News Blog

Sherrod To Speak Before Black Journalists

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:16:00 -0400

Newsmaker Shirley Sherrod to Address Black Journalists at Annual Convention in San Diego

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (JULY 27, 2010)- Newsmaker Shirley Sherrod is set to appear before thousands of journalists on Thursday, July 29 at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Annual Convention in San Diego, Calif.

Sherrod has made headlines over the past two weeks for her forced resignation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture after conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted video excerpts of Sherrod's address at a March 2010 NAACP event on his website. The NAACP initially condemned her remarks and U.S. government officials called on her to resign. Upon review of the unedited video in context, the NAACP, White House officials, and Tom Vilsack, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, apologized soon after and Sherrod was offered a new position. Sherrod has not yet decided if she will accept the job offer.

Sherrod will have a candid conversation with a panel of journalists during a newsmaker plenary, "Context and Consequences: A Conversation with Shirley Sherrod." The discussion will focus on the reporting and coverage of this incident and the role that race still plays in a runaway media culture.

NABJ also extended Breitbart an invitation to this session. He initially accepted, but later declined.

EVENT: Context and Consequences: A Conversation with Shirley Sherrod and the National Association of Black Journalists

TIME: 8:00 a.m. PST July 29- Newsmaker Plenary

LOCATION: Manchester Grand Hyatt, Room TBA

NOTE: *Members of the working press who wish to cover this forum will need to obtain press credentials. To obtain credentials please contact the NABJ Convention Press Office, nabjpress@gmail.com.

Dr. Leon's Prescription: Shirley Sherrod, nothing to do with context

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:58:00 -0400

Shirley Sherrod, nothing to do with context

By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

July 22, 2010

In the wake of the Shirley Sherrod incident various news sources are trying to contextualize the numerous apologies and mia culpas by taking this travesty out of context. The Seattle Times wrote, “When it became clear that Shirley Sherrod's comments had been taken out of context, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack apologized …” even Fox anchor Bill O’Reilly apologized and stated, “I owe Ms. Sherrod an apology for not doing my homework . . . and for not putting her remarks into proper context.”

What conservative operative Andrew Breitbart did to Ms. Sherrod was intentional, malicious, and borderline criminal. He did not accidentally omit a word or two or place extra emphasis on the wrong syllable resulting in the failure to clarify the meaning of an event. In an attempt to shift the focus away from the NAACP’s justified condemnation of the “…extremist elements within the Tea Party, calling on Tea Party leaders to repudiate those in their ranks who use racist language in their signs and speeches,” Breitbart manufactured and posted a video that intentionally misrepresented Ms. Sherrod’s presentation in order to further a larger agenda.

In order to defend the indefensible actions of some in the Tea Party, Breitbart had to create a scenario that would show the NAACP as being racist. He told NBC’s Mara Schiavocampo “We have an NAACP-sanctioned event in which the speaker is talking in a racist narrative, in which the audience, when she refers a white farmer to a white lawyer... and when she talks about not giving him the full weight of what she could do with her position, the audience cheers in this video. That to me is the standard of showing that racism existed in that room.” That’s not out of context; Breitbart is out of his mind!

In his famous March 18, 2008 speech on race in Philadelphia, then Senator Obama said American’s must “…march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America.” He was correct then and based on the events of the past few days President Obama needs to speak again. This time not about the comments of Rev. Wright but the actions of the conservative right and their media operatives who’s “…comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.”

On August 10, 2008 The New York Times published an article by Matt Bai entitled Is Obama the End of Black Politics? The premise of the article was that in 2008, 60 years after Strom Thurmond left the Democratic Party over the issue of integrating the armed forces and 45 years after Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” the Democratic party was poised to deliver its nomination for the nation’s highest office to an African-American, and this some how signaled the end of Black politics. Others have talked about a post-racial America. The events of the past few days clearly indicate that race related issues and racism are alive, well, and living in America.

What Breitbart, Tancredo, Palin, and so many others on the extreme right are playing to is fear. There references may be subtle, their language may be coded but their message is clear. It’s an irrational sense that being “pro-Black” is “anti-White”, “pro-me” is “anti-you.” This irrational fear manifests itself as irrational behavior as Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) were spat upon and called "n**ger" and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) was called a "f**got" by members of the Tea Party.

