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Trey Ellis

Trey Ellis

Posted: July 20, 2010 10:44 PM

Mr. President if You Stand up for Shirley Sherrod You Stand up for Us All

What's Your Reaction:

This story is so rich. When I first heard how this black USDA official bragged about discriminating against a white farmer as payback I was sickened. I was pleased that she was sacked immediately and thrilled that the NAACP applauded her sacking so immediately.

What a difference a day makes.

Now it's clear that the footage was edited to slander her, just like they edited the ACORN footage.

According to the AP:

Sherrod says her remarks, delivered in March at a local NAACP banquet in Georgia, were part of a story about racial reconciliation, not racism. The white farming family that was the subject of the story stood by Sherrod and said she should keep her job.


'We probably wouldn't have (our farm) today if it hadn't been for her leading us in the right direction,' said Eloise Spooner, the wife of farmer Roger Spooner of Iron City, Ga. 'I wish she could get her job back because she was good to us, I tell you.'

But the right-wing attack dogs aren't interested in facts, they're after scalps. They play the 24-hour news cycle like a fiddle. Hit fast and hard, quickly frame the debate, feed it to fact-checker-free Fox, ruin someone's life, and then move on to the next victim before the truth catches up to them.

We are in the majority. How is it that they still seem to win so many, many times? How is it that we allow them to cheapen and demean without consequence?

Enough.

Mr. President, Secretary Vilsack, please stand up to the hatemongers, do the right thing, and reinstate Ms. Shirley Sherrod.

If you agree that it's time to fight back there's a petition going around. Find it HERE.

 
 
 

Follow Trey Ellis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TreyEllis

 
 
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02:40 PM on 07/21/2010
Grow a pair, Obama. You allowed the right wing echo chamber to smear people and organizations like ACORN, Van Jones, and now Shirley Sherrod, even though everyone with a brain knew they were lying their faces off. They're nothing but bullies. Stand up to them now.
02:15 PM on 07/21/2010
Yes Try but why did you believe it in the first place? You admit that everyone was duped during the ACORN-gate scandal. I question why you didn't have the common sense to question this?

You are as cupable as anyone else in the media. You "thought" the NAACP had done your job for YOU.

Sad Trey. Just sad.
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LonosCurse
Some may never live, but the crazy never die
11:30 AM on 07/21/2010
Fox did this with Acorn, they did this with NBPP and they did this with Sherrod. How many strikes do they get?
12:01 PM on 07/21/2010
How many strikes does the administration get for not standing up for the poor people caught in FOX's crosshairs (Sherrod, van Jones, ACORN)? Each time they took FOX's line and ran with it.

IMHO, they have had more than 3 strikes, and they are OUT.
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LonosCurse
Some may never live, but the crazy never die
12:42 PM on 07/21/2010
You are off base.
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George Hanshaw
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
11:05 AM on 07/21/2010
It would appear that the WH, having learned nothing from their shoot from the hip comment about 'stupid police' that necessitated the beer summit, has now shot from the hip and pissed off the other side as well. No wonder the approval rating is sinking......

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1295.xml?ReleaseID=1478
12:06 PM on 07/21/2010
Except he was right about the cop...he "acted stupidly".
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George Hanshaw
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
01:55 PM on 07/21/2010
No more so than the President who shot off his mouth without any info whatever on the situation - then was back-tracking with 'beer summits' for a week.
nwlover
My Lab is smarter than your honor student
09:52 AM on 07/21/2010
Vilsack should be fired for not researching this video first for accuracy. How incompetant. Sherrod deserves her job back plus.
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09:48 AM on 07/21/2010
Why is Obama being dragged into everything. You are hurting him and not helping the situation.
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LonosCurse
Some may never live, but the crazy never die
11:28 AM on 07/21/2010
We need him to lead.
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2morrowknight
09:06 AM on 07/21/2010
Thank you for writing this Trey.
08:09 AM on 07/21/2010
The Tea Mob had a Lynch Party. Sure hope there is a defamation civil suit against Fox Spews. It's about time they are held accountable for their first amendment rights. This woman definately deserves her day in court.
07:28 AM on 07/21/2010
Don't let your passion for righteousness and justice rule over your political analysis. When you delve into the smoke and mirrors of politics you have to don your "Bullsh*&^t" helmet to see through the fog. Couple of things to keep in mind, that should be your strategic mechanics of moving through a mindfield of bullsh*^t :

1. The public perception matters (even if its wrong or mislead)

2. The public is easily mislead (temporarily / possibly years)

3. Racism is alive and well in America and in the voting public

4. Few read beyond the headlines, details dont tread water

5. There is no justice in politics just the gaseous amoeba that is the poisonous replacement for oxygen and it will kill your career if you ignore it and it drives this train like an unseen conductor out of control

______

If Obama endorses Sherrod in any form publicly he might as well pack his office and move back to Illinois now.

She made an error in judgement. She ignored the amoeba. It was a mistep of a public figure. Unfortunately her story will be lost to the amoeba for years, floating in the poison like small bubbles of oxygen waiting to be breathed in but surrounded by green noxious fumes.

