What Mrs. Sherrod Represents

Shirley Sherrod is the former director of Rural Development for the state of Georgia. She was fired over a video she made in March of this year at an NAACP gathering. In my previous post I embedded the video so you could see and hear for yourself exactly what she said. She simply hesitated to help a white farmer, 24 years ago. Why? Because her dad was murdered by a white man, because her entire life she had lived in rural south under the thumb of those that wanted to do her and her family harm simply for being Black.
This is a grown woman who has memories of her family coming out of their homes to defend themselves with shotguns in the night. Her memories are the memories that we have refused to remember or even acknowledge in this post-racial America. But she remembers her experiences with racism, and she shared them. And she stayed in the south to be in a position where she could decide the fate of the very people who she and her family suffered under.
After all of that, she still fought with all of her resources to help a White farmer save his 500 acre farm.
Someone asked me, "What does this Sherrod story have to do with the struggle of Black people?" My answer, "Everything."
That is our story, Sherrod represents us in a small way. She suffered much. She pledged as a young girl she would leave the south and never return. Yet she stayed, fought as best as she knew how, received a measure of balance and most importantly she never forgot her history, her experience.
The fear of some is that she will always remember her pain and seek retribution. But that is not our heart. That is not our way as a people. We forgive (unfortunately forget) and move on.


Then there is the other dynamic that boils down to the old familiar 'dollars and cents.' This Black woman was over, reportedly, a billion dollar budget in Georgia. A billion dollars. In this cash strapped economy, when you have an honest broker over the finances as she was said to be, it's a bit more difficult to maneuver money without accountability. With her conveniently fired, perhaps those funds are more accessible to those who have no intentions of being fair or just.

Every media story we see, without exception is sent out to the general public with an intention of effecting the reader. Maybe it is to persuade or inform but always to leave an impression. In this case, it effectively disrupted the life of a life-long public servant and showed the colors of leadership who threw her under the bus, that should have her best interest at heart.