In the curious case of Shirley Sherrod, let’s see the whole tape
A couple of folks in comments yesterday brought up the case of USDA official Shirley Sherrod, a black woman caught on tape at an NAACP meeting here in Georgia apparently bragging about being less than diligent in helping a white farmer. The folks at Big Government posted a portion of her speech as part of the running feud between the NAACP and the Tea Party over which organization is more racist.
By the end of the day Monday, Sherrod had been forced to resign her post, and NAACP President Ben Jealous had released a statement agreeing with the forced resignation:
“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.
We are appalled by her actions, just as we are with abuses of power against farmers of color and female farmers.
Her actions were shameful. 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.”
(UPDATE: The NAACP has now pulled that statement from its website.)
After watching the video Monday evening, I wrote in comments that “what Sherrod says in that video — and what she apparently did — are deeply troubling… She might very well have earned a firing. But I’d like to see that rest of that video as well, because at the point it abruptly ends, she appears to be saying that it’s wrong to think in terms of black and white, that she came to see things as more accurately divided between poor and rich than by race.”
As I also noted, the folks at Big Government seem to have the whole video, since they also posted another segment, and it would be useful to see the rest of it.
Sherrod gets a chance to tell her side of the story in an AJC story by Marcus Garner:
“But Tuesday morning, Sherrod said what online viewers weren’t told in reports posted throughout the day Monday was that the tale she told at the banquet happened 24 years ago — before she got the USDA job — when she worked with the Georgia field office for the Federation of Southern Cooperative/Land Assistance Fund.
Sherrod said the short video clip excluded the breadth of the story about how she eventually worked with the man over a two-year period to help ward off foreclosure of his farm, and how she eventually became friends with the farmer and his wife.
“And I went on to work with many more white farmers,” she said. “The story helped me realize that race is not the issue, it’s about the people who have and the people who don’t. When I speak to groups, I try to speak about getting beyond the issue of race.”
So let’s see the rest of the tape, Big Government. Was Sherrod giggling among black folk about the time she put it to the white man, as the leaked excerpt suggests, or was the tape a deceptively edited excerpt of a longer story about getting beyond the issue of race, as she claims?
Let’s see the tape. The evidence apparently exists to settle the question. Cough it up.
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461 comments Add your comment
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
10:24 am
“are you saying it’s not okay for the news organization to approach the person in a public place and at least get them on the record refusing to address the allegations”
Nope, what I am saying is that if they DID address the issue, it’s not OK for ANY organization to cherry-pick a tiny fragment of that statement that can be twisted to mean something it does not, and then try to pass that off as “accurate” news reporting.
There’s nothing wrong with using excerpts, or recorded short-statements, if they accurately reflect the gist of the person’s statements. What *I* consider “gotcha” reporting is this same kind of “skillful” editing that is deliberately intended to put the person in a bad light.
And as has been demonstarted here, for all to see, it has done EXACTLY that.
Elephant Whip
July 20th, 2010
10:25 am
Uhhhh…McCain votes against observing a holiday honoring a huge leader in the Civil Rights movement (for what reason, I can’t quite understand), apologizes and continues his run for president and maintains his seat in the Senate, whereas Sherrod makes a comment about a past decision and explains how it was racist and she learned from it, but is expected to resign immediately.
Paul
July 20th, 2010
10:25 am
Doggone/GA
Thanks. Always good to define terms. I view ‘gotcha’ as more of getting to people outside the normal press relations venue.
The Thin Guy
July 20th, 2010
10:27 am
I haven’t been this upset since Dr. Joycelyn Elders was forced to resign her position as Surgeon General of the Entire United States because she advocated public schools teaching the joys of pleasuring oneself. I was looking forward to the hands on training video featuring that sex crazed sex poodle The Gorbot illustrating the only safe way to have sex. What was Jay Bookman’s position on self gratification? Did this woman refuse to help this farmer because of his race or his politics? Either way he got a Joycelyn Elders.
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
10:28 am
Paul – “I view ‘gotcha’ as more of getting to people outside the normal press relations venue.”
what about asking them what newspapers they read?
Del
July 20th, 2010
10:29 am
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. No amount of fear, uncertainty and doubt (the FUD factor) planting can change it. Jay, nice try on the spin though.
Gator Joe
July 20th, 2010
10:29 am
Jay,
Racism, is wrong and its practice harmful to the victims of it. However, there is a difference between the racism inspired by the idea of white supremacy and racism which is a reaction by Blacks to having been victims, for hundreds of years, of white racism. Two wrongs, of course, don’t make a right, but the latter is more understandable than the former.
In the case of this particular white farmer, and Ms. Sherrod, the correct, and fair, action was taken by Ms. Sherrod, including her resignation. However, where is the outrage from the Right and Conservatives for the deplorable treatment of countless Black farmers by white officials?
PS
For the record, I am a white male of Hispanic ancestry
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
10:29 am
“And police and prosecutors want to send people to prison for it.”