It's gone, let it go. Any attempt to rescue this oxygen will get you poisoned along with it.

Create more oxygen is the counter.

We want him to do the right thing but we want him to win more.
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biznesschic
07:45 AM on 07/21/2010
The only error in judgment is the Fox News network, I am sure, after the whole video was displayed, it's lawyers worked over time to correct the story, in fear of slander lawsuits.
DrSnuggles
You label me and I'll label you
11:46 AM on 07/21/2010
"We want him to do the right thing but we want him to win more."

That is possibly the most frightening thing I've read in a long time. I want our president to always do the right thing, if he/she doesn't then I don't want them to win; I certainly don't want a president who thinks winning is more important than properly doing their job.
07:30 AM on 07/22/2010
I'm sorry if this sounds derogatory but you sound very naive. Well we shall see said the Zen Master we shall see. Its now a day later and the White House (not necessarily Obama) has made another statement in support of Sherrod.

I keep abreast of the political events closely but I dont know a single person that works around me, family or friend who knows anything more about Sherrod other than she said she's made some racist decisions.

Like I said, people do NOT watch television news, except Fox viewers. Who are convinced that Glenn Beck is God's Gardner and chosen child and everything that utters from his mouth is from angels. People (voting people) dont watch the news. The support of Sherrod will backfire amoung most voters. Scary ? Yes. It should be. But that's the state of this nations politics.
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shryock
It never is what it is anymore
07:23 AM on 07/21/2010
i suggest that everyone reading this email the white house and suggest that sherrod be reinstated. she was railroaded and the white house and the agriculture department were both snookered by the right wing.
shame on them for not defending her. the right wing noise machine wants nothing so much as to see obama fail, and they just won a major victory. he was fooled into sacking an innocent woman. and they now hold the power. it was idiotic.
email the white house and say so. tell the president he needs to stand up to those bullies on the right and he needs to promise never to get fooled by them again.
07:18 AM on 07/21/2010
Have people learned nothing in the last 10 years about sound bites and doctored tapes? What bothers me the most is that people so easily accept something they hear as fact before it is completely vetted. The people who condemned this woman should be ashamed of themselves for not waiting before passing judgment. That would include you, Mr. Ellis. As an Assistant Professor at Columbia, you should have been more prudent
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shryock
It never is what it is anymore
07:28 AM on 07/21/2010
simplystunned, you are correct. mr. ellis should have known better. he is a professor who should be sufficiently educated and tuned in to our current political situation to have had all sorts of doubts about the story produced by the right wing. he should have known better. everyone who fell for this story should have known better. the right wing noise machine has as its sole purpose the destruction of the obama presidency, and every word from them should be suspect.
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scottymac11
Facta non verba
07:07 AM on 07/21/2010
It shows to go you that you can't believe anything faux says. A real news source must get the story right.
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cyndeewi
Here to save the day
02:31 AM on 07/21/2010
This is not the first time Obama has thrown a black person under the bus. I don't care what he does in the future. He will never get my vote again.
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shryock
It never is what it is anymore
07:25 AM on 07/21/2010
however, if you do not vote for obama, who will you vote for?
you must vote. a non vote counts as a vote for the right.
so, not voting is simply standing aside and letting the right win.
and all that is necessary for evil to win is for good people to do nothing.

so, again, who would you vote for? if obama is the democratic choice, will you let the republicans take power simply because you do not like obama? is that any better?
08:53 AM on 07/21/2010
A non-vote counts for whatever side wins, not necessarily for the right.

Perhaps he can vote in the Obama style - PRESENT
09:32 AM on 07/21/2010
Exactly. That's a concise summary of one of the problems with our electoral system. You have to vote for Obama in 2012, even if you don't like him, to avoid the simply cataclysmic idea that we will have to suffer through another Republican.
10:31 AM on 07/21/2010
Now you are acting just like those who were quick to blame Ms. Sherrod. You need to consider everything that this president has accomplished. Do you really want to go back to the way things were under Bush? Nobody is perfect, but Obama is trying to make this country strong again, in spite of the criticism he gets from both sides, right and left. I would guess he had a tough time sleeping last night, knowing he initially supported something that turned out to be false. Have a little faith.
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Retrofuturistic
see things as they really are
01:40 AM on 07/21/2010
And while they're at it, maybe they can use some anti-trust laws and get rid of the right-wing monopoly that we call a "free" press....
01:33 AM on 07/21/2010
This whole episode just makes me sick. This woman was accused of being a racist, when she is a paragon of the exact opposite trait. It makes me want to throw up that this woman will forever be marked so unjustifiably. If the mainstream media has an ounce of integrity left in its ranks, they will make this story front-page material until this woman gets her job back. At the very least, her name has to be cleared to all those people who have already passed judgment on her. Mere 'retractions' won't cut it.

This reminds me of why we have to be vigilant. Shrugging our shoulders and accepting that this is just the way things go just doesn't cut it. Today its Shirley Sherrod; tomorrow it could be any one of us.
10:32 AM on 07/21/2010
This lesson may do more to help our country than we now realize. Others may finally realize that they cannot get accurate information from FNN.