As Keith Olbermann said “by trying to be everyone’s President you are being no one’s President” Mr. Olberman, you hit the proverbial nail on the head. The White House should not be the student when it comes to issues of race. Nor should it be completely without a position or a backbone.

The lack of said backbone became crushingly clear this week as Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign from her position with the USDA. The request for her resignation was prompted by a heavily edited video clip put into circulation by Andrew Breitbart, a right-wing blogger. In the 38 second clip, taken from a 43 minute speech, features Sherrod sharing an experience of what was, if viewed in context, actually a story of enlightenment in regards to the plight of farmers of all races suffering through the 1980s farm crisis.

A horribly misguided response followed and Sherrod is now unemployed. To say it’s unsettling that the government didn’t see fit to do some form of due diligence is a huge understatement.

Equally disturbing is the man and his reasoning behind the manipulated video. Andrew Breitbart posted the video entitled “Video Proof: The NAACP Awards Racism — 2010,” He claims it was not meant to be an attack on Sherrod but rather a lesson to the NAACP that they use accusations of racism to stifle dissent.

This was in response to the NAACP passing a resolution condemning Tea Party racism. Conservatives immediately charged the NAACP with raw political partisanship. So race is a partisan issue?  The NAACP resolution did not conclude that the Tea Party movement as a whole is racist; it called upon its leadership to repudiate racist elements.

In Breitbart’s statement regarding the video he claimed that what the “video clearly shows is a standard that Tea Party has not been held to, is that the NAACP shows people in the audience there (sic) applauding her when she discriminates against a white farmer. That was the point I was trying to make. This was not about Shirley Sherrod. This was about the smears that have gone on against the Tea Party.”

Breitbart, like many Tea Party leaders, denies there are racial undertones in the movement, arguing that charges of racist remarks have never been proven. Just last week Mark Williams, who was the national spokesman of the Tea Party Express, in his own response posted a “parody letter” in which he “pretended” to be NACCP President Benjamin Jealous writing to Abraham Lincoln:

“We (National Association for the Advancement of) Colored People have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing,” Williams wrote in his pathetic satirical letter. “Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!”

Breitbart, your Tea Party also has ties to such groups as the Council of Conservative Citizens. Their statement of principles condemns such things as racial integration, immigration by non-Europeans, homosexuality, and interracial marriage-just to name a few. Their homepage hosts a myriad of racist articles including one by radio show host James Edwards who recently penned the book Racism Schmacism.

Still scoffing at charges of racism within your ranks Breitbart? Although the problem continues to get dismissed as a minor issue created by “fringe elements,” a national spokesman like Mark Williams doesn’t seem like a “fringe element.” Williams was asked to step down, however Tea Party Federation spokeswoman Christina Botteri called the decision “difficult” and is just “interested in moving the whole Mark Williams thing behind us.” I see, so severing ties with a racist in your ranks was difficult?”

Breitbart also claims he hadn’t seen the full video in which Sherrod goes on to explain what working with this particular farmer did for her perspective and how she helped this farmer, who has spoken out in support of her, save his farm. Clearly Andrew Breitbart isn’t about journalistic integrity.

He’s a master manipulator who played directly into the media’s and mainstream society’s insatiable appetite for controversy. This type of irresponsible behavior fosters nothing but division. He didn’t open an educated dialogue on structural racism, he used hate mongering in response to the NAACP’s resolution.

In an interview with Fox New’s Sean Hannity he had this to say when asked by Hannity if he thought Shirley Sherrod was being racist in the video:

“I don’t. I don’t — I have to be honest with you. I’m agnostic on the issue because I’m invested in getting the NAACP and the Democratic Party and the  Congressional Black Caucus to stop constantly calling the Tea Party racist. That’s my job.”

“I could care less about Shirley Sherrod, to be honest with you. This is not about   Shirley Sherrod.”

Oh no Mr. Breitbart, it is about Shirley Sherrod. And it is about race. This answer is as despicable as you are. The best way to stop being called a racist is to stop acting like one.