I would expect that, in the end, they’ll lose that fight. What it comes down to is that there is no “expectation of privacy” in the interrogation of someone on a public street or place.
But they’re bound to try, organizations in power will ALWAYS fight to “protect” that power.
Heck, I’ve thought about putting a dash camera in MY car just to get videos of cops breaking laws in front of me…like the one just the other day who was NOT in “lights and sirens” mode, but who changed lanes and made a turn right in front of me with no turn signal.
Normal
July 20th, 2010
10:29 am
USinUK,
Umbrella jousting? OK, I can see it. Never liked an umbrella until John Steed made them cool. Leave it to the Brits…
Jay
July 20th, 2010
10:30 am
RW, I’ve deleted that trackback. Those sites seemed to be bot-generated just to get a trackback published and draw clicks. I.e., another form of spam.
md
July 20th, 2010
10:31 am
“what about asking them what newspapers they read?”
Definitely a gotcha question – representing a “side”, it is highly likely she would read publications enforcing that side – and Curic knew that.
No need for that question other than gotcha…………
Dusty
July 20th, 2010
10:32 am
Oh bother! Bookman has thrown the burning bush into the can of gasoline for a little pop this morning. All the libs are running crazy like racism and bigotry was just invented by Republicans when it is a loose lipped lib doing it!!!. HI, Mz. Sherrod. Oh well, I AM GOING TO VOTE.
If any Black Panthers or White Polar Bears are standing at the door, I will hit them with my pocketbooik. So there.
If asked for ID, I will show them my driver’s license and my voter ID card and my birth mark if they so desire. (Well, maybe not my birth mark.)
If someone asks if I want to vote for a Democrat, I will also HIT them with my pocketbook. I have my standards, you know. Or maybe it’s French, huh RW???
So keep running around, libs, hollering BUT BUT BUT and maybe someone will kick one. Or maybe RedNeck will come and pass out some PBR or whatever. He’s full of it! Just like the rest of you ladies and gentlemen (Ha!)…Now be good citizens and go to work. You might enjoy it for a change.
Paul
July 20th, 2010
10:32 am
Elephant Whip
So opposing establishing a federal holiday for a noted African American for reasons that may or may not have anything to do with race (as you note, you do not know why. Neither do I) is comparable to the stated reasons, based on racial considerations, for inaction cited by Ms Sherrod?
Scott
July 20th, 2010
10:35 am
The Right is melt-down. Ms. Sherrod is the unfortunate victim of their own division:
“The conservative media outlets tied the video to the NAACP’s recent resolution calling on the Tea Party movement to repudiate racist elements within it that have displayed such items as images of President Barack Obama with a bone through his nose and the White House with a lawn full of watermelons. The controversy has led one Tea Party group to oust another because of a blog posting by the second group’s leader.”
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/20/agriculture.employee.naacp/index.html?video=true&hpt=T2
Too bad we on the Left can’t or won’t learn how to fight back.
Paul
July 20th, 2010
10:37 am
USinUK
Fair question for a candidate. “What do you rely on for sources of news and how does it affect your outlook?”
Woulda been a good question for that Calif Democratic Congressman after the town hall meeting when he explained the Justice Dept doesn’t make prosecution decisions based on race and didn’t know anything about AG Holder dropping the NB Panthers case because it wasn’t reported in any of the national news sources he reads.
ken R
July 20th, 2010
10:37 am
I would like to see the whole video of a lot of things, the whole video of the tea party where a Black claims that he was called the N. word and many others where the lame stream media, Jay & Tucker included jumped all over the right withoue seeing it all.
They have a tendency to condem what they want and to ignore the rest. It would be refreshing just for once to see some objective reporting from anyone.
Jay you are a fake as is Ms Tucker, and a poor one at that.
Big Ike, what color of people does the NAACP help?
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
10:37 am
md – “No need for that question other than gotcha…………”
good thing she couldn’t think of a single thing she reads, then, isn’t it … not even the Wasilla Frontiersman or the Anchorage Daily News …
RW-(the original)
July 20th, 2010
10:38 am
RW, I’ve deleted that trackback.
It was an especially nice touch that it even mangled the language in the quoted sections.
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
10:38 am
“It would be refreshing just for once to see some objective reporting from anyone.”
Why would you come to an OPINION page for REPORTING? If you want reporting, go to the news pages.
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
10:39 am
Paul – “Fair question for a candidate. “What do you rely on for sources of news and how does it affect your outlook?””
I totally agree …
RW-(the original)
July 20th, 2010
10:40 am
Imagine if they asked Biden what he reads. Just look at my speeches he’d say and you can figure out for yourself where I stole the material.
stands for decibels
July 20th, 2010
10:40 am
Definitely a gotcha question – representing a “side”, it is highly likely she would read publications enforcing that side – and Curic knew that.
There’s no way in hell Couric had any idea a softball question like “which papers do you read” would make Sarah all brain-hurtie.
