You Took The Scalp, Don’t Be Afraid To Claim It
Posted on June 17, 2009 at 12:53 pmRoger Abramson talks directly to those that drove the Sherri Goforth story:
We’ve been here before. Remember Bill Hobbs back in 2006? A big deal was made in the press about that goofy Muslim cartoon he put on the Internet, his employer (Belmont University) was mentioned in the articles (even though Belmont had nothing to do with that cartoon), putting Belmont in a position where it really had no choice but to save face publicly by giving Hobbs the heave-ho. I remember talking to some folks in the local press back then and getting this general reaction: “Well, that’s silly. They shouldn’t fire him.” As though the press accounts somehow had nothing to do with it; as though Belmont was just sitting around and just up and arbitrarily decided to can him. It’s like someone shooting a guy in the head and being surprised that they fall over dead. “Well, I’ll be damned. He died just like that. Huh. Never saw that coming.”
The probable outcome of this episode will be the termination (one way or the other) of Sherri Goforth. So, don’t act surprised. And don’t act like you had nothing to do with it. Own it. Hell, be proud of it, the “greater good” and all of that.
A Man’s Got To Have A Code
Posted on June 16, 2009 at 3:35 pmI mean, don’t get it twisted I do some dirt, too, but I ain’t never put my gun on nobody who wasn’t in the game.
~ Omar Devon Little
I’ve been getting many inquiries and much static, from just about all quarters, for my handling of the Sherri Goforth story. I’ve gotten emails. I’ve gotten phone calls. And, clearly, more than a few blog comments asking me just why exactly “The Story” didn’t show up on Post Politics until after business hours yesterday when it had been the buzz of the blogosphere for hours and hours.
Was it because I was in the pocket of the Republicans? Was because I was covering for a “fellow racist”? Was I jealous because the Scene got to it before me? Was the rumor true that I had the email weeks ago and failed to post on it?
First of all, I don’t make a lot of distinction personally between “new” and “old” media, professional and amateur journalism in this area. I try to be very conscientious about noting where I come across the links, news and commentary posted here and I don’t much care who the source is. If it is a blogger, I link. If it is the Tennessean, I link.
This story was broken by Trace Sharp where I saw the story early in the morning. The distinction belongs to her and her alone.
If I were to be “jealous” of anyone it would be her because she was first. She is a serious blogger and a journalist. The Scene or any subsequent outlet who picked up on it would not affect my “editorial” judgment, as it were.
It’s actually a silly accusation because while you will find original journalism on this blog most of what I do here is aggregation. I post stories from the Scene, the Tennessean, just about everywhere. This wasn’t about the source or the competition, this was about the content. It was about the story itself.
I didn’t believe it was one.
I still don’t.
Post Politics received the email in question on June 1, 2009. It was forwarded to me just, as I imagine, it was to Trace Sharp. I made some inquiries into the matter. I ultimately decided not to run with it.
Why? It’s quite simple really. Sherri Goforth is a civilian.
She is not a blogger. She is not a politician. She is not an operative. She is, essentially, a secretary. A secretary in the legislature for 20 years.
Now the email she sent was indefensible. I don’t defend it. I will not defend it. It is authentically racist — and I’m not even one who likes to throw that word around.
In my inquiries I found that Goforth had forwarded an email which was immediately recalled and deleted. Goforth was reprimanded and a letter was placed in her file. The email was, and I did look into this as well, the only email of this nature that Goforth had sent that anyone, my original source as well as others, could produce. There was no pattern of racist behavior in the workplace I could find and sanctions had already been taken against her.
Now, I’m not unfamiliar with how these things work. Had I gone with the story, what has now happened, would have happened. A career state employee would have her name on CNN and the AP wire. Calls for her termination would commence from people with an ax to grind and a political agenda to advance. She would in all likelihood be fired or asked to resign, if not immediately then after session was over.
Now, I have put people’s mess in the street before — Republicans and Democrats. But as far as I can remember, it has always been politicians, operatives and bloggers that I have pulled the trigger on. Have I linked to media reports which mentioned regular citizens by name before? Probably.