The events of the past few days seem to be a rallying cry for some on the right. This irrational sense and fear has manifested itself in Rep. Michele Bachmann ‘s (R-MN) new 35-member Tea Party caucus. According to the Boston Herald.com, “ Bachmann said the caucus will be a "receptacle" for an anti-tax, small-government movement representing "mainstream American people who have decided to get up off the couch because they want to take their country back."” Receptacle is right.

President Obama and the nation would be well served to meet these issues head on. Senator Obama was correct when he stated, as Americans we are facing “…problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.” That’s the proper context!

Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/ Host of the nationally broadcast call-in talk radio program “Inside the Issues with Wilmer Leon,” and a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Website: www.wilmerleon.com

Email: wjl3us@yahoo.com.

Twitter: www.twitter.com/drwleon

To book Dr. Leon as a guest or speaker contact Tandi Wilder at She Got Game Media twilder@shegotgame.com

Dr. Leon's Prescription: Shirley Sherrod Another Teachable Moment

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:47:00 -0400

Dr. Leon's Prescription

The Case of Shirley Sherrod, another Teachable Moment

Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III, Ph.D.

The conservative spin machine is at it again. The attack on the USDA’s former Georgia director of Rural Development, Ms. Shirley Sherrod by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart is the most recent example of the dangers that come from reactionary sound-bite politics being put in the context of race.

In an attempt to shift the focus away from the NAACP’s justified condemnation of the “…extremist elements within the Tea Party, calling on Tea Party leaders to repudiate those in their ranks who use racist language in their signs and speeches,” conservatives are once again attempting to create the illusion of "reverse discrimination". They are trying to show a "blacklash" of radical racist behavior by African Americans by distorting events, editing video, and race-baiting. They want to “flip the script” by using race based attacks as a defense against or rational for their own raciest behavior.

Unfortunately, in an attempt to demonstrate a "zero-tolerance" policy towards any perceived actions based upon race, the Department of Agriculture and the NAACP allowed themselves to be baited into taking action against Ms. Sherrod that the facts (upon further investigation) do not support. After Breibart’s video went “viral” on the internet, Ms. Sherrod told the Associated Press (AP) that she was called by the USDA’s deputy undersecretary Cheryl Cook and told that the White House wanted her to resign. "They called me twice…The last time they asked me to pull over the side of the road and submit my resignation on my Blackberry, and that's what I did."

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack summarily dismissed Ms. Sherrod based upon a video on the internet? He did not put Ms. Sherrod on administrative leave pending further investigation and did not provide Ms. Sherrod the opportunity to defend herself. Vilsack was so afraid of a baseless attack from the conservative right that he cut and ran instead of taking the time to insure that what was presented was factual and her dismissal justified.

According to the AP, Vilsack is now saying that he will "conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts." Such a through review should have been conducted on the front-end of this fiasco not after the fact. He will “consider additional facts?” No, he should consider “the facts” since his initial actions were baseless and reactionary.

In a similar knee jerk reaction, the NAACP issued a statement (which they later retracted) supporting her firing, “We concur with US Agriculture Secretary Vilsack in accepting the resignation of Shirley Sherrod…Her actions were shameful…she gave no indication she had attempted to right the wrong she had done to this man.”

Additional facts have come to light since the release of this video. Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart intentionally edited the video to misrepresent Ms. Sherrod’s message. She actually told the audience at the NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner how she was able to overcome her personal bias and help the white farmer, Roger Spooner and his wife to save their farm. Spooner’s wife Eloise told CNN that Sherrod was "getting in there and doing all she could do to help us."

Ms. Sherrod’s personal story of overcoming racial bias was intentionally misrepresented as a story of racism in order to further a larger agenda. The event she recounted took place 24 years ago while she was working for the Federation of Southern Cooperative/Land Assistance Fund not the USDA. Her actions had no relation to her current position or employer.

The NAACP went on to state, “The NAACP will continue to advance the ideals of America and fight for freedom, justice and fairness for all Americans.” If that is true they need to fight for justice and fairness for Ms. Shirley Sherrod, hold Secretary Vilsack accountable, and call upon President Obama to speak out on her behalf and condemn the race baiting tactics of the right.