Jeez, you name your city’s daily (if only out of loyalty to a local employer) and leave it at that.
jt
July 20th, 2010
10:44 am
There is no “proveable” racism involved here. It is bigotry. And bigotry is not against the law. It is human nature, and our Federal government and its employees are full of it. Heck, they institutionalize bigotry AND racism. ( see prison/industrial complex, the biggest in the world).
The lesson here is WHY was a farmer relying on the federal government in the first place.
Ya get what ya sow.
RW-(the original)
July 20th, 2010
10:45 am
Why would you come to an OPINION page for REPORTING? If you want reporting, go to the news pages.
DoggoneGA,
Shouldn’t you leave it up to Jay B whether he wants to chase off readers?
getalife
July 20th, 2010
10:45 am
“GOP candidate for New Hampshire’s House of Representative, Ryan J. Murdough, has an interesting point of view:
For far too long white Americans have been told that diversity is something beneficial to their existence. Statistics prove that the opposite is true. New Hampshire residents must seek to preserve their racial identity if we want future generations to have to possibility to live in such a great state. Affirmative action, illegal and legal non-white immigration, anti-white public school systems, and an anti-white media have done much damage to the United States of America and especially New Hampshire. It is time for white people in New Hampshire and across the country to take a stand. We are only 8 percent of the world’s population and we need our own homeland, just like any other non-white group of people deserve their own homeland.” kos
What say you cons?
Elephant Whip
July 20th, 2010
10:45 am
On Sherrod:
“Sherrod said the short video clip excluded the breadth of the story about how she eventually worked with the man over a two-year period to help ward off foreclosure of his farm, and how she eventually became friends with the farmer and his wife.
“‘And I went on to work with many more white farmers,’ she said. ‘The story helped me realize that race is not the issue, it’s about the people who have and the people who don’t. When I speak to groups, I try to speak about getting beyond the issue of race.’”
On McCain
“In December 1999 McCain told NBC’s Tim Russert, ‘on the Martin Luther King issue, we all learn, OK? We all learn. I will admit to learning, and I hope that the people that I represent appreciate that, too. I voted in 1983 against the recognition of Martin Luther King….I regret that vote.’
“In Arizona, a bill to recognize a holiday honoring MLK failed in the legislature, so then-Gov. Bruce Babbitt, a Democrat, declared one through executive order.
“In January 1987, the first act of Arizona’s new governor, Republican Evan Mecham, was to rescind the executive order by his predecessor to create an MLK holiday. Arizona’s stance became a national controversy.
“Mecham, for his part, opposed the holiday, saying, ‘I guess King did a lot for the colored people, but I don’t think he deserves a national holiday.’”
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-complicated.html
Given Mecham’s explanation for his position, why else would McCain oppose the holiday?
Scooter (the Original)
July 20th, 2010
10:46 am
Jeremiah Wright… nothing to see there. Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, ACORN, SEIU… nothing to see there. Examples of The Obama’s “changing” of “politics as usual” in Chicago or bipartisan accomplishments… no need, have you heard him talk? Shirley Sherrod… we really need to look more closely before we accuse her of racism. Trent Lott, no need to look we know he is racist. Tea Partiers hurling racial epithets at black congressmen, we don’t need proof because we know they are racists. All the cards are being put out on the table and I am loving it, my vote for The Obama is paying dividends I could never have imagined.
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
10:46 am
“Shouldn’t you leave it up to Jay B whether he wants to chase off readers?”
I haven’t tried to chase off readers, just educate them on where to go for the information they say they want. Want opinion? You come to the opinion page. Want reporting? You go to the news pages.
We just occasionally get some ill-informed readers who need to be educated on those facts…and I don’t mind doing it.
jt
July 20th, 2010
10:46 am
Divide and conqueur. Divide and conquer.
Plunder, plunder
loot.
RW-(the original)
July 20th, 2010
10:48 am
Mornin’ Cousin Scooter!
I guess I better get moving. See y’all this evening.
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
10:48 am
jt – just remember to pillage BEFORE you burn.
Dave
July 20th, 2010
10:49 am
As if Media Matter and others haven’t used “creative editing” and out of context quotes from people like Rush Limbaugh and Hannity to portray them as racist, etc.
josef nix
July 20th, 2010
10:49 am
“Sherrod said the short video clip excluded the breadth of the story about how she eventually worked with the man over a two-year period to help ward off foreclosure of his farm, and how she eventually became friends with the farmer and his wife.”
If that be the case, then, one would expect those with whom she had become friends to stand up and speak out for her. Has anyone heard from them or bothered to look? I would be far more interested in what they have to say than anyone else involved in the fracas.
Normal
@ 8:03
A cheer from the reservation!
