Project Logic Ga

If Sarah Palin is Mamma Grizzly, I am naming Mrs. Shirley Sherrod the Brown Thrasher because since Palin and I were college students, Mrs. Sherrod has been fighting the good fight patiently. Notice how you can’t say “Shirley” or Sherrod anymore than you can say “Rosa Parks,” “Lena Horne” or “Nancy Wilson”—that’s how we do it in the real South.  “Mrs.” and “Mr.” are signs of respect.  The lady in the cafeteria is “Mrs.” and it is “yes madam”  –a lesson one Capitol Hill intern learn the hard way from yours truly.  It was a teachable moment. 

The Thrasher is the state bird of Georgia but most people did not know that until Atlanta’s hockey team took the name.  Mrs. Sherrod and Mr. Charles Sherrod have been encouraging Georgians to want more from themselves and aim higher for years–basically transition from the plantation mentality.  Their efforts to keep Black farmland in family hands were noble but as soon as granddaddy’s body was cold, that land was sold and the greedy grands were heading to the BMW dealership.   Land: they are not making any more of it.

Mrs. Sherrod taking that position with USDA was seen as the crowning event in a long career since she had been working for “rural development” her whole life.  Why do people sleep on the USDA?  Every person needs safe, affordable food; clean water and fresh air.  While urban improvement generally falls under the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USDA covers the farmland and rural communities.  If you want to slow the flight of rural people into the bulging cities like Atlanta, it starts with Mrs. Sherrod and others (like me) who haven’t given up on small town America.  We can’t forget about the suburbs are which are blurring the line between city and country.  If you travel north on I-75, Atlanta starts about 15 miles above Macon.  There isn’t a wildcat in your backyard; you are in the wildcat’s backyard.  Watching young professionals move to rural areas, tend their own gardens and telecommute with their laptops is too cool.

Mrs. Sherrod should think Sarah Palin, Herman Cain, Dr. Howard Dean, and Mike Huckabee then passing on that USDA job.  These former candidates are doing bigger and better outside elected office or governmental employment.  Book deal, T.V. show, and the lecture circuit—it’s her turn to have a victory lap and thanks to the tape-cutting blogger who made this all possible. 

We shouldn’t forget that Mrs. Sherrod was speaking freely on the mic about race—a little too freely when you work for “the man” —even when “the man” looks like you.  You want to have a national discussion about race relations in America.  Let’s do it.  Let’s put the NACCP in the room with the Tea Party and toss in the moderates.  They will discover what wise people already know: we are all Americans with common interests who have plenty reasons to be mad.  But, blowing a gasket will not help anything…so simmer down, have some Sweet Tea and let’s get a better understanding of each other. 

Coming soon, The Sherrod Show on Fox News.  It’s fair and balanced.