Opinion: Shirley Sherrod, once the victim, is now on the attack

The former federal employee announces lawsuit against Andrew Breitbart

Shirley Sherrod announced at the National Association of Black Journalists' annual convention in San Diego, California this past Thursday that she is going to sue Andrew Breitbart, who posted the video clip that led to her ouster. Shirley Sherrod had won an important moral victory ten days ago. She was not only vindicated of the "charges" but shown as an icon of one who could overcome racism. Sadly, it now seems that she has slid into the current stream of racial accusation.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - Just after the ouster of Shirley Sherrod from the Department of Agriculture, due to comments she made in an NAACP speech, Catholic Online's Editor-in-Chief wrote an article stating she should not have been fired.

I applauded the story and agreed with Dn. Keith Fournier's conclusion. Andrew Breitbart had presented a section of film that didn't tell the whole story. The words that condemned her were part of a larger illustration showing how she had combated racism in her own heart and succeeded.

The disconcerting moments on the tape, then, were not about her words but her audience's response. Obviously, the crowd had yet to get the importance of the story and were enthusiastically congratulating the racist remarks she was making during the setup.

What I had hoped would be a fresh wind of reconciliation-filled actions quickly died down.

Not even two weeks had passed when Sherrod announced at the National Association of Black Journalists' annual convention in San Diego, California this past Thursday that she is going to sue Andrew Breitbart, who posted the video clip.

The suit most likely will be filed for defamation of character. She told the gathering that Breitbart edited the clip to portray her as racist.  According to Sherrod, Breitbart "had to know that he was targeting me."

With regard to Sherrod's intent to sue, we found an interesting piece by Adam Tragone of "Human Events," who cited comments Sherrod made to Anderson Cooper and the Washington Post. 

Speaking about Andrew Breitbart, Sherrod said that he would like to "get us stuck back in the times of slavery. That's where I think he'd like to see all black people end up again."  Regarding Fox News, who was one of the outlets that played the clip, she stated that the network would like to go "back to where black people were looking down, not looking white folks in the face, not being able to compete for a job out there and not be a whole person." 

So much for learning a lesson. Sherrod now had decided to place the race card in her personal opinions regarding both Breitbart and Fox News.

Racism, however, seems to only be a one way street. As far back as the Duke Lacrosse scandals,  in which some of the players were falsely accused of raping a black stripper at a party, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton came out in full force against the student athletes, before all the evidence was public. 

In 2006, before the case was decided, Jackson offered a scholarship to the accuser, while he left nothing but contempt for the lacrosse players whose chargers were later dropped when DNA evidence cleared all the student athletes as suspects.  He never apologized for falsely and prematurely accusing them of rape.

More recently, the NAACP accused Tea Party activists for being racists with no substantive proof to verify their claims.  Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a Congresswoman from Texas, related the Tea Party members to the Ku Klux Klan.  She stood by those comments and on "The Ed Show" said that those who dismiss the notion that the Tea Party has racist factions are "in denial," and until they come out of denial, "this kind of engagement and controversy will continue."

Racism has become an easy allegation to make and proof does not seem to be needed.

Shirley Sherrod had won an important moral victory ten days ago. She was not only vindicated of the "charges" but shown as an icon of one who could overcome racism. It seems that she has now slid back down the slippery slope of stereotyping and name-calling into the current stream of racial accusation.

As Dn. Fournier emphasized in his article, racism is a sin, period. It doesn't matter which "side" is pointing the finger, it is still sin.

After the original incident, both Secretary Vilsack and President Obama called Sherrod to apologize for the hasty decision. Obama told her that "she deserves better."

Later, at the National Urban League, the president highlighted her account as "exactly the kind of story we need to hear in America."

No word has yet been received from the administration concerning her recent comments or actions. With a lawsuit looming in the very near future, we will certainly hear more in the coming days.

Unfortunately, the rest of the story - in word and deed - has not only discounted her original account but devalued her importance as an icon of racial reconciliation.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

Billy Atwell contributes to Catholic Online and BreakPoint, and is a blogger for The Point. From the perspective of a two-time cancer survivor he encourages those afflicted with pain and struggling with faith. You can find all of his writings at For the Greater Glory.

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