RW
Where do I get my application for the Fench Straddlers Party? I also nominiate you for membership in the EOI
Erie H
@ 9:12
People in the Deep South are prejudiced toward Indians? On what do you base that? And Blacks are more prejudiced against Whites than vice-versa? I’d say it’s about equal…
RW-(the original)
July 20th, 2010
10:50 am
DoggoneGA,
I’m sure Jay B isn’t offended in the least that you think nothing he writes constitutes factual reporting.
/s
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
10:51 am
Dave – and you have evidence of your 10:49??
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
10:51 am
“As if Media Matter and others haven’t used “creative editing” and out of context quotes from people like Rush Limbaugh and Hannity to portray them as racist, etc”
I don’t know about “others” but Media Matters doesn’t. They always provide full context quotes, and links to the entire speech, statement, paper, whatever. I don’t always agree with their conclusions…but they DO provide the full information they used to draw that conclusion.
Despite the assertions of their “victims”
casual observer
July 20th, 2010
10:52 am
NAACP? WHO CARES THERE A BUNCH OF LOSERS. PULL THEIR CORD AND ALL THEY CAN SAY IS RACISM.
YET THEY’RE THE BIGGEST RACIST ORGANIZATION IN THE COUNTRY. WHAT A JOKE!
Paul
July 20th, 2010
10:53 am
sfd
“Jeez, you name your city’s daily (if only out of loyalty to a local employer) and leave it at that.”
Especially, when it comes to national issues, most newspapers (as I understand it) pull from wire services for their material. So lots of local papers have the same AP or Reuters stories as the majors.
@@
July 20th, 2010
10:54 am
jay, I anticipated that today’s first thread would be an effort to refute the video of Ms. Sherrod.
I was right! See how predictable you’ve become.
Anyhoo, they forced her resignation for something done 24 years ago? That doesn’t sound kosher. One of the things I found most interesting in her comments was how she thought the audience would be interested in knowing that Mr. White Farmer was taking on a superior attitude. Really? The point being….?
I’ve encountered people who were smarter than me. I’ve encountered people who were financially better off than me. I’ve never resented it. Never gave it a second thought.
I’m me…..and that’s good enough FOR me.
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
10:54 am
Paul and SFD – criminey, I’m sure Guns and Ammo would have appreciated the shout-out …
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
10:54 am
“I’m sure Jay B isn’t offended in the least that you think nothing he writes constitutes factual reporting”
but I never said that either. When I want to see what Jay is reporting, I go to the news reports. When I want to see his opinion on something, I come to his opinion page. If he DOES post something here that is inaccurate, he DOES correct it as soon as it is pointed out or he discovers it himself.
Marie
July 20th, 2010
10:57 am
Jay
Do you even know if Breitbart has a full tape of Ms. Sherrod’s speech? It is doubtful they were there and it is most likely that a member of the audience sent them the tape. Have you called their office to find out before making YOUR DEMANDS and trying to insinuate they have some sinister motives? Would it not have been responsible for you to gather all the facts and know how this tape ended up in their possession and if what was released was indeed all they received? Instead you decide to yank chains by smearing a group of conservative journalists that you apparently do not like.
Paul
July 20th, 2010
10:57 am
Elephant
A politician can have his own views driving a position. Just because the end result is the same as another politician’s position doesn’t mean the positions are the same.
About the closest thing I’ve seen McCain give for a reason (as contrasted to a statement of regret) was a statement about honoring the work and results of the civil rights work. Kinda convoluted to my way of thinking, but that’s all I’ve seen.
thomas
July 20th, 2010
10:57 am
getalife
July 20th, 2010
10:45 am
now, now…
we would need the entire speech and the context it was given.
He may have been saying this is how he felt at one time but now has changed and wants everyone else to change too!
Or as I have long said it is not white people in the south one should look for when looking for racist whites… go to the Northeast! Go to a small town in the northeast, then go to a small town in the southeast.
What one will find is for southern people to be so racist we seem to live near a fair amount of different races…. while those in the northeast…. seems a lil lacking for color.
But to your point the guy is obviously a joke!
Dave
July 20th, 2010
10:58 am
Well here’s the latest (so it wasn’t Media Matters specifically…but that’s where most of the main stream media get’s their ’scoop” on talk radio)
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_071410/content/01125106.guest.html
RB from Gwinnett
July 20th, 2010
10:58 am
Geeezzeeee……
Is a liberal EVER responsible for their actions? You people defending her is really pathetic. Perhaps that’s because you’re just like her?????
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
10:58 am
“About the closest thing I’ve seen McCain give for a reason”
I did a quick look around, and I couldn’t find anything, either, where McCain explained his opposition. I found lots of reports of his regrets for having done so.
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
10:58 am
“trying to insinuate they have some sinister motives?”
Breitbart??? THE HELL YOU SAY!!!
Dave
July 20th, 2010
11:01 am
I prefer the Media Research Center over Media Matters any day…
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
11:02 am
Dave – 10:50 – the latest … what, exactly?
josef nix
July 20th, 2010
11:03 am
UnPoliticallyCorrect
Are you still here? Got a question for you.
