What's up people? I know it's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you...but enough of the Timbaland/Aaliyah reference and back to the topic. And today's topic deals with racism. If the events that has transpired recently doesn't cause you to think, 'you know, maybe American Society really hasn't progressed as far as we think it has now that we have an African American President,' then I would like you guys to come help me pack up, because I'm leaving. So for those of you guys who are allergic to CNN, like my brother is (he breaks out in a nasty bout of hives, it's really quite disgusting...and funny), then you may have missed this story. So this lady, named Shirley Sherrod, used to work for the USDA helping out poor farmers. She started off helping black farmers who were having their farms taken away. I guess I should mention now that Ms. Sherrod is black. Sherrod was speaking at a gathering, of what I assumed was at a church, about an experience she had with the first white family she had helped. Someone posted some video of it and it seemed as if Sherrod was racist. So in light of this evidence, people took the most rational of approaches...they called for her resignation based on a youtube clip. Sherrod was fired and absolutely no further investigation was done. In fact, another lady stood up for Sherrod and suggested that people investigate this situation and she was fired. As in all stories like this one, we find out that the person who posted the video edited it and made it look like Sherrod was a racist. The complete video shows Sherrod using the story to tell people about how she overcame her initial reaction and saw that it wasn't a black farmer and a white farmer thing, it was a poor farmer thing. She goes on to state that we need to help everyone in a desperate situation, not just those we identify most with; because the struggle in this country isn't just about whites versus blacks, it's about poor versus rich. It also turns out that the person who posted the edited video was a member was on the conservative side of the political spectrum and the video was heavily trafficked on Fox News. Now I mention that to lead into my next point.
The back story on this, I feel, is that there's been a lot of beef between the Tea Party movement and the NAACP. The NAACP called out the Tea Party movement on a lot of the racist undertones, and overtones for that matter, going on at some of their gatherings. They are not saying that all members of the Tea Party are engaged in this behavior, but they are just asking for someone to step up and address this issue. The NAACP recognizes the Tea Party movement as being a political party that stands for fiscal responsibility and a reduced role of governmental control. They also recognize that there are blacks and african americans who are members of the Tea Party movement because they strongly believe in these ideals and identify with the movement. It makes it hard for these blacks and african americans to support a party that they believe in when they also feel that the party tolerates this kind of racist policy. After this issue was raised by the NAACP, the video of Sherrod pops up and all of a sudden Fox News and the Tea Party movement are pressuring the NAACP to put up or shut up. So the NAACP spoke up without investigating, eventually finding out that they were wrong. Instead of fessing up and saying they made a mistake, the said that they were "snookered". Who uses that word anymore? Basically saying that they were tricked and they didn't know what to do, so that caused them to act irrationally and not investigate the facts that people gave them. I have to give it up to Campbell Brown last night because she called the NAACP out on this point, if you can you have to watch it.
So here's my thing. First of all, I think we as Americans need to admit that there is still discrimination out there in the world. We need to realize that people are still discriminated against because of the color of their skin and the birthplace of their ancestors, amongst other things. We need to eliminate that by challenging the validity of the old way of thinking by our parents, grandparents, great grandparents and so on. We can no longer accept this as being "snookered" or making a mistake, or whatever other reasons we can come up with to justify our continuing to think this way. Second, we need to hold these people who willfully manipulate evidence for the political gain accountable. This guy, or gal, who intentionally doctored this video and slandered Sherrod needs to be punished so that no one else will ever think of doing this again. It can't be enough to read, "I'm truly sorry for my transgressions and vow to never do this again." from a page and that be acceptable. Everyone who was involved with this (reporters, organizers, conspirators, everyone) needs to be held accountable. Third, we need to slow down and think about our response. We need to allow time for investigations to happen. We can't call ourselves an enlightened society if we continue to act in a reactionary, knee-jerk, impulsive nature. I remember getting into a discussion with someone who told me that racism wasn't a factor in our society anymore. I responded by saying it's still there, it's just more sophisticated. I really hate being right so much, because most of the stuff I'm right about I pray that I will be wrong.
I hope my conservative friends don't feel like I'm blaming them for this, because I don't. I blame people who put political power over humanity. I think that most of us feel the same on almost every issue. I think that people don't want the government telling them what health care coverage they need to buy just like most women don't like the government telling them what to do with their bodies. Same issue, different point of view. We just need to put humanity before our political allegiances. Sorry if I ruined your racial utopia, but I'm just thinking out loud.
