Fox, BreitBart Show Contempt for Truth in USDA Firing

Were Andrew Breitbart drowning, a patriotic American would throw him an anvil and turn a fire hose on him. Were the personnel on Fox News in the same position, well, that would be wonderful. Their latest shame came in the persecution by deceptive editing of Shirley Sherrod, formerly of the US Department of Agriculture. By willfully suggesting a speech she gave before the NAACP showed her to be a racist, they destroyed her career, and showed themselves up for what they are, enemies of the free press.

The way Mr. Breibart edited the speech was a piece of propaganda that Joseph Goebbles would have admired. First butchered and then presented as the whole truth, the film seemed to show that Ms. Sherrod, Agriculture Department's director of rural development in Georgia, withheld help from a white farmer in protecting his farm from foreclosure. Ms. Sherrod is black, and admitted her first instinct was not to help as much as if he were black. In her own words, she said, "I was struggling with the fact that so many black people had lost their farmland, and here I was faced with helping a white person save their land." She said, at first, "I didn't give him the full force of what I could do," just enough to keep the case moving.

The howls from the right were audible on other planets. How dare a black administration official dare abuse her power in such a way! Quickly, and before all the facts came out, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asked for and got her resignation. Now that the facts are out, he looks like a coward and a fool.

As it turns out, the Associated Press reported, "Eventually, she said, his situation 'opened my eyes' that whites were struggling just like blacks, and helping farmers wasn't so much about race but was 'about the poor versus those who have'." And the white family of farmers appeared more than happy about her help. The same source reported, "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." Sure sounds like she's embittered, no?

In other words, black and white people working together can overcome the racism that is America's original sin. As a wise man once said, "No kidding." That Ms. Sherrod realized that America's real divide is between classes merely posing as racial differences is to her credit and is a lesson for the entire country. Those people stuck in post-Katrina New Orleans were not there because they were black but because they were too poor to leave.

Whether Ms. Sherrod gets her job back is neither here nor there (as of now, she says she does not want it). Nor is it about the timidity of the Obama administration in general on this issue or Secretary Vilsack's in particular. What this is really about is distorting the truth for political ends. It is about telling the truth but only selected parts of it, those parts that help fulfill an agenda. That is more dangerous to the well-being of the republic than any number of Al-Qaeda jihadis. One must question the patriotism of Mr. Breitbart and of the Fox News organization.

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

Kensington Review Home