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
11:04 am
Dave – 11:01 – yeah. cuz Brent Bozell is sooooooo “balanced”
Paul
July 20th, 2010
11:04 am
USinUK
Had read a number of Breibart snippets, referenced a few of the stories he cites. Then, yesterday, I was in a dr waiting room and read a piece about him in Time.
I’ll have to double my ‘what’s he not telling me’ skepticism from now on.
Oh, and any guy who lets his main picture in a national news publication be of him in a bubble bath with a glass of wine at his side….
BenFranklin
July 20th, 2010
11:05 am
Jay,
Why don’t you try something I call research and call the NAACP to see if they have that copy of the tape you seek? You could get it from the source, then you can publish it on your opinion site and make Breitbart look bad.
I always find it funny when people talk about sticking it to Whitey, too.
Ooooh – I have an idea. The NAACP could post the full tape on their website and exonerate her altogether!
I just wish you applied this same level of skepticism towards Obama and his administration, but wishes don’t always come true, do they?
thomas
July 20th, 2010
11:07 am
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
10:51 am
You commented and defended them so I assume it is your actual position that Media Matters Always….. about full transcripts.
Do you honestly think a full transcript would begin with “so How do we get to this point”?
Really, and that was the very 1st thing on the ol’ google.
so leap to Bill O’reilly’s defense now.
http://homepage.mac.com/mkoldys/iblog/C1049953760/E20070926121225/index.html
Dave
July 20th, 2010
11:08 am
And Media Matter is soooooo balanced
“Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive (read: Liberal)research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
Launched in May 2004, Media Matters for America put in place, for the first time, the means to systematically monitor a cross section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation — news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda — every day, in real time.”
stands for decibels
July 20th, 2010
11:08 am
Especially, when it comes to national issues, most newspapers (as I understand it) pull from wire services for their material. So lots of local papers have the same AP or Reuters stories as the majors.
Paul, I’ve never quite thought this one through before, and I realize there might be more than meets the eye.
In a way, it’s a bit like the perfectly reasonable sounding question asked of Bush and Kerry during (I think it was) their third debate, which touched upon whether they thought homosexuality was nature or nurture. Kerry (I thought) figured it would be ok to mention the Cheneys’ kid, who they obviously love and accept for who she is, since John Edwards had made a similar reference during an earlier debate that was so innocuous at the time, that Dick Cheney actually thanked John for his kind words.
Instead—well, anyone remember the crapstorm that followed?
Missing from all of this is what’s really implicit by a stock, conventional wisdom answer. If Bush shrugs his shoulders and says “I figure gay folks are probably born that way” he’s passed the point of no return for some of his constituency—even though I’d bet everything I own that this is how the actual George W. Bush probably feels about the matter.
Likewise, if Sarah Palin in 2008 says she reads the Juneau Empire or the Anchorage Daily News, 90% of the people hearing this say “well, yeah, sure.”
But 10%? Who think the “mainstream media” is EVIL and liberally biased? All of it! They’d be crestfallen, perhaps. (maybe? I’m just guessing.)
So maybe this no-brainer answer I’m saying Gov. Palin should’ve given, wasn’t so risk free as I’d thought.
Still that says more about the really messed-up constituency involved, here, than any wedge-y evilness aforethought on the part of that dastardly Katie Couric.
Scout
July 20th, 2010
11:08 am
……………. and the gap between Americans continues to grow !!
josef nix
July 20th, 2010
11:09 am
PAUL
@ 11:04
That would depend on the wine…what do you suggest for a bubble bath…?
Paul
July 20th, 2010
11:09 am
Diane Rehm Show, NPR, interviewing Smokey Robinson this hour.
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
11:10 am
Paul – you should see his meltdown at the CPAC conference – the guy is truly unhinged …
ken R
July 20th, 2010
11:10 am
Doggone/Ga
If the President gives his oppinion on something do you consider it news? it seems that you are saying that Jay’s opinions don’t mean squat. He is a newspaper man and he quotes other people in the news all the time, that my friend is called news, no matter where it is written.
Please get a life!
Robyn
July 20th, 2010
11:10 am
The lady has two built-in reasons for getting Bookman’s support. She’s a democrat and she’s black.
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
11:11 am
“Do you honestly think a full transcript would begin with “so How do we get to this point”?”
How about providing a link?
jt
July 20th, 2010
11:11 am
Let us all vote R & D and grow the benevolent Federal government EVEN MORE. After all, it isn’t MY SIDE that is racist.
“In 1908, in Georgia, Black prisoners out numbered White prisoners 10-to-1, the majority of the Black prisoners were convicted of non-violent property crimes.
If we examine statistics related to African-Americans and the criminal justice system in the 21st Century we witness the same disproportionate representation of African-Americans in the criminal justice system we saw in the Jim Crow Era of the 19th Century.
