Rushing to Judgment and the Shirley Sherrod incident

I called it an incident but honestly I don't really know what to call it. A woman lost her job and has been vilified in the media so it is more than an incident. If I can think of something better to call the incident, I will do so at the end. The story as you now know goes loosely like this. Ms. Sherrod gave a speech about her view on race and referred to an incident in her a past - an A ha moment if you will - at an NAACP event. The event, which happened back in March, was taped and someone decided to slice and dice it to make it look like she was a racist. One look at the video and one could see that it was 'put together'. Nevertheless, in the end, the cleverly packaged video made its way to the forefront of all three of the cable news networks. Quite understandably at first glance there was outrage. I'm sure we all agree that NO one should use their position of power against anyone.

Everybody wanted her head on the platter for what appeared to be racist remarks against a white farmer. NAACP denounced her actions. She was subsequently forced to give her resignation by pulling over on the side of the road and texting it. Her superiors wanted it quickly because they didn't want the story to appear on Glenn Beck. She went on the various news stations pleading her innocence, asking everyone to watch the ENTIRE video and .......well.....24 hours later everyone was given access to the video in its entirety and the story gets even deeper. It was not as it originally seemed.

It turns out the 30 second clip was actually a small PIECE of a much LONGER video and Ms. Sherrod was indeed telling the truth. Her comments were essentially taken out of context. It dawned on NO ONE in the news media, at the NAACP or in the Secretary's office to 'further investigate' this situation. Every one acted FIRST. Had everyone wait just ONE DAY .....

I would love to know how we got to this point. As a undergraduate journalism student, we were always told to check and re-check facts. Granted, we all understood if it bled it led but check the facts nonetheless. I also know as a consumer that many a story makes its way on to television and print news and not all the facts are presented. And I am by no way implying that this is some sort of malicious conspiracy but when a reporter only has a minute and 30 seconds to tell a story, only so much is going to get in. It is after all being told from the presenter's point of view. Something will be left out. I'm sure someone reading this will probably wonder what I left out.

This incident has many facets including the initial position the NAACP took their claim of being 'snookered', how the administration chose to handle the situation ( texting a resignation?seriously?) and last but not least how we as a society look at this.

I think without a doubt we can all think back to a time when we have all acted hastily without all the facts and the results were horrendous. Personally, I can think of a more than one. Watching this play out on television over the last 48 hours, all I could think of was how sad it was that everyone hit first and asked questions later. This is not to say that we know EVERYTHING there is to know about this situation but I think if we give it time we will continue to learn more. I think this is textbook teaching moment about rushing to judgment but honestly I think it will go over most of our heads. I hope as we continue to watch this unfold we will bite our tongue the next time someone angers us, or makes a decision we don't like or chooses a position we don't like. Take a moment to see their point of view. LISTEN.ASK QUESTIONS.ASK MORE QUESTIONS. In the end this may ultimately help YOU save face. Remember that your response or reaction to a situation could have grave results.

This is my two cents....What say you?

And the reference to this as an incident will stand. As long as it took me to write this post I still couldn't come up with anything.

Making today rich....Becoming a Better Me

I trust everyone had a great 4th of July, I know I did. I hung out with my mom and my nephew. We had a roti and went down to the park for Houston Caribfest. I didn't plan on going to the park. Spending money to get sunburned and sweaty just didn't seem appealing but my nephew wanted to go so that was that. I originally planned to just sit around and enjoy the sunshine after the many days of rain courtesy of tropical storm/depression Alex. It was a beautiful day!

The 4th also marks our move to the Houston area. Thirty years ago yesterday, my mother made the decision to leave NYC to escape an abusive relationship. She left with two small children and a suitcase a piece. No one knew where we were and it stayed that way for six months. Ultimately it was not meant to be and he wormed his way back in her mind and they, through the years violence still prevalent - are still together today. I thought a lot about this on yesterday and the only two people I could talk about it with were both unwilling and incapable of going back to that moment.

I obviously have my own feelings about this relationship as I grew up watching everything unfold. It hasn't helped my life overall and more importantly my life PERSONALLY. It has left me very jaded. I think a lot about how it has affected me and realise that being bitter just leaves me ...well.....being bitter. No one cares about the past. Everyone who has had to listen to the story, and a story I can tell,always ended up saying to me - "Get over it Mel. Its going to eat you up!" Over the years I have always said I was 'over it' and tried to move forward but some way some how, I always end up letting a thought, one sometimes 10-15 years old get the better of me. I am getting to the point where I really do want to move past it.

My girlfriend Stephanie gave me a daily meditation book for my birthday in 1997 and I recently pulled it out and starting using it again. I missed a couple of days and had a moment to pick it up earlier today. Today's meditation was, "If you are willing to deal with the past, you can make the moment you are in rich." It also goes on to say we cannot get away from our past. It also mentioned something about denial. Needless to say it made me think of all the times I have said to my self that I would deal with my feelings of anger and hate and hostility. I also think of all the things I want to accomplish and moving forward and I know deep down that nothing will change until I do.