Readers React: If Andrew Breitbart ‘despised racism,’ how would he explain his treatment of Shirley Sherrod?
To the editor: Jonah Goldberg is surely suffering from selective amnesia if he believes the quote from his fellow conservative Ben Shapiro about his deceased friend: “Andrew Breitbart despised racism.” (“Andrew Breitbart would tell Steve Bannon to stay in Europe,” Opinion, March 14)
In a well-documented incident, Breitbart released an edited videotape of then-Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod that inaccurately suggested she, an African American, disliked whites. Only after Sherrod had been fired as a result of the misleading tape did it become clear that she was actually calling for racial unity. So egregious was this false charge that Sherrod sued Breitbart for defamation.
It seems to me that if Breitbart were still around, he would probably not tell Steve Bannon to “stay in Europe,” as Goldberg bizarrely speculates.
James Devitt, Larchmont, N.Y.
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