The statistics are startling!! At the start of the Reagan administration in 1980, there were approximately 502,000 prisoners in the nation’s prison’s and jails. By 2001, the close of the Clinton administration, there were approximately 1,800,000, nearly a four fold increase of prisoners. Of this number approximately 800,000 were Black males and approximately 70,000 were Black females.
The path that has been chosen for us as a nation has torn many communities apart leaving social carnage in its wake separating children from their parents and separating individuals from their communities just as the slave-master did time and time again!! But at some point these separated individuals try to find there way home. 660,000 inmates were release in 2002, and it is estimated that about 887,000 will be released in 2005, and about 1.2 million in 2010.
What are folks coming back to?
1) Marginal Economic and Social Existence
2) A Compromised Democratic Process
Yea, let’s GROW this guvmint.
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
11:12 am
“it seems that you are saying that Jay’s opinions don’t mean squat”
That’s a leap that’s beyond me. How you get from “for news go to the reporting pages, for opinion go to the opinion page” to THAT conclusion only leaves me shaking my head in wonder.
pat
July 20th, 2010
11:13 am
I agree with fairness, so you too, should stop taking things out of context and present the whole story on your various blogs. It’s only fair right?….Please don’t claim you are fair, that would be a lie.
thomas
July 20th, 2010
11:14 am
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
11:11 am
i posted this in the last post as well….
there are more… go google and type in Media Matters caught in lie.
http://homepage.mac.com/mkoldys/iblog/C1049953760/E20070926121225/index.html
again do you stand by your original statement that Media Matters Always provides a full transcript?
When can we expect your defense of Bill O’Reilly?
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
11:15 am
“present the whole story on your various blogs”
I don’t know about any other bloggers at the AJC, but Jay always provides a link.
RightWingExtremist
July 20th, 2010
11:15 am
The leftists in these comments at the same the same time defending her and attacking conservatives are evil and mentally ill. It is your fault that civil war is coming to this country again. Good, decent people can no longer tolerate your garbage.
2OldForThis
July 20th, 2010
11:17 am
if the person was white and was speaking at a tea party engagement you would be calling for their head. Screaming racism. Not saying ‘let’s see the whole tape’.
Hypocrite.
Normal
July 20th, 2010
11:18 am
RightWingExtremist
July 20th, 2010
11:15 am
OH MY EFFIN” GAWD!!
Elephant Whip
July 20th, 2010
11:19 am
Paul/Doggone:
I left a line out of my cut’n'paste:
“In January 1987, the first act of Arizona’s new governor, Republican Evan Mecham, was to rescind the executive order by his predecessor to create an MLK holiday. Arizona’s stance became a national controversy.
“McCain backed the decision at the time. But eventually he changed his mind.”
So McCain backs Mecham’s decision and Mecham’s explanation is “I guess King did a lot for the colored people, but I don’t think he deserves a national holiday.”
What’s the better position here: I will support Mecham’s racist position for political gain or I agree with Mecham’s racist decision?
Either way, why is it okay for McCain to stay in office while Sherrod is expected to resign?
Paul
July 20th, 2010
11:19 am
sfd
I hadn’t thought about the implications you laid out at the end of your post. Lots to chew on, there.
josef nix
I kinda wondered how some would take that comment. I guess I was expecting more of a Business Week shot – guy standing there, looking all cool and powerful and above it all. Then again, the article said the guy works at home and wears shorts so that wouldn’t work.
Then again, maybe this was his subliminal way of trying to appeal to a wider audience?
Which wine for a bubble bath? Something like a Viognier to cut the soapy taste?
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
11:19 am
thomas – you might want to read the ENTIRETY of the media matters script
http://mediamatters.org/research/200709210007
O’Reilley had plenty of opportunities to walk his statement back – instead, he chose to pull out a shovel …
Scout
July 20th, 2010
11:19 am
Jay …………. talking about race, etc. would you PLEASE check into this for me:
Headline: “MUSLIM FAMILY DAY ON SEPTEMBER 12th AT SIX FLAGS CHICAGO”
“We’re learning theorganization that is funding the Muslim Family Day at Six Flags, the Islamic Circle of North America, has some rather interesting items on it’s website. Something about all Muslims and Pakistanis “uniting against America.”
In the meantime .. just a few weeks ago Porky Pig was attacked at this same Six Flags. Two employees were charged in the attack. The employees were named Sikalchuk and Petrychenko. Sounds somewhat Russian to me. Chechnyan perhaps? Muslims?”
Jay – if that’s true ……… that is , that is, that is, that is , that’s the last, the last, the last, last straw for, for, for, me !
Dave
July 20th, 2010
11:19 am
So basically it boils down to this: Since Fox news and Breitbart “broke” this story, it either A) must not be true or B) was “creatively edited” to show only half the story and therefore must be a “hatchet job”…. but something like, say, oh, I don’t know, the looping and speeding up of the video of Rush Limbaugh “imitating” Michael J Fox is all on the up and up. I get it now.