But, frankly, after making inquiries and coming to the conclusion that I did, I just didn’t feel like piling on yesterday. Was that a mistake? According to many of you who value this website, it was. I understand that.
This blog, after all, is an amalgamation of the news, chatter and commentary going on in Tennessee politics. Yesterday, today and likely for the rest of this week, Sherri Goforth is “The Big Thing.”
Everyone was and will be talking about it. Regardless of my personal feelings about pulling the trigger initially, was it my job to ride to the sound of guns once the game was on?
I don’t know. If it was, it was a part of my job that I didn’t like, and like many employees I elected to put it off until it could no longer be put off. As Trace Sharpe herself likes to say, I’ll own that.
Now anyone who knows me knows that pageviews are more dear to me than anything. I have little love for either ideologies or political parties. But if I did, those loves would never trump that which I have for web traffic. It’s what has kept me employed for as long as I have doing something I truly love.
I would never, not for one second, sacrifice pageviews to defend a political party. I sacrificed them because I didn’t believe the story was news.
I sacrificed them because Sherri Goforth is a working woman. She has not put herself up for office, she is not crafting messages or legislation. She is not a political operator.
If some of the folks who received the email had sent it rather than received it, it would have been different. But that wasn’t the case.
The legislature is not Congress. Not everyone who works there is working on bills, legislation and other “Real Important Business.” Some folks who work there are just glorified secretaries. That is what Sherri Goforth is, no offense intended. All this hullabaloo, in the final analysis, is over a secretary who forwarded an email from one of her white trash friends. That’s what this is. That’s all this is.
Yes, her email does fit superficially into an ongoing narrative of the TNGOP as an organization right around the edge (which side of the line is a matter of opinion) of the line of racial propriety. As such, I see how it could be interpreted as news. But that’s not the reality.
Sherri Goforth is not Chip Saltsman. She is not Bill Hobbs. She is not Robin Smith. She ain’t even Scott Gilmer. She’s not a player in game. In my mind, it would be akin to an infantryman shooting a enemy army cook in the back of the head.
I had the ammo, I took aim, but I viewed my potential victim as a civilian and I held my fire. That’s what happened.
Forrester: Goforth And Can Her Ass
Posted on June 15, 2009 at 5:33 pmThe Tennessee Democratic Party Chair has called for the head of a legislative staffer who sent an incendiary email featuring some of that old-timey racism. The presser in full:
Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Chip Forrester denounced an email sent out by Republican staffer Sherri Goforth depicting Barack Obama as two eyes peering out of a black background.
“Is this indicative of what Senate Republicans think about our Commander-in-Chief?” Forrester asked. “This email is reprehensible, insults the office of the President, and is embarrassing to all Tennesseans regardless of political party.”
Sen. Diane Black’s staffer sent an email with an attached collage of traditional presidential portraits, except that President Obama was depicted as two eyes peering from a black background.”When I ran for Chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party, I said that no longer would our Party sit idly by and allow Republicans to make bigoted attacks on Democrats in our state and our country. Well, once again, a Tennessee Republican has earned national attention for a racist, hate-filled attack on our President,” Forrester said.
Unfortunately, Sherri Goforth’s email joins the list of shameful episodes by Tennessee Republicans, from the infamous “Birds of a Feather” (PDF) direct mail piece that featured black crows with the heads of Barack Obama and Rep. Nathan Vaughn (who is also African-American), to the “Barack the Magic Negro” song that former Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Chip Saltsman sent to RNC members during his failed campaign for RNC chair.
Since her aide’s email has come to light, Sen. Black, the chair of the House Republican Caucus, has merely reprimanded Goforth.
“I am calling on Sen. Black to reject this racist smear and fire this staffer who, on state government time, on state government computers, using a state government email account, launched this bigoted attack on our president,” Forrester said. “Keeping her on the staff would send the message that this type of behavior is condoned by the House Republican Caucus.”
“Ms. Goforth does not seem to understand what she did wrong. She has apologized for ’sending [the email] to the wrong list of people.’ I believe that any list of people would have recognized this email as offensive and hateful. The fact that a state employee would not understand that indicates that she is not fit for employment by the state of Tennessee.”
