Shirley Sherrod: Cultural Marxism disguised as multiculturalism

"Intellectuals and political hustlers who blame the plight of so many blacks on poverty, discrimination and the 'legacy of slavery' are complicit in the socioeconomic and moral decay," writes Walter E. Williams, quoting Booker T. Washington's  1901 autobiography Up From Slavery, where the author is describing the motivations and modus operandi of the Jesse Jacksons and Reverend Sharptons of his day:

"There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.

Booker T. Washington's homegrown grievance industry turned toxic in the last decades of the 20th century, when multiculturalism arose from the ashes of the New Left, as Linda Kimball explained in her American Thinker essay "Cultural Marxism" a couple of years back:

Because the New Left lacked cohesion it fell apart as a political movement. However, its revolutionaries reorganized themselves into a multitude of single issue groups. Thus we now have for example, radical feminists, black extremists, anti-war ‘peace' activists, animal rights groups, radical environmentalists, and ‘gay' rights groups …

Both communism and the New Left are alive and thriving here in America. They favor code words: tolerance, social justice, economic justice, peace, reproductive rights, sex education and safe sex, safe schools, inclusion, diversity and sensitivity. All together, this is Cultural Marxism disguised as multiculturalism.

This unholy alliance of homegrown and imported grievance mongering has come home to roost in the person of Shirley Sherrod. While legacy media and fellow travelers in the blogosphere heard what they wanted to hear on those notorious NAACP videos and fashioned a narrative of Sherrod as earthly saint, our friend Dan Riehl actually sat down and listened to the whole thing. Far from the uniter portrayed by the usual suspects, Sherrod in her own words turns out to be a divider capable of accusing video promulgator Andrew Breitbart of wanting "to get us stuck back in the times of slavery." Then came the equally sainted husband Charles and Dan's latest coup this morning, videos of the former SNCC organizer declaring "We Must Stop The White Man And His Uncle Toms ..." But don't tell "former self-hating white person" Joan Walsh of Slate. She "grew up adoring black people" and let Matt Lewis know in no uncertain terms yesterday that "because Sherrod's father was murdered by a white man, she was entitled to call Fox News and Andrew Breitbart a "racist."

Update: Michelle Malkin "Buzzworthy" link!

Update II: The News Junkie at Maggie's Farm links. He's taking the month of August off 'cause he's "sick of having to see all of the outrages du jour."

Crossposted at Riehl World View and Liberty Pundits.

Comments

[chickelit]

What a great find Sissy!

[A society has one culture]

Multi-culturalism also allowed the left to destroy any reverence for American history, the American founders, or American values. The United States was rendered the geographic equivalent of a shopping mall -- neutral territory in which every group ignores the others and pursues its own pleasures -- except of course when there are gang fights. And multi-culturalism legitimizes gangs of self-interested persons by calling them cultures.

[goomp]

I agree. A society has but one culture if it is to be effective. Let us strive to support the Tea Party heroes to make it the culture envisioned by the founders of our Republic.

[Tom the Redhunter]

Holy smokes! I always liked Booker T Washington but never saw that passage.

Such a tragedy his prescriptions were not adopted, and those of W.E.B. Du Bois were. Blacks are paying the price of that mistake today and likely for several generations to come too.

As for Shirley Sherrod and her husband, yes I saw those videos and it turns out they are a pair of nutcases.