Sherrod’s Real Racism
Who knows what lies ahead for Shirley Sherrod — a book, the lecture circuit, a wrongful discharge lawsuit that could bring millions? But if she keeps talking, the woman "wrongfully portrayed" as a racist may out herself as exactly that.
Sherrod is now heralded as a symbol of a black woman unfairly victimized by the wretched, vicious, racist tactics of Breitbart in particular and the "right wing" in general. CNN aired an hourlong story on her life — on and on.
But what about the rest of Shirley Sherrod's NAACP speech?
Her take on people who opposed ObamaCare: "I haven't seen such mean-spirited people as I've seen lately over this issue of health care. Some of the racism we thought was buried. Didn't it surface? (Audience responds approvingly.) Now, we endured eight years of the Bushes, and we didn't do the stuff these Republicans are doing because you have a black president."
So the self-proclaimed colorblind woman attributes legitimate opposition to the government takeover of health care … to racism.
She told CNN: "I know I've gotten past black vs. white. He's probably the person who's never gotten past it and never attempted to get past it. … I think he would like to get us stuck back in the times of slavery. That's where I think he'd like to see all black people end up again. … I think that's why he's so vicious against a black president, you know. He would go after me. I don't think it was even the NAACP he was totally after. I think he was after a black president."
Does she really sound like she has "gotten past black vs. white"?
Her husband, the Rev. Sherrod, spoke this year at the University of Virginia School of Law. He said he found inspiration from the Rev. Martin Luther King's vision of a society that judges people by the content of their character. But the Rev. Sherrod later said: "Finally, we must stop the white man and his Uncle Toms from stealing our elections. We must not be afraid to vote black, and we must not be afraid to turn a black out who votes against our interests." He provided no example, explanation or elaboration.
Breitbart erred in not viewing the entire NAACP speech. But neither this nor the past racist experiences of Shirley and Charles Sherrod justify giving them a pass for their own current racist comments.
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