USDA Official Shirley Sherrod in the clear?

 I'm sure most of us have heard the controversy over Shirley Sherrod's speach at the NAACP banquet. The first video released had been edited leaving out some important words that Shirley spoke at the banquet. The NAACP has released the full 43 minute video on thier web page at www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/. I decided to watch the full video of Sherrod's speach in order to find truth and decide my own take on her words. While it was definately clear that someone edited the video and realeased it to deceive and to obstruct truth, I am not at all convinced that she nor her audience are free from guilt.

In the speach Sherrod talks about the first time she had to help a white man try to keep his farm.
She opens up by claiming the white man was trying to show that he was supperior to her and that all the while he was trying to prove his supperiority over her, she was trying to decide how much she was gonna help him. She then reveals that she figured she better do something so that the white farmer didn't go tell on her basically, so she takes him to "one of them" "his own kind" a "white lawyer". The white lawyer stiffs the farmer and now he's on the brink of losing his farm, so he returns to Sherrod who manages to look past his skin color and helps the man keep his farm. She then tells the audience that she realized through the experience that its not always about white and black, its about the poor, those who have vs. those who don't and that we got to come together to help those in need.

I would like to applaud Shirley for doing a great job on helping the farmer keep his land, but I regret to say that her whole speach seemed full of racist rhetoric. It seemed she divided everything down the middle between color of skin. It seemed that it wasn't so much that black and white people or people of any other race need to come together, but people that belong to the poor category need to come together. She goes on to talk about how many black people work along side her at the USDA and she presses the audience to come apply because there's a low number of black people who are employed there and that you never hear of government employees being laid off. She talks about all the loans that go out of the USDA and how they're all to white people, not one black person and she urges them to take advantage of various loans and grants they offer.

I'm all for a person informing people of oppurtunities that they can take advantage of, but it seemed as if she was aggrivated that white people are benefiting from it. I would suggest to Shirley that if there is a minority of anything, there is bound to be less of that something among the sum. I would also suggest that when you categorize human beings because of skin color (race) or any other cosmetic or mental trait that you are introducing prejudice. Example: black people are not all connected somehow becuase they're black, white people are not all connected because they're white, we are all connected because we were created by God and are all son's and duaghter's of Adam and Eve.

I also learned another interesting story from Shirley through her speach. Her father was murdered by "white men" and even though there were 3 witnesses the men were never convicted. She says a "white man" would never be convicted in those days. I found this interesting because its almost parrallel to my story. She was 17 when her dad was murdered and I was about 3 weeks from 19 when my father was murdered. Her father was murdered by "white men" and my father was murdered by atleast one "white man" although through rumor and other evidence there seemed to be more. There were 3 witnesses of her father's murder and there were atleast half a dozen who witnessed my father being hit in the head with a board and not one of them called 911. The courts failed to bring justice to her father's murderer's and the man accused in my fathers murder walked free as well. Now it seems the only real difference in our stories is the reason why these men killed our fathers. She claims it was because of her father's skin color and I never really found out, but through rumors I assume that it was because my dad was trying to stop some drug dealers from pushing drugs. I would like to ask Mrs. Sherrod if she considers my tradegy as equal to her's or is her circumstance different because her father was killed by men of a different race? Mrs. Sherrod should we stand together not as a black woman and a white man who have common suffering but instead as common humans who stand against all and any form of evil? Let's not place a microscope on a certain form of evil and ignore others. Let us see the whole picture: that evil resides among us and that we stand a better chance of defeating it when we stand as a whole, not isolated and divided into smaller groups, for evil is numerous in our world and it would love nothing more than to pick us off one group at a time.

I will say that from what I heard on the video, I do not see any reason for Shirley to have been forced out of her position. I understand that all people, including myself , have character flaws, but if they are not seen in the duties of our work, then they are not reason for termination. The incident with the white farmer happened over 2 decades ago and did not occur while she was an official of the USDA. I believe Mrs. Sherrod has some great advice and much experience. I believe she limits herself and reveals her prejudice by pursuing the idea of the black community sticking together. We the people, thats what I believe we should all pursue.... "We The People".

In conclusion. Throughout Sherrod's speach I was under the impression that she places man among catergories. First and most important to her is the "black category" then the "poor category", it seemed to me that if you fall into one of these categories you were okay with her. Then there is the "white category", which seemed to be what you fell in if you were white and had some money. I believe that we should not assume that people who are white and have money are racist and are only out for power over the black and poor. She also stated that people who disagree with Obama's health care plan were aslo racist. I am in total disagreement with this and I condemn those statements as racist themselves and trying to play the "race card" for political purposes. Mrs. Sherrod is by no means free of prejeduce and should not be looked upon as a great advocate for the advancement of bridging people of different race, if anything she continues to hold up the dividing wall among race, though creating a grey area where the poor can find rest from her discrimination. This is my opinion based off what I heard and seen in the video realeased by the NAACP.

-Herb Gruenwald III

P.S. For the record. I originally vowed revenge for my father's murder. Two years later God got a hold of me and revealed to me this thing called forgiveness. Through forgivness a burden was lifted from me and I can live my life in peace knowing that God ultimately has control over the good and the wicked. He is creator and therefor it was his creation that perished due to the evil that resides in man. He not only suffers from the wicked's work when his creation is destroyed but suffered even more when his blameless son was given to redeem wicked men. Justice should always be pursued but all of mankind is guilty and yet for the believers; mercy and grace is poured out.