RW-(the original)
July 20th, 2010
11:20 am
since John Edwards had made a similar reference during an earlier debate that was so innocuous at the time, that Dick Cheney actually thanked John for his kind words.
Talk about something you need the video tape for. That’s the most craptastic explanation for that exchange I’ve ever seen
I don’t know about any other bloggers at the AJC, but Jay always provides a link.
He didn’t provide a link to Breitbart on this very post.
josef,
Do I have to get screened by some panel or do I get to be an EOI just by virtue of the nomination?
Scout
July 20th, 2010
11:20 am
When have liberals ever presented the whole story about anything?
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
11:20 am
Someone needs to introduce RightWingExtremist to Ron … (or maybe they HAVE met, but don’t recognize each other without the hoods …)
stands for decibels
July 20th, 2010
11:21 am
OH MY EFFIN” GAWD!!
Well, the screen handle should’ve been a tip-off.
(I attended one TeaTard gathering, aka a “town hall” meeting last summer, hosted by FairTax goon John Linder and, um, I forget the interchangeable GOPer congrefsman sidekick. Anyway, one of the guys who stood up to ask a question identified himself as a “proud right wing extremist”. And there was much a-whoopin’ and a-hollerin’ in support.)
robt
July 20th, 2010
11:23 am
I’m sure if she were white and the situation were reversed all the comments from blacks here would be supporting the white person. Yeah, sure they would. Blacks are the most racist segment of our society and the evidence is presented daily. Obama has repeatedly proven to be the most incompetent President in this nations history. He has been responsible for errors in judgment on a scale never seen previously. The handling of the oil spill is the latest example of his ineptitude. The deficit he is piling on tax payers will cost generations of people their dreams. Of course, to say anything against him is seen as racism by blacks who blindly support him regardless of his numerous colossal failures. This can only be due to three reasons: they are either too stupid to understand the ramifications of his actions, don’t care how his actions impact the country, or support him purely because he is black, the epitome of racism..
Paul
July 20th, 2010
11:23 am
Elephant
Let’s stop beating this to death. I think a “he did a lot of good but it doesn’t rise to the level of a Washington or Lincoln – who share a holiday – to add another standalone holiday’ is different from ‘guy was white so I did the bare minimum and flipped him over to one of his own kind’ are quite a different thing.
One’s debating a legislative proposal. Another’s about a matter of law and ethics.
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
11:24 am
Dave – you might want to review the Rush / Michael J Fox event … it had nothing to do with a video of Rush
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102400691.html
@@
July 20th, 2010
11:24 am
Haven’t read many comments on this thread, but the NAACP has said they support the call for Ms. Sherrod to resign. That throughout the tape, regardless of what else she said, she gave no indication she had attempted to right the wrong she had done to this man.
They then thanked whomever (Breitbart?) for bringing it to their attention. They also found the reaction from the audience disturbing.
thomas
July 20th, 2010
11:24 am
Elephant Whip
July 20th, 2010
11:19 am
Because Sherrod openly admits she gave less services based upon the fact that the farmer was white. therefor denying the farmer rights a man of a different race would have recieved.
McCain and Mecham were disrespectful but they did not take away any services provided or determine teh amount of services to any citizen based on race alone.
Ms. Sherrod did! And admitted to it!
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
11:24 am
“When can we expect your defense of Bill O’Reilly?”
Why would I need to defend Bill O’Reilly? If he can’t defend himself, then neither can I. And since I never listen to him, or watch any of his shows, I have no basis for defense of him.
I’m not quite sure how that transcript is supposed to constitute a “lie” – providing context doesn’t always, or even necessarily, mean you have to provide the transcript or video of the entire show. But does mean providing enough surrounding data to put the discussed part into the greated context.
To be honest, I paid no attention to that particular episode. I saw it, but never bothered to read it. It isn’t something in which I am interested.
What very, very little I know about Bill O’Reilly makes me disinclined to pay any attention to him. The longest piece I ever listened to was an interview on Fresh Air, by Terry Gross. I found him boring and bombastic, and therefore not worth listening to.
I generally pay no attention at all to any piece on Media Matters that revolves around particular personalities. They bore me too.
Thogwummpy
July 20th, 2010
11:25 am
Let’s make a deal. I’ll keep an open mind on what might be on the rest of the tape, Jay. IN RETURN—you produce any tape that can prove the allegations made by the NAACP and certain Congressmen that they were actually called racist name and spat upon (as there’s a $100,000 bounty if you can, you’ll make a nice little bundle) which is the foundation of their bigotry claim against the Tea Party. Like a good jackboot liberal, you are very selective about who you give the benefit of doubt, and who you defaultly condemn without evidence.
stands for decibels
July 20th, 2010
11:25 am
That’s the most craptastic explanation for that exchange I’ve ever seen
Ok, RW, tell me what I missed here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6187803
IFILL: Mr. Vice President, you have 90 seconds.
CHENEY: Well, Gwen, let me simply thank the senator for the kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that very much.
