Michael Eric Dyson, Abigail Thernstrom and Cornel West weigh in on the Shirley Sherrod controversy with Bob Schieffer on CBS's Face the Nation.
Showing posts with label Shirley Sherrod. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shirley Sherrod. Show all posts
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
To Forge a Better NAACP
To Forge a Better NAACP
by Blair L. M. Kelley
What happened to the NAACP? It’s odd to think that the venerable and historic National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has been reduced to a talking point in the national media cycle this week.
They received national attention in June when the Los Angeles chapter lodged a protest against a Hallmark card with a recorded message that they thought somehow insulted black women. Then in July, the national meeting of the NAACP issued a statement calling on the conservative Tea Party movement to “repudiate racist factions” in their midst, one year after many in the media and blogosphere had already pointed out evidence of racism during the health care reform protests. Then NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said they were “snookered” by a video posted by right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart that purported to show civil rights veteran and USDA official Shirley Sherrod “revealing her past racism.” Sherrod was really telling a story about her own transformation, from a person who wanted to aid poor black farmers, to a person who wanted to assist poor farmers no matter their race. The NAACP of today should be celebrating the work of people like Sherrod, not misunderstanding who she is.
Students frequently ask me questions about today’s NAACP. They ask if I think the NAACP is still necessary in today’s “post-civil rights” world. They ask what work the NAACP should be doing now. Many students dismiss the NAACP as old and ineffectual, out of touch with their generation. These incidents seem to reinforce this notion that the NAACP is spinning its wheels, late to point out injustice, or failing to address real crises while targeting the wrong people or imagined problems.
Part of the problem is that in contemporary conversation it seems like the NAACP has been painted into a racialized corner as an all-black organization that is somehow “reverse racist,” selfish, and self-interested. Many accuse the NAACP of lacking new ideas and new energy that can address what social justice should be in the 21st century. It might be a good time for the NAACP to remember its own history.
Read the Full Essay @ UNCPressBlog
***
Blair L. M. Kelley is associate professor of history at North Carolina State University and author of Right to Ride: Streetcar Boycotts and African American Citizenship in the Era of Plessy v. Ferguson.
by Blair L. M. Kelley
What happened to the NAACP? It’s odd to think that the venerable and historic National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has been reduced to a talking point in the national media cycle this week.
They received national attention in June when the Los Angeles chapter lodged a protest against a Hallmark card with a recorded message that they thought somehow insulted black women. Then in July, the national meeting of the NAACP issued a statement calling on the conservative Tea Party movement to “repudiate racist factions” in their midst, one year after many in the media and blogosphere had already pointed out evidence of racism during the health care reform protests. Then NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said they were “snookered” by a video posted by right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart that purported to show civil rights veteran and USDA official Shirley Sherrod “revealing her past racism.” Sherrod was really telling a story about her own transformation, from a person who wanted to aid poor black farmers, to a person who wanted to assist poor farmers no matter their race. The NAACP of today should be celebrating the work of people like Sherrod, not misunderstanding who she is.
Students frequently ask me questions about today’s NAACP. They ask if I think the NAACP is still necessary in today’s “post-civil rights” world. They ask what work the NAACP should be doing now. Many students dismiss the NAACP as old and ineffectual, out of touch with their generation. These incidents seem to reinforce this notion that the NAACP is spinning its wheels, late to point out injustice, or failing to address real crises while targeting the wrong people or imagined problems.
Part of the problem is that in contemporary conversation it seems like the NAACP has been painted into a racialized corner as an all-black organization that is somehow “reverse racist,” selfish, and self-interested. Many accuse the NAACP of lacking new ideas and new energy that can address what social justice should be in the 21st century. It might be a good time for the NAACP to remember its own history.
Read the Full Essay @ UNCPressBlog
***
Blair L. M. Kelley is associate professor of history at North Carolina State University and author of Right to Ride: Streetcar Boycotts and African American Citizenship in the Era of Plessy v. Ferguson.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The Sherrod Effect
special to NewBlackMan
The Sherrod Effect
by Stephane Dunn
Once again, “race & politics” is the sensational topic of the moment. It’s a familiar story about some politically incorrect language deemed racist and even worse it seems, reverse racism. Only the tale that Sherley Sherrod related at an NAACP Freedom Fund banquet about her encounter with a white farmer twenty-four years ago was hijacked by Andrew Breitbart. Even worse, Ms. Sherrod was forced to “resign” instantaneously. As she describes, Sherrod was asked to pull over on the side of the road and offer her resignation as requested by the ‘White House.” The longtime civil rights organization that had honored her quickly condemned Sherrod. The whole shameful affair, exploding on a voting day in Georgia, says a lot about the problematic dramas playing out around race and politics in the media.
