism of one government employee.  Conservative bloggers and FoxNews could not wait to get a video into cyber and cable-outlet space.  Milking it for all that it was worth the Right Wing was sure that it had the goods on the NAACP.  After all the misappropriated video clearly presented a black government manager explaining her reluctance to assist a white farmer.

The NAACP, embroiled in a heated exchange with the Tea Party and wanting to establish that it was against racism of any kind, quickly condemned the actions of Sherrod, apparently without viewing the entire speech which had been excerpted and placed on the internet with no context, other than the interpretive comments of the particular news agency or blog.

We concur with US Agriculture Secretary Vilsack in accepting the resignation of Shirley Sherrod for her remarks at a local NAACP Freedom Fund banquet.

Racism is about the abuse of power. Sherrod had it in her position at USDA. According to her remarks, she mistreated a white farmer in need of assistance because of his race.

The implication is that  the NAACP clearly believed that Ms. Sherrod had practiced racial discrimination during her tenure with the Department of Agriculture. The NAACP statement continues:

“Her actions were shameful,” it continued. “While she went on to explain in the story that she ultimately realized her mistake, as well as the common predicament of working people of all races, she gave no indication she had attempted to right the wrong she had done to this man.”

However, in an interview on CNN, a different story emerged. Ms. Sherrod understood that whites can also be victimized, and that this family stood to loose their farm unless she could intervene.  Furthermore, this event occured more than twenty years ago when Ms. Sherrod was working for a non-profit organization, not the government, and was specializing in assisting black farmers.

The part of her speech which was selected for viral publication was clearly cut from a larger narrative of the past, representing what for her had been one of life’s teachable moments.
.

“The story helped me realize that race is not the issue, it’s about the people who have and the people who don’t,” she said.

In fact, the “white farm wife” agreed to an interview with Tony Harris of CNN, upset because of the unfairness of the actions against Ms. Sherrod.

Freshly fired by the Obama Administration and shunned by the NAACP, Ms. Sherrod appeared to have only one advocate, Eloise Spooner, whose farm was within days of being taken by the FmHA over twenty years ago.

That ain’t right; they have not treated her right. She is the one I give credit for helping us save our farm.

When asked by Tony Harris about the timing of the recent events, Ms. Sherrod explained “They (the NAACP) got into a fight with the Tea Party, and all of this came out as a result from that. ”  She also recalled how that the Farmer’s Home Loan Association had victimized the Spooners in a way that she had never seen before, black or white.  Interestingly, the only hero of this story is Shirley Sherrod.

UPDATE: NAACP Statement issued in the evening of July 20, 2010:

Having reviewed the full tape, spoken to Ms. Sherrod, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans.

The fact is Ms. Sherrod did help the white farmers mentioned in her speech. They personally credit her with helping to save their family farm.

Moreover, this incident and the lesson it prompted occurred more that 20 years before she went to work for USDA.

Finally, she was sharing this account as part of a story of transformation and redemption. In the full video, Ms.Sherrod says she realized that the dislocation of farmers is about “haves and have nots.” “It’s not just about black people, it’s about poor people,” says Sherrod in the speech. “We have to get to the point where race exists but it doesn’t matter.”

As of 11:00 pm July 20, Shirley Sherrod had no job; the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture was refusing to reconsider, and the White House was supporting the termination.