Verified Document

Shirley Sherrod Was The Director Term Paper

In a context in which the majority of the media sources were blaming Shirley Sherrod of racism and bigotry, some journalists showed signs of professionalism and documented the entire situation. One such example is constituted by Matt McLaughlin who sought the tape with the entire video and gave it context. McLaughlin revealed that after the initial delegation of the white farmer to a white lawyer, the latter party failed to help the farmer. The help needed came from Sherrod who learnt the lesson that help was needed not only by the blacks, but by all poor people, regardless of race.

"The farmer called me and said the lawyer wasn't doing anything. And that's when I spent time there in my office calling everybody I could think so to try to see -- help me find the lawyer who would handle this. […] Well, working with him made me see that it's really about those who have vs. those who don't." (Sherrod quoted by Matt McLaughlin, 2010)

As the nature of the initial accusations was regulated by the appearance of the full video, Shirley Sherrod was offered a new position within the United States government. The situation was attributed to political clashes at the level of the Tea Party. Sherrod's supervisor, Ben Jealous, argued that himself and the agency he represented should have paid an increased attention to the source of the video and should not have been so quick to make a verdict. In other words, he was apologetic that he listened to the accusations forwarded in the interest of the Tea Party activists.

At a deeper level nevertheless, the lesson is not only that of identifying the source of accusations, but...

The ultimate lesson should as such be that of assessing the situation and the facts behind it, rather that relying on appearances. As William Saletan points out:
"No, Mr. Jealous. […] Your problem isn't that you failed to consider the source. it's that you failed to consider the evidence. You didn't talk to Sherrod or Spooner. You didn't watch the full video, to which your organization had access. The facts, not the source, are what matter. You were too caught up in your feud with the Tea Party to face that lesson squarely. You still are. You were too preoccupied with sending a message about the NAACP's "zero tolerance policy against racial discrimination" to give a fellow human being a fair hearing."

Sources used in this document:
References:

Breitbart, a., 2010, Video proof: the NAACP awards racism-2010, Big Government, http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/video-proof-the-naacp-awards-racism2010 last accessed on February 9, 2011

McLaughlin, M., 2010, Full video vindicates Sherrod, destroys Breitbart's accusations of racism, Media Matters, http://mediamatters.org/mobile/blog/201007200083 last accessed on February 9, 2011

Saletan, W., 2010, the lynching of Shirley Sherrod, Slate, http://www.slate.com/id/2261271/pagenum/all/#p2 last accessed on February 9, 2011

2010, Video shows USDA official saying she didn't give 'full force' of help to white farmer, Fox News, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/19/clip-shows-usda-official-admitting-withheld-help-white-farmer / last accessed on February 9, 2011
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Reactions to Death
Words: 1544 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Aging Reactions & Meditations Upon Death To start, the paper must commence with acknowledgement that there are many beliefs and traditions surrounding the cessation of the physical body. This is a topic of great discussion and emotion in all of human history. This is a topic upon which humans reflect constantly, across culture, country, language, time and distance. In the West, there is a diversity of beliefs, but the predominant beliefs by

Reaction Beautiful Boy
Words: 1002 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Beautiful Boy Reaction to Part I and Part II: Beautiful Boy Stay up late According to David Sheff's memoir of his son's addiction entitled Beautiful Boy, "I tried everything I could to prevent my son's fall into meth addiction. It would have been no easier to have seen him strung out on heroin or cocaine, but as every parent of a meth addict comes to learn, this drug has a unique, horrific quality…He

Reactions in Parents of Children With Life Threatening Illness
Words: 1566 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Psychological Reactions: Parents of Children With Life Threatening Illness This article review will look at a research study that was conducted to determine more precisely what were the effects on parents who were recently given a diagnosis relative to their child that was potentially life threatening. As one might imagine, this can be a stressful situation for any parent. While a reaction that was based on acute stress might seem to

Reaction to Buck Documentary
Words: 733 Length: 2 Document Type: Reaction Paper

Personal Reaction to BUCK Documentary BUCK is a documentary that focuses on telling the real-life story of Dan Brannaman, who is commonly known as Buck throughout the film. Buck is a cowboy with seemingly magical capability to calm uncontrollable horses and travels the country 40 weeks out annually to host different four-day horse clinics. Through this film, Cindy Meehl provides a clumsy but seemingly uncannily story that focuses on the life,

Reaction to Schindler S List
Words: 1773 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Schindler's List is an Oscar-winning movie about World War Two. The movie won Best Picture and several other major awards. The basic premise is the true story of a factory owner, Oskar Schindler, who saves Jews from the Nazis. He employed them in his factories, which makes them important in the war effort for Nazi Germany. This is what saves them from being deported from Krakow to one of the

Reaction to Tweak
Words: 692 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Tweak There are a lot of books and movies about drug addiction and the toll it takes on a person and on their family. Many of these are fiction or biographies about another person. Nic Sheff's book Tweak is his autobiographical account of how he grew up in a household which allowed him to become dependent on drugs and alcohol, although the parents were not directly involved, and how it impacted

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now