UPDATE: Video Shows Ag Dept Official Repudiates Racism

Conn Carroll / July 19, 2010

UPDATE: The NAACP has released a full video of Sherrod’s speech. It shows that the incident Sherrod was describing happened in 1986 years before she was in the Obama administration. More importantly it shows that Sherrod has completely repudiated her view that the farmer was not one of her “own kind.” In fact it shows that she has since become life long friends with the farmer and that she is fervently committed to helping all Americans equally.

We are thankful to the NAACP for releasing the full video and we wish the Obama administration would follow their example and allow all relevant parties in the New Black Panther Party case to testify openly.

ORIGINAL POST BEGIN:
This morning we reviewed the still unfolding New Black Panther Party scandal at the Department of Justice where a whistle blower, testifying under oath, quoted Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandes as saying that “the Voting Section will never or will not, at least while she is there, bring any more cases against blacks or other national minorities.” In other words, Fernandes has reportedly admitted that the Obama Justice Department is not enforcing the nation’s civil rights law equally and in a race-neutral manner. The Obama Justice Department has refused to confirm or deny that Fernandes made this statement.

Now Andrew Breitbert has unearthed a very similar statement from another Obama political appointee, this time from the Department of Agriculture. In the video, U.S. Department of Agriculture Director of Rural Development for Georgia Shirley Sherrod tells an NAACP audience: (more…)