I figured that if I take him to one of them, that his own kind would take care of him

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Run time: 02:36 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrNWw7TGkjo   Posted on YouTube: July 19, 2010 By YouTube Member: HereticsCrusade Views on YouTube: 307   Posted on DU: July 19, 2010 By DU Member: Amerigo Vespucci Views on DU: 2943

 

[OnlinePoker]

1. Racism is evil no matter who does it. n/t

[burnsei sensei]

2. Is it racism?

To "give him to one of his people" seems not racist, one could almost call it a tribal response to the situation.
And the white farmer, on a certain level, would probably understand it as such.
So the white farmer is himself racist.
Does his racism offend her, or does his whiteness make it difficult for her to "give him the full force of what I could do"?
Is she merely offended that he has something that has been taken by the force of poverty from so many black farmers?
Because it is the force of poverty first, reinforced by institutional racism, that caused black farmers to lose their land or forced them to work for more powerful people, who, given the context, had to be white.
Either way, it's a video that's worth seeing and thinking about.

[patrice]

3. wow . . . Sarah, is that you?

VERY garbled, no wait a minute, let's just make that "twisted".

[burnsei sensei]

14. Yes it is.

Very garbled.
Very twisted.
That's what I felt when I heard this video.
Because it doesn't make sense to me.

[patrice]

16. give it another try.

[burnsei sensei]

21. Well ......

So she was racist because:
1. by refusing to apply all her efforts toward the assistance to the white farmer and
2. by sending him "to one of his own kind"
These decisions were motivated by race and also by a kind of righteous indignation springing from the wrongs historically done to her own race.
If, in fact, she is a racist, then it doesn't matter how the white farmer behaves when he petitions her for help.
It doesn't matter if he's acting "superior" to her or not.
All that matters in that case is that he is white.
She would still refuse to apply all her efforts, and she would still send him "to one of his own kind."

[patrice]

23. All true, except You're leaving out (why?) that she is telling them that she realized

she acted based on the color of the man's skin, i.e. Racist.

[burnsei sensei]

25. Because ultimately, for her,

considerations of race ended up being even more important than considerations of need, poverty and wealth.

[patrice]

28. You are deliberately ignoring that she said "That's when it was revealed to me that is about POOR

versus those who have. It's not so much about white . . . It IS about white and black, but it's not you know . . . It opened my eyes. "

She clearly tries to make the point that it's not about Racism it IS about Economic Class and then she backs off of that point and then tries to return to it with "but it's not you know . . . . " and then gives up, before CLEARLY closing with a statement that represents a CHANGE in her attitude toward his skin color, a poorly formulated change I'll grant you, one that was waaaaay to vulnerable to the prejudiced attitude that her audience clearly expressed, but "opened my eyes" cannot mean anything other than "I realized the mistake in what I did, the mistake in my thinking about the color of the man's skin."

Now let me guess . . . . your response will demonstrate that the facts about what she said do not matter; she is nothing but a racist.

[burnsei sensei]

31. No, because I don't think in black and white terms.

If "she is nothing but a racist" then she didn't say anything about poverty.
But she did.
And I don't just hear what I want to hear.
The facts about what she said?
That's what these last few replies I've been making were about in the first place.

[patrice]

33. Your post #25 is factually incorrect.

[burnsei sensei]

35. So what does that say?

That I am obtuse?
That I am constitutionally incapable of interpreting anything in an orthodox or respectable humanitarian fashion?
And if it's factually incorrect . . . does that mean it's a lie?

[patrice]

34. "considerations of race ended up being even more important than" = RACIST nt

[burnsei sensei]

37. I wrote that because she seemed to be

doubling back on her statement.
But I don't know because she'll probably never be confronted with a similar situation.

[bitchkitty]

47. You don't think at all, apparently.

Look up context in the dictionary. Or maybe you could get someone in your household who actually understands the term to explain it to you.

[AMAN]

8. really?

So out of that video, you extrapolate that the "white farmer was racist"? Unreal...

Otherwise, is anyone really shocked to discover overt racism at the NAACP? It is, after all, a racist organization by definition.

How disgraceful for her to unleash her own destructive racism, while simlultaneously claiming victim status. Enough already.

[patrice]

10. No, she was trying to tell them something that she had learned about herself, that to her "It IS abo

ut Black and White". She didn't use the word Racism, but she was telling them that she recognized her own Racism.