“We have hundreds of state employees facing the possibility of losing their jobs due to the budget deficit and no fault of their own. I think we could save at least one of those jobs by firing Sherri Goforth.”
MORE ON THIS DEVELOPING STORY:
Newscoma
Silence
Hannan
Grantham
Humphrey
Cracker
GoldnI
Atlantic
Wonkette
Sandy
Mancini
FirestormLooking For Racism In 287(g)
Posted on March 5, 2009 at 8:27 amAunt B. thinks the immigration restrictionist federal program is so racist, you don’t even notice it:
It is so bold in its racism that I think people’s first reaction is to try to believe that they are not seeing what they are clearly seeing. They go through all kinds of mental leaps to make sense of it in a way that doesn’t include “I tolerate blatant injustice and evil from my city.”
But as long as Davidson County participates in the 287(g) program, we are tolerating a racist–straight up old school non-academic-definition but real true if you saw it in a movie you’d know the people doing it were the bad guys racist–system.
And if we’re not going to stand up and say, “You know what? Nobody in this county should have the power to make 1% of the city disappear in two years.” then I hope the Feds step in and put a stop to it.
SEE ALSO:
Hispanic Nashville
Greg Siskind
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The Audacity Of The Racist Graffiti
Posted on September 8, 2008 at 11:04 amSean Braisted reports that an Obama supporter has been the victim of an apparent hate crime:
Unfortunately hate and racism still exist in cities throughout the US as evidenced by a hate crime committed today September 6, 2008 in Franklin, TN just outside of Nashville. A family member’s vehicle was parked outside of my house in an upper middle class neighborhood yesterday evening. We received an afternoon phone call from a neighbor informing us that the vehicle parked in front of our home had been painted with obscenities such as: the N word, “F#$% Obama”, “McCain Rules”, “White Power”, and others that will go unmentioned. We proceeded to go outside and witness the monstrosity for ourselves. It was heartbreaking. I imagine that there have been other occurrences of this sort as our nation works through this extremely significant and emotion-charged time. I think it’s important that we continue to spread the message of unity and respect for each other regardless of whether or not we agree with each other. We need to continue to convince people that these acts don’t accomplish anything. For those who are incapable of listening to reason, we need the support of the media and of law enforcement officials in Franklin, TN and throughout the nation to show, with a big voice, that this will not be tolerated. We also need law enforcement to take the investigation of these matters seriously.
SEE ALSO:
Grantham Is Talking
Mike ByrdTennessee Voters Too Ornery To Be Racist
Posted on at 8:52 amThat’s what Tom Lee says:
Tom Lee, a Nashville attorney who worked in Mr. Ford’s 2006 campaign, said he believes the Obama campaign “has suffered from the fact that they did not campaign here during the primary.”
He noted that then-U.S. Rep. Ford realized he was not well known outside his Memphis district and campaigned vigorously in areas such as East Tennessee. But doing that in a presidential campaign is difficult, where “demands on the campaign’s time and money are going to be enormous,” Mr. Lee noted.
As for race, Mr. Lee said Mr. Ford’s contest in 2006 “showed that Tennesseans are people who make judgments regardless of labels.”
“We are famous in this state for being independent-minded,” he said. “We’re ornery, even. Very few people are going to tell us how to vote based in the fact that we are of a particular race, party or gender.”
The Politics Of Fear
Posted on July 29, 2008 at 8:01 amTruman Bean stands in support of a Williamson County Sheriff candidate’s use of a flier some say is racist:
Tommy Campsey has NOT backed down from his truthful ad on the detrimental effects of illegal immigration.
The shadowy figure on his mailer represents criminal activity, the very first act committed by those that choose to skirt our nations entry requirements.
An issue that is very relevant for the head of the sheriff’s department, one that has already applied to be part of the 287g program. An enforcement tool that illegals fear and one that is clearly making a difference.
Just another reason to push me MUCH closer to voting for Tommy Campsey.
After seeing this story last night, Mr Campsey has separated himself from the crowded sheriff candidate contest….. IN A VERY GOOD WAY!
SEE ALSO:
Tim Chavez
WTVF
WKRN
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