[Oe List ...] Shirley Sherrod

[LAURELCG at aol.com]

Thanks for this, Marshall. Rachel Maddow dedicated a lot of time to this  
last night. Very helpful.
 
Blessings,
Jann McGuire
 
In a message dated 7/21/2010 2:32:47 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
synergi at yahoo.com writes:

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.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/witnesses/charles_sherrod.html) 
_http://www.ruraldevelopment.org/shirleydirector.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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