The firing of Ms. Sherrod is the most recent example of the dangers that come from reactionary sound-bite politics being put in the context of race. Former Obama Special Adviser for Green Jobs Van Jones was dismissed after conservative talk show host Glenn Beck took issue with Jones’ “activist radical past” even though Jones is a leading expert in the field of the environmental economy. Attorney General Holder is accused of not pursuing a voter intimidation case in Philadelphia against the New Black Panther Party even though the decision not to file a criminal case occurred before President Obama was even in office.

These are a few examples of manufactured distractions, intentional distortions, and conveniently omitted facts, and for what reason? The Andrew Breitbart’s of the world and the media outlets that support them want the electorate to ignore the fact that on Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) were spat upon and called “nigger” and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) was called a “faggot” by members of the Tea Party.

They want Americans to ignore the fact that former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo opened the Tea Party convention by calling for a reinstatement of Jim Crow type literacy tests for voters and saying, "This is our country,…Let's take it back." Ignore the fact that during President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress on health care, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouted at the President “you lie”. Wilson would have never thought to do that to any of the former Presidents. Ignore the fact that there have been numerous cartoons featuring the Obama’s as monkeys, terrorists, or Muslim suicide bombers.

The case of Ms. Shirley Sherrod has given America another “teachable moment.” Even though the president wants to stay as far away from the race issue as possible, he can not give racists a pass. By continuing to run from race and ignoring the racists, America will remain mired in its middle.

Wilmer's Website: www.wilmerleon.com

Email: wjl3us@yahoo.com.

Twitter: www.twitter.com/drwleon

To book Dr. Leon for guest or speaking appearances contact: Tandi Wilder at She Got Game Media: twilder@shegotgame.com

Daoud's Take

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:32:00 -0400

Alex Daoud

Author/Former Mayor of Miami Beach

reacts to the Apparent Murder-Suicide Case

Involving Texas Mayor Jayne Peters

Miami Beach, July 19, 2010-

In what investigators believe to be an apparent murder-suicide case, police found Coppell, Texas Mayor Jayne Peters and her 19-year-old college-bound daughter shot dead at their suburban Dallas home last Tuesday evening.

The Coppell city manager alerted police and sent them to Peters' home after the usually prompt mayor failed to appear at a regularly scheduled city council meeting, according to CBS affiliate KTVT. When police arrived around 7:45 p.m. they found the bodies of Jayne Peters, 55 and her daughter Corrine Peters, 19. Both women had suffered gunshot wounds to the head. Police say they found four notes, but officials say they didn't offer an explanation for the deaths, only instructions for managing family affairs.

Police say there was no sign of forced entry and that the Dallas-area mayor apparently left the notes before shooting her teenage daughter to death then turning the gun on herself.

Author/Former Mayor of Miami Beach Alex Daoud, says his heart goes out to relatives, friends, and colleagues of the Mayor and her daughter. "You have to be in a really dark place to commit suicide," said Daoud. Those who contemplate ending their own life often feel trapped and that killing themselves and sometimes others, is tragically their only option."

A three-time elected mayor, Daoud ruled at the height of Miami Beach's "Cocaine Cowboy" era. In 1993, he says he reached his lowest point after being sentenced to 18 months in prison for taking bribes while in office. "I was in the depths of depression and contemplating suicide at the time," said Daoud.

In an excerpt from his book, Sins of South Beach, the former mayor revealed how close he actually came to ending his own life. "I paused in front of the bed and quickly opened the dark gym bag that lay on top. Inside was a black leather case. I carefully held the case, unzipping the cover and pulling aside the sheepskin inner lining to reveal the cold, compelling, gunmetal-blue steel of my 9mm Sig Sauer."

Fortunately Daoud realized suicide was not the answer. Instead of taking his life, he began to seek a path to redemption. "My phone number was always listed in the phone book when I was mayor. I still want to be able to help and give people someone they can talk to about problems they are having. That federal trial I went through was a nightmare, and I don't want to see anyone else go through that."

His critically acclaimed book Sins of South Beach tells his story and fall from grace. It is a warning to public servants about the moral pitfalls that may await. The book has been acquired by Cinepro Pictures to be made into a feature length film.

To set up a phone interview with Author/Former Miami Beach Mayor Alex Daoud, contact Tandi Wilder at

She Got Game Media: (914) 572-3671.