IFILL: That‘s it?
CHENEY: That‘s it.
josef nix
July 20th, 2010
11:26 am
PAUL
I’ll remember that the next time I take a bubble bath!
RW
We’ll have to see what Chairman Paul and Vice Chairman SoCo have to say…
Scout
When is J-E-W family day? And you mean they haven’t changed it to Five Flags yet? Certain bashers ain’t doin’ their job here!
Cordio
July 20th, 2010
11:26 am
Breitbart HAD the whole video on his website. I originally saw the part on his website where Sherrod says that she realized that it wasn’t black or white but rather poor or rich that made the difference. I was then surprised that she ‘resigned’ and then Obama says he “fired” her. Why didn’t they support her on that or why didn’t she explain herself?
Wyld Byll Hyltnyr
July 20th, 2010
11:28 am
Well, well, well, once again we wander into a area of expertise where Ol’ Wyld Byll has a distinctive competency.
You see, my family and I have enjoyed close relations with the coloureds since well before the War of Northern Agression. I along with all my brothers, sisters, and children have suckled coloured nannies. We have considered those people to be like family and they consider us the same way. When I stop at the little coloured store near our country place, the coloured who have descended from those who worked fo my family are always very excited and happy to see me, some even cry to see Ol’ Cap’n Bill and most feel close enough to “axes”, as they say, for money. Now granted, over the past five years we have replaced the coloured with the Salvadorans as workers at the couintry place,. because the Salvadorans work hard, don’t have near the alcohol and drug problems of the coloured, and never try to borrow money. Since Ali and Malcom X came on the seen we have seen a decline in our coloured that has only accelerated as the younger generations have become entwined in the hip hop lifestyle. Used to be our coloured where hard working, church going people, now they are aimless, unemployed grifters – it isn’t at all uncommon to she 20 year old girls with two or three suckers under their arms buying cigarettes and scratch off lotto tickets. It has been said to watch the decline of our coloureds.
Now that said, when you listen to the women on the tape, it is easy to see that see does not have the same love for the white man that I have for the coloured. Clearly, used did not treat these people fairly and she should be fired and her pernsion stripped. Just imagine how up in arms everyone would be if ol’ Wyld Byll were, in the least buit, insensitive to a coloured in trouble.
I Report/You Decide
July 20th, 2010
11:29 am
No need to see the rest of the video…every word out of her mouth proved her to be nothing but a racist, a bigot, and worst of all, ANOTHER government bureaucrat whose sole purpose is to use tax money confiscated from hard working Americans to advacne their own hate-based personal agenda.
josef nix
July 20th, 2010
11:29 am
Well, Ms Sherrod did say she was sorry and repented. Maybe she should run for a Senate seat from West Virgina?
Doggone/GA
July 20th, 2010
11:29 am
“then Obama says he “fired” her”
Do you have a link to that? I can’t find anything at all that is a quote from Obama that he fired her.
evan
July 20th, 2010
11:30 am
This very well may be about the left and right taking “pot shots” at each other, and in the process, it appears that sometimes the truth is the victim of collateral damage. However, this development may be an inside job. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsak appointed Sherrod as Georgia Director of Rural Development back in 2009. This appointment was probably part of the settlement terms resulting in a lawsuit that Sherrod and others brought against Vilsak and the USDA (Pigford vs Vilsak). There was also a 13 million dollar pay out to an organization known as New Communities…founded by none other than Sherrod and her husband. So, I would think there is no love lost between Vilsak and Sherrod and she probably had a target on her back from the get go. Of course, I do not condone how she initially handled the white farmer’s situation twenty-four years ago, and it may have been merely the backdrop to take her out. “Politics makes for strange bedfellows.”
I Report/You Decide
July 20th, 2010
11:30 am
What’s really sad here is that some people think making it a rich vs. poor thing makes it OK.
josef nix
July 20th, 2010
11:32 am
WyldByl
Took me a minute to see where you were going with that…makes you stop and think…not bad…
thomas
July 20th, 2010
11:33 am
USinUK
July 20th, 2010
11:19 am
Not defending O’Reilly in any way. sorry if you felt I was.
Another poster claimed that Media Matters “ALWAYS includes full transcripts…….
In that case they clearly did not provide a full transcript… unless you also feel that a full transcrit would begin with “So how did we get to this point”
What point would that be?
In the link you provided they start another of their “full transcripts” with “So whats the real story”
Seems as if the poster who claimed they ALWAYS have full transcripts may have been mistaken and I expect to be fully defending Bill O’Reilly as he has been a victim of the Gotcha reporting.
Me, I usually just take people for what their own words say.
BTW no outrage over Mel Gibson’s full tapes not being released?
ServiceDude
July 20th, 2010
11:34 am
I’m a service tech that works on the Atlanta Civic Center. You should hear what some of the members of the Atlanta City Council say when there aren’t aware that anyone is within earshot. Sad.