The Rod Of Sherrod

Beware. Saint Shirley Sherrod is back. “The most celebrated public servant in the United States, and perhaps the world,” made a brief appearance with the Secretary of Agriculture, TOM VILSACK. He was modeling the proper obsequious mannerisms to be adopted, and concessions to be made, with an aggrieved minority:

“I continue to take full responsibility for it. I — I will take it for as long as I live. This was, you know,…– I — I disappointed the president and I disappointed this administration. I disappointed the country. I disappointed Shirley.
I have to live with that. And I accept that responsibility. That’s what happens when you have this kind of position. My only hope is and my belief is that despite this difficulty, despite the challenges and the problems that we’ve seen and that poor Shirley had to go through, maybe, just maybe, this is an opportunity for the country to have the kind of conversation that Shirley thinks we ought to have.“

Nothing could be quite as bad in modern-day America as disappointing Shirley—or the prototypical Shirley. “The acme of ethics in American is a black woman who has graduated from hard-core to soft bigotry. … if an African-American rejects her birthright, and demonstrates less prejudice toward whites than is her right—she is up for beatification.”

When it comes to a racial celebrity like S. Sherrod, a CNN Activist doesn’t probe her interviewee. As the moron MALVEAUX demonstrates hereunder, the racial activist will ask soft, rhetorical, suggestive questions, the answers to which are guaranteed to yield the lesson the likes of MALVEAUX want you to take away from their little agitprop session (“it sounds like you don’t have a lot of faith in the Agriculture Department changing when it comes to racism and discrimination?”). The activist’s facial expressions say it all; when a mediocrity and a mezzanine-level racist such as Sherrod presents herself to you, you must ooze empathy and beam like Moses must have before the burning bush.

Not even a cub journalist on a high school newspaper would conduct the kind of reverential love-in MALVEAUX conducted with “the former administration official [who] tells me how she feels now about her ouster and whether there is a culture of racism within the government.”

(Aside: note Sherrod’s reference to her fears: “of white people, or I’m afraid of Hispanic people or Native Americans.” Ms. Sherrod: whites are petrified of black crime, given that blacks commit most violent crime in the country. Can that small fact form part of the discussion about race that you have prescribed? Or is that pesky truth proscribed? On second thoughts, don’t mind me, Shirley. I’ll back away bowing if you don’t approve.)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tell me a little bit about today. What was that like to come face-to-face with your former boss, Secretary Vilsack, today?

SHERROD: The second day when he said, “I stand by my decision,” that hurt. So I just needed to have some closure, I guess, and hearing exactly what happened. And he did explain what happened that day he was traveling. He explained that they made a lot of mistakes dealing with me and they had — they are trying to correct those within the department. They are putting new things in place so that that won’t happen to others.

So if what happened to me will keep others from having to go through that, hopefully, in the future, then I guess that’s a good thing.

MALVEAUX: You said before, though, that they were changing the process, but you didn’t be — you didn’t want to be the one to test it.

SHERROD: Right.

MALVEAUX: it sounds like you don’t have a lot of faith in the Agriculture Department changing when it comes to racism and discrimination?

SHERROD: If the secretary is the only person I had to deal with as we move forward, then it probably would be fairly easy. I think he is very sincere about dealing with the issue of racism in the agency, but if — like I said, if he was the only one to deal with it probably wouldn’t be an issue right now, but that’s — that has been going on — racism in this agency has been going on for more years than I — than I’ve been in this world. It’s systemic. And, you know, so, I would deal more — I would deal with more than just Secretary Vilsack.

MALVEAUX: is there a deep culture of racism inside of the department?

SHERROD: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Only — only the Agriculture Department?

SHERROD: It’s not just the Agriculture Department. I’ve run into others as I’ve traveled through the airports. And I remember the first week when I was on my way home in the Atlanta airport and young women, young African-American women who work in other agencies — CDC, one of them — and she talked about what she’s dealing with and it was the same kind of thing.

You know, so it’s not just the Department of Agriculture. It’s the one we know about the most, but there are issues with minorities in other agencies of the government.

MALVEAUX: Some people look at the mosque issue, and they think, maybe Muslims are being targeted. Maybe they’re the group now that’s being discriminated against and people think it’s acceptable.

SHERROD: Let’s just say that a lot of discrimination goes on in this country. It amazes me how people can think sometimes, and that’s why I say to — and why I try to say to everyone, I try to treat people like I want to be treated and then, in case somebody doesn’t want to be treated right, treat them like you want your children to be treated. And I think we would all be OK if we look at every situation like that.

My whole thing is how can we figure out in this space that we have in this United States of America, there’s enough space here for all of us. We can — we should be able to work it out.

MALVEAUX: What do you think of President Obama’s job in dealing with race relations?

SHERROD: You know, the poor president, they — he can’t speak out about anything. Unless they’re jumping all over him. I really do feel, you know, and I know he’s in a position. He’s the first black president, and people look at that.

I do think, whether it’s from him or some other way with his administration, we do have to talk about race. We need to talk about race in this country, so that we can move beyond where we are now, because we’re not in a good place.

MALVEAUX: Your life has been turned upside down, I know.

SHERROD: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Since all of this began. What has been the biggest change for you?

SHERROD: You know, and I love people, so it’s not a bad thing to be able to go out. And you think you’re not being recognized, and people come up to you, and they want to hug you or take a picture with you. I haven’t been that kind of public person, but I’m a people person.

MALVEAUX: You’ve been invited to speak before a lot of groups, obviously, about civil rights and race relations. What is the message? What do you want to tell them? What do you want them to learn from this?

SHERROD: My message hasn’t changed in 24 years. It’s so interesting that now everybody is aware of it. But you know, I’ve tried to use my life. I’ve tried to use what happened to me, and how I have been transformed. I’ve been able to see that it’s not a black or white issue; it’s a poor issue. And that as poor people coming together to work on our issues together, we can make a change.

I will say that. I said it back when — that speech before the NAACP. I will still say it today: we can get beyond this.

MALVEAUX: What’s next for you?

SHERROD: Well, I certainly want to get back to many of the letters and cards and e-mail messages and — you know, the Facebook stuff is something new. You know, I’m trying to — I haven’t even dealt with all of that. There are so many there. I need to try to get back to people who tried to reach out to me. So, that’s one thing.

I’d also like to look at finding those communities, those individuals who are seriously working on the problems of race, and try to highlight some of those. I think we need to really look at the good out there and put those examples out there, so others can see. I’d like to promote that.

MALVEAUX: Do you think that there is some fear for people to talk about issues of race? Dr. Laura, who resigned over the use of the “N” word, for example, and she says she’s not able to speak her mind, that there is a silencing or political correctness that’s going on. How do — how do you see this?

SHERROD: I didn’t see or hear what she had to say. I’ve heard others comment about it. I think it’s the way she did it. But she would have the answer to that.

I think that if this country makes it a priority, that we’re going to deal with race, we’re going to talk about it, and we’ll get beyond this, I think we can do it, you know. I think we can get to a better place with this.

Why should we want to keep this going on and on from generation — one generation after another? It doesn’t even make for a safe place for us to be in this country. If we’re — if I’m afraid of white people, or I’m afraid of Hispanic people or Native Americans, you know, it keeps us fighting each other.

[SNIP]

Have moment? Do voice your displeasure with activist SUZANNE MALVEAU who masquerades as a journalist on CNN. (Email her or her bosses. Use this post, as well as essays written on this site about fellow activist A. Cooper, to make your case.)