[Oe List ...] Shirley Sherrod

[W. J.]

FYI.
From: W. J. <synergi at yahoo.com>
To: Benjamin Todd Jealous <BJealous at naacpnet.org>
Cc: Ms. Kia Heath <KHeath at naacpnet.org>; Julian Bond <JBond at naacpnet.org>
Sent: Wed, July 21, 2010 2:25:34 PM
Subject: Shirley Sherrod


Mr. Jealous, I am pleased that you reversed yourself and applauded Shirley 
Sherrod after the dustup which got her fired. You said your organization was 
"snookered."

Yes you were. BUT, even taking into consideration your youth and the very recent 
time frame of your association with civil rights, how could you have missed the 
civil rights history that is associated, particularly in Georgia, with the name 
SHERROD??

I don't personally know Shirley Sherrod, but I have known, worked, and studied 
at Union Theological Seminary in the 1960's with her husband, the legendary Rev. 
Charles M. Sherrod, who was one of the founders, and the first field director of 
the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a leader of the  Student 
Interracial Ministry, an ally of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and an organizer 
of the Southwest Georgia Project focused on the voter registration struggle that 
went on for years in Albany, GA. Charles went on to found New Communities, Inc., 
a not-for-profit organization in Albany that worked with poor, mostly black 
farmers. The Sherrod family was instrumental in advancing the lawsuit that 
finally put a stop to USDA's racial discrimination with a $13 million dollar 
award to New Communities, Inc.

Since you were apparently unaware of all this, you could simply have asked 
Julian Bond. 

Or, using Google, you could have gone to the following web pages:
http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/witnesses/charles_sherrod.html
http://www.ruraldevelopment.org/shirleydirector.html

As one who is retiring and acknowledging a new generation of leadership, my 
concern is that you new guys not publicly fall on your faces due to a lack of 
knowledge and depth of appreciation for the history we all forged together as 
much as a half century ago. We all deserve better than that.

Cordially yours,

Rev. Wayne Marshall Jones, MDiv, MFT
415/831-1537
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