Hogwash and Vilificaton

Feeling several days behind the "national conversation on race" that the media has been conducting, as I am working on a performance about race issues in America , so I will post the latest and what I think are the more interesting articles and editorials on the Shirley Sherrod smearing/firing/apologizing. But first, the video of Roger Spooner - the farmers at the center of Sherrod's NAACP speech:



Also worth a look - Melissa Harris Lacewell on MSNBC framing the story as the "vilification of black women for sport and political gain."

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From Eugene Robinson in this mornings Washington Post:

After the Shirley Sherrod episode, there's no longer any need to mince words: A cynical right-wing propaganda machine is peddling the poisonous fiction that when African Americans or other minorities reach positions of power, they seek some kind of revenge against whites.

Willie Nelson weighs in on The Huffington Post about Sherrod's advocacy for family farming, as does Andy Borowitz with his headline:

USDA Offers Sherrod Authority Over Farmville

And finally, Rachel Maddow's report on the flip-flopping of Fox News on the Sherrod story:

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BP Arts Sponsorship Protest Hits Texas

From the Durango Herald:

Vandals took out their anger at BP on the Durango Arts Center's canvas awning sometime last week, but the misguided protest is going to hurt the struggling nonprofit, its director said Monday.

DAC Executive Director Sheri Rochford Figgs said she'll have to replace the entire awning, which faces East Second Avenue and is decorated with the names of "significant" donors, except for, now, BP.

First Lady Advocacy of the Arts

A Washington Post article on Michelle Obama's relationship to the arts and the arts programming at the White House:

After a year and a half of an Obama White House, which has included more than 50 cultural events, this student workshop epitomizes the first lady's approach to the arts. Her philosophy is defined by an emphasis on education and access for those who are often locked out.