Reflections From a Murky Pond

Recently the NAACP passed a resolution condemning Tea Party activism by equating it with racism, a false but all to common attack form from the Leftists and their minority tenants like the increasingly irrelevant NAACP.

One blogger, Andrew Breitbart, responded to this attack upon Americans by posting a video of the USDA’s Georgia State Director for the USDA Rural Development, Shirley Sherrod, recounting her racist attack upon a White farmer to a NAACP gathering and the applause and approval the tale got from the Blacks there.

Andrew Breitbart’s Video of Shirley Sherrod Recounting Her Racism

President Obama’s administration responded by having their Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack force her to resign. The NAACP responded by issuing a statement saying that they condemn behavior such as that shown by the now unemployed Shirley Sherrod. This was all done openly and within a matter of hours in order to minimize the damage that such statements as Sherrod’s could do to the Obama Regime and the NAACP.

One problem – the video, while not fake, was so heavily edited that it largely misportrayed Shirley Sherrod statements. She was, in point of fact, recounting her past racist behavior and how she overcame those prejudices and her bigotry.

Watching this debacle unfold reminded me of an old adage, “Turnabout is fair play.”

President Obama, the USDA and Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack, the NAACP, and – very sadly – Mrs. Sherrod were faced with the exact same sort of attack that Whites and organizations perceived as being White-dominated have been faced with on a nearly daily basis for years – and they responded to the attack in exactly the same manner as America’s society, rife with political correctness and ethno-guiltism, has demanded that Whites do.

All that happened was that the roles of race-baiting grievance-monger and reactionary victim trying to minimize the damage were reversed and I, for one, am smiling at the reversal of positions but the consistency – dare I say equality? – of the responses.

Yet, all schadenfreude aside, I’m not unaware or unmindful of another old adage, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Mendacity and race-baiting of this sort is vile and pernicious irregardless of the respective ethnicities of the attacker and victim. Mr. Breitbart certainly shouldn’t be lauded for his actions any more than Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson should ever be lauded for theirs.

Cowardice, cynicism, and lack of judgment are also severe ethical failings irrespective of the race of those who exhibit them. President Obama, the USDA, and the NAACP should certainly be taken to task for the nature of their response to Breitbart’s attack just as too many other people and groups to name should be for responding to race-baiting attacks in the same general manner.

Perhaps though, this old adage might be wrong in this case; perhaps these wrongs can make a right. Now that America has a this very public role reversal in the racialist attacks it might just be the case that, in the wake of the damage done to both President Obama and the NAACP, that there will be a reduction in the race-baiting rhetoric and attacks that have become so ubiquitous since Obama’s election.

I’m neither ignorant of history nor insane, so I don’t hold much hope of this. I do, however, hold a little bit of it though; having your favorite weapon used upon you is often quite educational – a teaching moment, if you will.

Related Reading:

On Thursday, July 20, 2009, President Obama held what has been referred to as the “Beer Summit” in the in the Rose Garden of the White House. The President hosted Officer James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Dept. and Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of Harvard University at the White House for a beer and a bit of conversation.

Since some idiots seem to care, Pres. Obama drank Bud Light, Officer Crowley drank Blue Moon, and Prof. Gates drank red Stripe – none of which are brewed by wholly American-own breweries.

Whatever value the tête-à-tête had in the context of race relations and racial reconciliation remains to be seen, as does whatever value it may have in smoothing over Pres. Obama’s earlier “racial charged” stupidity.

All that aside, the “Beer Summit” was a Public Relations and Propaganda – yes;  irrespective of who’s in office, almost anything officially released to the media by the White House is propaganda – failure that affects an unrelated and far greater issue – the healthcare debate and the Liberals’ America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (AAHCA).

A Metaphor for ObamaCare

The young, healthy Black man walks ahead proudly, never looking back, as the middle-class White Man helps the Aged and Infirm Black Man down the steps. That is not a pretty picture, but is a picture that sums up one of the opposition’s views in the healthcare debate.

Read the rest of this entry »

Related Reading:

By now most of America, and probably the Civilized World, knows the basics of the altercation between Cambridge Police Officer, James Crowley and Black Activist and Harvard Professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr. President Obama’s cronyism, stupidity, and racism assured that the incident would be headline news.

Still, there is a lot of divergent opinions on the matter and the underlying causes of it. This is to be expected, since there are many who would use such an incident, and it’s inappropriate addition to the national news, to further their own biased agendas.

So let’s boil down the situation that occurred between Prof. Gates and Officer Crowley:

No! I won’t excuse You for being White and a Cop

On one side of the issue we have Harvard Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr., a professional racial activist who made his fame and fortune largely, though not exclusively, by capitalizing on the “plight of the Black man in America.”

Prof. Gates and his attorney, Charles Ogletree, released a statement – to The Root, a purely “Afrocentric” organ,  of course – outlining Gate’s view of the incident.

On the other side of the issue we have Cambridge Cambridge Police Officer, James Crowley, an 11-year veteran of the police force. Officer Crowley, in addition to his regular duties, has for the past 5 years taught a class on avoiding racial profiling for five years at the Lowell Police Academy. He was hand-picked to teach the course by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson, who is Black.

Officer gates, along with his partner, Officer Carlos Figueroa, who is Latino, filed their official police reports of the incident.

What happened? A professional Black Activist and a White police officer who teaches an anti-Racial Profiling course had a dispute during the course of investigating a burglary. Since the issue boils down to the character and probable motives, I’ll you all decide whose story is closer to the truth and who had a motivation and predilection for racial antagonism.

Barring further developments, I’m done with this farce, though I may comment futher on tangential issues.

Related Reading: