See Yourself Becoming… Able to Change

By now you may have heard about Shirley Sherrod who was recently fired from her job at the US Department of Agriculture over a video tape that surfaced from 25 years ago where she was accused of stating that she discriminated against a white farmer. In this age of the internet and the 24 hour news cycle no one actually stopped to investigate if the tape had been edited to make the charge of discrimination appear real, but simply fired Ms. Sherrod via blackberry by the side of the road on her way to an appointment.

There is something good that did come out of this story however. Someone finally took the time to view the entire video and learned that it had been edited. And, along with viewing the entire video came to learn that a woman whose father had been killed by whites because of his civil rights work could learn to forgive and make a change to help all people regardless of color. In fact, the very farmer she mentioned in the video came forward to speak on her behalf; and her ordeal accomplished what has not happened in this country for a long time: people on the right and the left of the political spectrum spoke out that she had been wronged. AND, I am glad to announce that she was offered her job back.

Below is a partial clip of an interview from CNN where she discusses her own transformation and the ability to change.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=us/2010/07/21/ac.shirley.sherrod.intv.cnn

3 Comments

Kalei's Best Friend on 2010/07/22 at 2:24 pm

I find it interesting and am not surprised that this was doctored/taken out of context.. How many times does this happen? Tapes either video/audio seem to be played with… It looks as tho times have not changed too much when it comes to race… or treating people right regardless of race, etc.. 2 steps back once again.

Cherrie McKenzie on 2010/07/22 at 3:27 pm

The sad part is that the national media took the story at face value and ran with it. But,as I indicated, the tragedy served to highlight that even in heartbreaking instances we can change. This woman went on to help hundreds of farmers, black and white, despite what happened to her father. It says that there is good in all of us… we just have to dig deep and find it.

Kalei's Best Friend on 2010/07/24 at 12:31 pm

Yes, u r right… I guess we have that drive within us even if there is a chance we might get knocked down… I just thought by now, things would be different…Its irrational to me, but as long as people perpetuate the problem by passing on prejudice in any form, then things will take forever…