Shirley Sherrod Says She Will Sue Andrew Breitbart
Ousted Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod listens during a panel discussion at the National Association of Black Journalists, 07/29/10. (photo: Gregory Bull/AP)
The ousted USDA worker threatens legal action for a video edited to make her look racist.
hirley Sherrod, the US Department of Agriculture employee who was ousted after Andrew Breitbart released a video selectively edited to make it appear as if she had made racist remarks, has announced that she will sue the conservative blogger.
According to the Associated Press, Sherrod told the National Association of Black Journalists convention in San Diego today that she intends to take legal action. Earlier this month Breitbart released a video clip of Sherrod making a speech at an NAACP banquet in March of this year. The portion of the speech posted to YouTube showed Sherrod telling the crowd that in 1986 she had not helped a white farmer with financial difficulties as she might have helped a black one, purely because of his race. She was swiftly asked to resign by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and condemned on Fox News and by the NAACP. Breitbart, and many others on the right, used the clip to imply that the NAACP, which often points out that elements of the Tea Party movement are racist, was itself prejudiced against white people.
However, when the full, unedited video emerged it showed that Sherrod used the tale as a parable for equal rights. She received phone apologies from Vilsack and President Obama and has been offered a new job with the USDA (which she is considering).
Breitbart remains unrepentant, and argues that the video still shows racism in the NAACP. He has not apologized. If Sherrod follows through on her threat to sue, it will reignite a debate on race that looked, as the president discussed it today on the talk show The View, as if it might be dying down.
A call to Breitbart was not immediately returned.
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Comments
Perhaps if the crimes of the authorities, the irresponsibilit y of the "fourth estate" and the witless bigotry of as much as 50% of the electorate could be held up for more than the time it takes to go to a commercial, we could promote change we can accomplish, not just "believe in."
He doesn't give damn that he hurts people's reputations or feelings. He needs to understand that people will fight back.
First the so-called mainstream press legitimized Fox News by answering their disinfotainment (nice term) by covering it 'as news.' That my friends, was their intent.
Second, Obama does not appear to be tiring from the strategy "kiss the Grand Ole' White-Man's Party of No" to show that he is 'reaching out'. As a result, the propagandist-geniuses have scored a major victory: Obama now looks like an Uncle Tom, subservient to Republicans, and pulling back on what could have been successful political moves in support of working people. He is out-Mondaling Mondale in a bid to out-Republicanizing the GOP. BTW, it doesn't work.
Obama this week falls prey to the hate speech and division that his presidential campaign rose above. He legitimizes the propaganda on 'illegals' and attempts to look tougher than Dick Cheney with a Bionic Heart.
Strike three Obama!
If Vilsack was calling for her resignation from his car when he heard some account of Brietbart's lying, butchered tape, seems to me there was no time to involve President Obama. First I recall of Obama's involvement, he was on the phone countermanding Vilsack. That seems like backing up Sherrod.
As for delaying a response long enough to find the facts, that just seems like good judgement to me. It should draw kudos not brickbats.
I won't claim to have followed this whole affair closely, though I admire the hell out of Sherrod for fighting back. I wish more Democrats in power had that much spine.
Until those five SCJ's are sitting their big fat corporate bought behinds, only the corrupted will have their day in court.
We need more than just sue those sorry bastards, we need to remove them before the country slips into the sewers!
The public solution is to call the people who decide to run such a story to account. Ignore Brietbart because anything you say about him makes him bigger than he is-- he is really a small man acting out an angry, spiteful agenda, with little regard for truth-- go after the networks such as Fox that give him legitimacy. This is the real issue, after all. Such an investigation must be very pointed. Shine the spotlight on those who made the decision to run this particular story-- the precise people by name and background, as well as the policy wonks of the network who desire such content, and the monetary influences/political leanings that underlie it. The New York Times or CNN or anyone else who prepensely publicizes such an example of distorted content should also be scrutinized, just as the decision of the Obama administration to act so quickly is also a legitimate topic.
THIS PERSON - bad decision maker should be fired.
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