Neither Sherrod’s USDA superiors, the White House, or the NAACP invested in the little research that would have led to the white farmer in question and the full video of Sherrod’s tale and speech. If they had, the truth could’ve spared them the backtracking and the embarrassment of looking like what they appear: terrified of the right and a reverse racism charge.
President Obama has the unique distinction of being president while being black and therefore continuously suspect. While former white presidents presumably had no trouble with making unbiased decisions regardless of their whiteness, Obama must prove that his racial identification doesn’t impact his thinking or his decision making. It’s a futile struggle as his detractors and his conservative political foes have already branded him, some suggesting he’s at turns anti-Semitic and racist.
In recent years, the NAACP has grappled with its own PR problem battling internal woes and leadership issues as it struggles for an effective twenty-first century identity. Both Obama and the organization share a side of the same dilemma; both want to convey their commitment to helping diverse oppressed people and building coalitions across racial and religious lines but at the same time, the NAACP needs to still be a relevant voice for black people while Obama is fighting to be taken as a sincere for-everybody man and not look threateningly black. This makes them easy prey for a Sherrod debacle particularly in a technological era that allows any average person the wherewithal to manipulate images, sound, and time according to their political intent and allegiances.
The key is to avoid becoming merely reactionary puppets on strings and not be held captive by every potentially controversial clip or speech that finds its way on television or the web. It is too easy to get caught up in the continuous media play that holds race hostage to the political machinations of the moment. This also takes space and attention away from having useful public dialogues about contemporary racial problems and the insidious play of racial politics that has only intensified in the battle for political power post-Obama’s election.
***
by Stephane Dunn
Once again, “race & politics” is the sensational topic of the moment. It’s a familiar story about some politically incorrect language deemed racist and even worse it seems, reverse racism. Only the tale that Sherley Sherrod related at an NAACP Freedom Fund banquet about her encounter with a white farmer twenty-four years ago was hijacked by Andrew Breitbart. Even worse, Ms. Sherrod was forced to “resign” instantaneously. As she describes, Sherrod was asked to pull over on the side of the road and offer her resignation as requested by the ‘White House.” The longtime civil rights organization that had honored her quickly condemned Sherrod. The whole shameful affair, exploding on a voting day in Georgia, says a lot about the problematic dramas playing out around race and politics in the media.
Neither Sherrod’s USDA superiors, the White House, or the NAACP invested in the little research that would have led to the white farmer in question and the full video of Sherrod’s tale and speech. If they had, the truth could’ve spared them the backtracking and the embarrassment of looking like what they appear: terrified of the right and a reverse racism charge.
President Obama has the unique distinction of being president while being black and therefore continuously suspect. While former white presidents presumably had no trouble with making unbiased decisions regardless of their whiteness, Obama must prove that his racial identification doesn’t impact his thinking or his decision making. It’s a futile struggle as his detractors and his conservative political foes have already branded him, some suggesting he’s at turns anti-Semitic and racist.
In recent years, the NAACP has grappled with its own PR problem battling internal woes and leadership issues as it struggles for an effective twenty-first century identity. Both Obama and the organization share a side of the same dilemma; both want to convey their commitment to helping diverse oppressed people and building coalitions across racial and religious lines but at the same time, the NAACP needs to still be a relevant voice for black people while Obama is fighting to be taken as a sincere for-everybody man and not look threateningly black. This makes them easy prey for a Sherrod debacle particularly in a technological era that allows any average person the wherewithal to manipulate images, sound, and time according to their political intent and allegiances.
The key is to avoid becoming merely reactionary puppets on strings and not be held captive by every potentially controversial clip or speech that finds its way on television or the web. It is too easy to get caught up in the continuous media play that holds race hostage to the political machinations of the moment. This also takes space and attention away from having useful public dialogues about contemporary racial problems and the insidious play of racial politics that has only intensified in the battle for political power post-Obama’s election.
***
Stephane Dunn, Ph.D, MFA, is currently an Assistant Professor in the English Department at Morehouse College. She has also taught at Ohio State University. A scholarly and creative writer, she specializes in film, popular culture, literature and African American studies. She is the author of articles and commentaries and the book, Baad Bitches & Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films (University of Illinois Press 2008). She can be reached at musesd@netzero.com.
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