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>From the ANSWER Coalition:
Stop capitulating to right-wing racism!
Reinstate Shirley Sherrod now!
A spirited demonstration took place this morning in front of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture denouncing the forced resignation/firing of Shirley
Sherrod by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. The demonstration included the
ANSWER Coalition, Code Pink, the D.C. Statehood Green Party and others.
The demonstration, which received significant media coverage, demanded the
immediate reinstatement of Shirley Sherrod.
The following is a statement issued by the ANSWER Coalition that was
distributed to workers in Washington, D.C. in front of the Department of
Agriculture.
When they forced the resignation of Shirley Sherrod, the Obama administration
officials cravenly capitulated before the false charge of “anti-white” racism
leveled against an African-American federal worker by right-wing political
forces.
The facts of the case show that Shirley Sherrod, a USDA employee, should be
reinstated immediately. Her forced resignation should be understood as a
“firing” of a career civil service worker for blatantly political reasons.
The hysteria generated by the right wing against Shirley Sherrod is based on a
false interpretation of video of Shirley Sherrod’s speech to the NAACP
conference.
The heavily edited video falsely suggested that Sherrod had committed what the
right-wing bigots considers to be the most abhorrent racial offense: Sherrod, a
Black woman, had apparently discriminated against white persons.
The right wing asserted that Sherrod, a worker with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, had once withheld assistance to a white farming couple on the
basis of race.
The right wing’s twisted story became untenable when the full video of
Sherrod’s speech was released. Speaking at a NAACP meeting in March, she
recalled working for a nonprofit that assisted struggling farmers. Sherrod had
stayed in Georgia with the purpose of helping Black farmers, but her work with
a white couple—to whom she admitted offering only minimum assistance at
first—changed her perspective.
In the unedited video of her speech, Sherrod says: “It made me see it really
was about those who have, versus those who don't ... Black, white or Hispanic.
It made me realize that I needed to work to help poor people ... those who
don't have access the way others have.” Since the video was released, the wife
of the white farmer in question has come out in support of Sherrod, saying she
saved them from losing their farm.
Even as she coped with the very real and palpable racism that had cost so many
Black farmers their land in the South, Sherrod arrived at a broader class
understanding of social justice through her own experience. But the bigoted
elements who trimmed down the video of her speech took no interest in that
story.
The USDA's own history of racism
In a July 20 statement, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack explained why he
forced Sherrod to resign: “There is zero tolerance for discrimination at USDA
and we strongly condemn any active discrimination against any person.”
The USDA’s record says otherwise.
Black farmers have been fighting the USDA in court since 1997 for the
department’s long-standing practice of systematically denying funds to Black
farmers. In Pigford v. Glickman, Black farmers demonstrated that, for more than
15 years, Agriculture Department officials ignored complaints that they were
denied aid at the levels disbursed to white farmers.
The case settled for $1.25 billion in 1999, yet many class action plaintiffs
have yet to see a dime. Numerous farmers were excluded from the settlement
altogether. The federal government has slowed down payments to a trickle—and
the fight for the funds continues today.
“I thought that the elderly farmers would get their money and get to live a few
happy days of their lives,” John Boyd, President of the National Black Farmers
Association, said in an interview earlier this year. “They deserve the money
before they leave God’s earth.” Boyd has attended the funerals of several Black
farmers who did not live to see justice.
Shirley Sherrod should be saluted
Slavery. Jim Crow laws. The systematic assassination of prominent Black leaders
and the destruction of progressive Black organizations. Institutionalized
poverty in Black communities. The disproportionate incarceration—not to mention
execution—of African Americans.
In a country with such a record, perhaps the strongest evidence that racism is
alive and well is that the dominant question of the debate over race relations
in the media is, “Are African Americans discriminating against whites?”
Shirley Sherrod should be saluted for her lifelong work. She stood up for Black
farmers and promoted unity between Black, white, Latino and other working
people. She worked, as she said in her video, to help all poor people.
The Obama administration and the Democratic Party leadership shudder in fear
whenever the Tea Party and other ultra-right forces go on the attack. Shirley
Sherrod was a convenient attack target for the ultra right, and the Obama
administration threw her overboard. That’s wrong on every level. We demand the
immediate reinstatement of Shirley Sherrod.
_________________________________________________________________
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http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multiaccount&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_4
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