Thursday, July 22, 2010

One Speech, Many Lessons

I won't attempt to drill any deeper into the mess surrounding former agricultural official Shirley Sherrod's speech, only to say this: context is everything.

I'm sure Andrew Breitbart and other conservative activists didn't think Sherrod's full speech made a difference. Or did they? I'm not going to read minds. Calling for her to go so soon, without reviewing the full speech goes against something we all should've learned in elementary school about not jumping to conclusions before we have all the facts.

But what's more disappointing is that this entire episode shows is that we're still having problems dealing with racial issues in the right way. I gather we will for a long time.

3 comments:

Peter Schmugge said...

The silver lining in this cloud is that finally people are starting to see that racism is not solely the property of the "The MAN" (I prefer 'Americans of European Descent' myself). It's not her statements that I found so appalling, in or out of context, but the reaction to those statements by the crowd gathered to hear them.

America has a long way to go, but in order to get there everyone needs forgive, forget, and move forward.

fraizerbaz said...

Mr. Obama needs to make a phone call to her. If he doesn't, this will speak volumes about his character.

Anonymous said...

My Dearest Viscount Francis:

God bless your sweet heart and your dear soul for addressing this issue of racism on your blog. You have handled this very dehumanizing issues with such loving care. God has blessed you as a writer who comes to the aid and the defend of those like myself who are Afro-American. Thank you so much for your constant defense of truth and the American way.

God bless you, my dearest Patriot and my kindest gentleman, with his Eternal Love.

Your devoted servant,

Madame Noire