[Th1onein]

17. Absolutely. To say otherwise is taking her comments out of context.

eom

[patrice]

24. Hi Th1onein!

How are you?

Well, I hope!

:hug:

[Th1onein]

51. I'm good. Just been busy with work.

After reading some of the posts here, I'm lucky in that, I guess. My God, things are going to hell in a handbasket, aren't they?

You're good, too?

[patrice]

52. Not so good. Laid off again. 3rd time in 10 years. A job I absolutely loved in Elder care.

Gettin' too old for this. Not sure what I'm going to do.

[Th1onein]

53. Geez.

Working for others sucks. Always at their mercy.

[patrice]

12. But you are right! There are many LEAPS in "logic" in the post to which you replied and

Welcome to DU :hi:

[burnsei sensei]

13. I don't think that the NAACP is racist.

I've studied too much of its history and background.
She perceived that the white farmer was racist.
Whether or not he was, we will never know.
The question is, was she offended by his whiteness (which would be racist) or was she offended by his racism (which would be merely self-defensive)?

[patrice]

18. Right, she did perceive him as thinking he was "superior" and people who think that

are often just projecting their own vulnerabilities onto others. The guy may have just been uncomfortable admitting that he needed help, or maybe he's someone like me who digs details and wants to tell the whole story.

Beyond the attitude that she was carrying about what had happened to poor Black farmers, and which this guy very possibly had not part in, she was not offended by his whiteness; she had just already made her mind up about him; that's prejudice.

Although there's a high probability that he has some Racist attitudes, there's no evidence that they were anything but latent, and punishing people for what they might, but haven't actually, done IS bigotry.

[Lilyeye]

43. when you make a comment like that after 1 post...you become suspect

[ellenfl]

4. i think she is explaining the 'aha' moment where she realized

we ARE all in this together. she's telling a story about how she came to see the light. how many white racists have this epiphany . . . and tell about it? anyway, that's what i saw.

ellen fl

[ellenfl]

48. seems i was right. the admin should not have caved on this. eom

[patrice]

5. That was Racist. She SAID it was Racist and that she recognized that it was.

She learned that she is a Racist too and apparently profited from that self-knowledge, just like some others could too.

[BeliQueen]

6. Where's the rest of the story?

Because it appears that she was drawing to a conclusion about how it's not about black or white but about the "haves" and "have nots."

I would like to see the rest of her speech.

[theFrankFactor]

26. Me too, This Clip is Shit.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[patrice]

9. The audience was digging it, so she had to back off of saying "It's not about Black and White". She

had to correct herself and say "It IS about Black and White", because that is what her audience was affirming.

[patrice]

11. P.S. I'm not surprised she's out of politics. You gotta be "either or" in politics. Look at

what we're doing to President Obama.

[patrice]

22. I like analysis. I think her realization was that, at a higher level of organization, it IS about $~

and, then, those divisions breakdown into subsets of various types, of which Race is very high up there as an archetypal trait, probably just under Money, and also further subdivided by things like occupation, education, looks, etc. etc. etc.

[patrice]

15. Just like White people, the color of your skin doesn't make you Racist or Not-Racist. And there's

a

GREAT DEAL

of Self-fulfilling Prophecy going on in what happens with this particular issue. Translate that to: We (both/all colors) make potential Racism into actual Racism by how we treat each other.

Just like Killing causes Killing, Racism causes Racism.

[southernyankeebelle]

19. I remember Dr King marching with poor people and him mentioning white poor also. The

white poor get screwed just like the black poor do. You have allot in common and should stick together. You would be surprised how many white poor support the black community.

[patrice]

20. Amen to that. Dr. King was a great visionary. He knew it is about Class, Social-Economic Class.

:hug:

[JDPriestly]

27. She is describing the experience that caused her to put racism

aside. Her natural reaction, her first reaction, might be categorized as racist. She is describing how she realized that she was being racist.

The story is honest and instructive. She is condemning her own racism. I'd like to see more people speak so honestly about their personal experiences in dealing with their own racism. Until we can speak honestly with each other as she is doing, we can't heal our own racism, and we can't heal racism in America.

I'm white, but I can honestly say that I have seen racism up very closely and experienced it aimed at me. Ms. Sherrod is not racist in my view.

