A lesson in race and grace

A lesson in race and grace

Dallas Morning News: Shirley Sherrod deserves more than a litany of apologies and an offer of a new job. She deserves the respect and ear of a nation that has much to learn about race and grace.

No one should have to endure the cruel sequence of events that briefly cast Sherrod as a racist at the center of another wearying, politically charged black-white skirmish. Every step of this episode was disastrous, from the work of the video’s editor, who wanted to misrepresent the truth, to the reaction of the NAACP, Agriculture officials and White House, who didn’t give the woman what they most assuredly would have wanted had they been in her position — the opportunity to explain.

How distressingly dishonest and deeply poisonous. Posted by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, the video seemed to show that Sherrod had gleefully discriminated against a white farmer. And the deception worked for awhile because the video snippet fed preconceived views in some Internet communities eager for confirmation, not illumination.

The Agriculture Department and the White House also rushed to judge, responding to the political imagery and potential fallout instead of to the facts, charging and judging Sherrod based on an ill-informed chorus of public opinion. Tragically, this episode mindlessly mimicked the way too many Americans chose to publicly engage on race — accuse first and never let the facts get in the way.

Shirley Sherrod’s nightmare has taught us more about our national struggle with race than we’d probably like to admit. Dealing with race honestly and not as a weapon would be an admirable next step for us all.