Arts & Entertainment
The Courage to Hope
‘Master Harold...’
By Kam Williams
Special To The
Skanner News
“I
n the summer of
2010,
Shirley
Sherrod was cata-
pulted into a media storm
that blew apart her life…
A right-wing blogger dis-
seminated a video clip of
a speech she had given to
the Georgia NAACP…
The media ramped up
the outrage and, before
Sherrod had a chance to
defend
herself,
the
Obama
administration
demanded her resignation.
Then, after hearing… the
entire speech, public offi-
cials
and
media
professionals admitted to
being duped and apologized
for their rush to judgment...
The Courage to Hope
addresses this regrettable
episode but also tells Sher-
rod’s own story of growing
her heartfelt remarks in that
speech delivered to the
NAACP were exactly the
opposite. In the address, she
spoke about how she had
overcome the bitterness
she’d felt about the South
(including the murder of her
own father by a white man
never brought to justice) to
the point that she became
willing to help poor folks of
any color.
Furthermore, she was
summarily fired on the spot
by her boss without being
given an opportunity to
defend herself. In the end,
the truth did come out,
affording the country a
very-valuable
teachable
moment about innocence
until proven guilty when the
unfairly accused was ulti-
mately exonerated.
Sherrod finally gets to set
the record straight in The
Courage to Hope, a
poignant half-autobiogra-
phy/half-tale of redemption.
Not only does the moving
memoir address the infa-
mous incident which thrust
the author into the limelight
but, perhaps more impor-
tantly, it recounts a life story
which reveals her to be a
real role model well worthy
of admiration and emula-
tion.
JAMIE BOSWORTH PHOTOGRAPHER
How I Stood Up to the Politics of Fear
Profile Theatre opens its 16th season with Athol Fugard’s “Master
Harold…and the Boys,” running Oct. 3 – 28. The three-man tour-de-force
features the talents of Garfield Wedderburn, Sam Benedict and Bobby
Bermea (above, from left), and is directed by Jane Unger. Profile Theater,
located at 3430 SE Belmont St., is dedicating its entire season to Fugard,
a native of South Africa and one of the most respected living
playwrights.
In the end, the truth did come
out, affording the country a
very-valuable teachable
moment about innocence
until proven guilty when the
unfairly accused was ultimately
exonerated.
up in Georgia during the
violent years of Jim Crow
when her father was mur-
dered by a white neighbor
who was never brought to
justice.”
— Excerpted from the
Inside Book Jacket.
A couple of years ago,
arch-conservative Andrew
Breitbart (since deceased)
launched a character assas-
sination on Shirley Sherrod
which almost cost the then
U.S.D.A. State Director her
career while temporarily
ruining her reputation. For,
he had posted on his website
a video edited to make Ms.
Sherrod appear to be an
unrepentant bigot against
Caucasians.
Truth be told, the tenor of
However, Breitbart’s mis-
leading video quoted Ms.
Sherod out of context, mak-
ing no mention of her
having made an emotional
breakthrough. Instead, it
was deliberately designed to
leave viewers with the
impression that she was an
inveterate racist.
Sadly, the clip went viral
and soon not only right-
wing pundits but even
presumably sympathetic
colleagues ranging from
NAACP President Ben Jeal-
ous to officials in the
Obama
administration
began calling for the poor
woman’s head.
Sherrod was publicly
humiliated in the national
press as if the poster child
for racial intolerance.
September 26, 2012
The Portland Skanner Page 7