Out-Of-Context Racism Ruins a Career

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President Barack Obama may be the first African-American to hold the office, but that hasn't stopped all the racial finger-pointing from the left and right.  What happens when it ends up ruining lives and careers when further evidence proves there was no basis for it?

We have an example now in Shirley Sherrod, a Department of Agriculture official who had to resign from her post for comments she made at an NAACP gathering in March, and was posted by a conservative website.  In it, she described her initial reluctance as an African-American in 1986 working for a non-profit agency to help a white farmer in Georgia retain his farm when so many others of her ethnicity had trouble keeping theirs.  

That remark alone would have been grounds for dismissal.  It turns out, however, that the website only ran part of Sherrod's speech.  The remainder dealt with how she had come around to the view that people of all races needed help, and that the man she helped got to keep his farm.

By then, it was too late.  Fox News Channel, which prides itself on "fair and balanced" reporting, picked up the story on its website.  Their conservative commentators had harped on it for days before the rest of the mainstream media were forced to take notice.  And this was before the extra video footage surfaced.

If you want to know why the White House and the Democrats seem to treat Republicans and Fox News with kid gloves, it's because (A) GOP fundraising and conservative talk radio are great at getting their base all fired up and spending money, and (B) Fox News' ratings are far above their cable news competitors.  Even when the big story breaks, that's where viewers go.  It doesn't matter if what they report is fair or balanced, as long as it suits their agenda and people choose to believe what they're told.

Others have suggested that the Obama administration needs to work the liberal media to get its message out.  Two problems:  (1) What liberal media?, and (2) Progressives themselves aren't too happy with the President these days for not living up to their expectations.

Sherrod has gotten apology after apology from President Obama, the White House and the USDA, who offered her another job there.  It's all very nice.  But after the damage has been done, who could blame Sherrod for telling her former employer "thanks, but no thanks", hire an attorney and haul into court those who did her wrong?