[patrice]

30. Oh! what a valuable point! "until we can speak honestly" That's what she was trying, somewhat

imperfectly, to do. I, for one, am sorry she was punished for it.

I have a missionary friend who spent time in the Honduras (I believe). He told me once how entire families were murdered down there, NOT because they were one the wrong side, but because they refused to be on either side. Isn't that about the saddest thing you ever heard?

[ellenfl]

49. exactly. eom

[LadyJaneGrey]

29. Is it racism or reaction?

First I would like to see the end of the tape, just to see if she shared a moment of enlightenment or a justification of her actions.
I have a biracial child and for years african american women have asked if I was going to raise him black or white? My answer was always I was going to raise him as a child. I had always thought of these women as racist, until I understood they were asking me if I was going to raise him to b proud in both his heritages. Then I understood that I had allowed how my mothers family treated me influence how I saw others. (Just for the record my mother is mexican and her family have not spoken to me in 21 years since I had my son).
But she did say how the man was trying to act superior to her while asking for her help, was her judgment clouded by things in the past that had happened to her and she realized that and was sharing a growing moment which was cut short for political reasons or does she really feel that his own should look after him? I am reserving judgment but hoping for the first!

[Kweli4Real]

45. I think yes ...

Her mind was no doubt clouded, but not by things that happened in the past. Could it have been that her decision was a result of this man's racist conduct towards her?

I don't expect most here to understand, after all SHE said SHE took race into account in not giving this man her full effort. But consider an old family story where my great grandfather, a sharecropper in Alabama, sent my grandfather down the road to the home of a white sharecropper. My Great-Grand was sending the white sharecropper a hog and some vegetables because he knew that the white sharecropper's field had not produced nearly enough to support the white sharecropper's family and winter was coming. My Grand-father recalled how the white sharecropper took the food, but told him: "No matter how low I may sink, I'll still be higher than you, Ni@@er!"

At 62 years of age and living in the south, I'm certain that Sherrod spent a good deal of her life having lesser qualified, lesser accomplished white people attempting to make her feel less than, just because of her race .

I'm not trying to excuse her decision, but sometimes you get what you put out there. If you don't believe me, next time you go out to a restaurant, treat you server like crap and then wait to see what kind of service you receive.

[Turborama]

32. This is being treated as a "BREAKING NEWS ALERT!!9!11" on Faux

And of course they are using a very short section of this with no context whatsoever.

I'll just ignore this Faux scandal and carry on with my life, thanks.

[patrice]

36. Me too. I'm bored with it now and some people will make of it what they WANT to make of it no matter

what the facts are.

Anyone fitting that description is a liar.

[1monster]

38. Sounds to me like this was the beginning of a story about how this woman learned

the error of her ways. But we weren't given the whole story. It got cut off after she admitted her past attitude but had learned that it was more about the haves verses the have nots than about race...

Let's see the rest of the speech before we judge.

[Lilyeye]

44. Yup!

[Canuckistanian]

39. I want to hear the rest of what she said

She seemed to be making a larger point.... but it was cut off.

[stltduggan]

40. To me the true question

initially has nothing to do with race. She is in the public service. If part of her duties include assisting farmers of Georgia and she indeed did everything for that farmer that she did for any other farmer (black or white) that came to her for help then she is not being racist. I don't particularly care for the way she verbalized it but to me that is really inconsequential. If however in the discourse of her duties she did not do as much for him as she did for the the black farmers that came to her for help then I have a real problem with that.

[avaistheone1]

41. Shirley Sherrod has resigned her post at the USDA.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/20/agriculture.employee.naacp/#fbid=-b18pSsIm5a

[sulphurdunn]

42. Racism is bigotry backed by power.

If you don't like people of a different race then you're a bigot. If you have the power to harm them and do so because of it, you're a racist. There seems to be a lot of confusion about that.

[bitchkitty]

46. Oh, Christ on a crutch!

So she told an anecdote about what she was feeling, and now she's racist?

This place is so much like Freak Republic sometimes that I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm awake.

Say it with me!

C O N T E X T

Main Entry: con·text
Pronunciation: \ˈkän-ˌtekst\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, weaving together of words, from Latin contextus connection of words, coherence, from contexere to weave together, from com- + texere to weave — more at technical
Date: circa 1568

1 : the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning
2 : the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs : environment, setting <the historical context of the war>

[LostinVA]

50. +1