Our weekly edition is a nationally syndicated one-hour digest of the best of our daily coverage.

Audio Stream | Podcast | Mp3 Download

This week on Uprising:

* Straight Talk on the Shirley Sherrod Controversy
* Black Agenda Report on the NAACP and Obama
* Anti-Choice Groups Co-opt Civil Rights Legacy
* The Real Story Behind the US-UK Special Relationship

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Straight Talk on the Shirley Sherrod Controversy

House representative Barbara Lee said on Thursday that the government was being “held hostage” by right wing shock jocks and Fox News. The chair of the Congressional Black Caucus was adding her views to the frenzy over the recent firing of Shirley Sherrod, director of rural development in Georgia for the USDA. The scandal began when right wing blogger Andrew Breitbart posted an edited video of a speech Sherrod made at an NAACP dinner this March about an event that took place more than 20 years ago. His post was apparently a response to a resolution passed by the NAACP calling on Tea Party leaders to repudiate racist elements in their ranks. The video of Sherrod implied that she had discriminated against a white farmer, when in fact she was trying to illustrate her view that class is more important than race. Sherrod went on to help save the white farmers’ land. But Breitbart’s edited video of the talk and his accompanying blog was taken seriously enough by the Obama Administration that Tom Vilsack head of the USDA immediately demanded her resignation. Even the NAACP themselves rebuked Sherrod. Only when the entire video and the context of Sherrod’s remarks were made public did the government admit their mea culpa and apologize to her. The NAACP also backtracked, claiming they were “snookered.” Only Andrew Breitbart has remained adamant, refusing to apologize, saying the story is about the NAACP and their assertions of racism in the Tea Party, not Sherrod herself. Sherrod sees it differently – she is considering suing Breitbart.

GUEST: Kevin Alexander Gray, author of “The Decline of Black Politics: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama” and “Waiting for Lightning to Strike: The Fundamentals of Black Politics.”

Black Agenda Report on the NAACP and Obama

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is about the NAACP and President Obama.

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Anti-Choice Groups Co-opt Civil Rights Legacy

The Guttmacher Institute recently found that over 900 measures related to reproductive health and rights were introduced in 45 states during the first half of this year. Not surprisingly many of these were attempts to restrict access to abortion services by prohibiting health insurance plans from providing coverage for the procedures. Arizona and South Carolina this year joined 12 other states to restrict abortion coverage in insurance provided to their state’s public employees. Legislation that would encourage or mandate ultra-sounds for women seeking abortions was introduced in 18 states this year. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, an anti-Choice group called Priests for Life, has organized a “Freedom Rides for the Unborn” campaign, invoking the language of the civil rights movement. Priests for Life has a notable spokeswoman in Alveda King, the niece of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In a statement on her group’s website she writes, “My Uncle Martin had a dream that Protestants and Catholics and Gentiles and Jews would join together and sing in the age old spiritual, ‘Free At Last’.” A description of the campaign’s objectives says the Pro-Life movement is ready to “proclaim freedom from the political oppression that tramples on human rights and denies equality before the law.” Reproductive rights groups in Atlanta have come out strongly against both the premise of the anti-choice campaign as well as the appropriation of Dr. King’s words and the ideals of the civil rights movement. A coalition of three reproductive rights groups has organized an event on July 24th in response to what they see as an attack on the rights of Women and Women of Color in particular.

Guest: Tonya Williams, Speak Justice Take Action Program Director at SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW!

Find out more at www.sparkrj.org and www.legislatethis.org.

The Real Story Behind the US-UK Special Relationship

British Prime Minister David Cameron met with President Obama this past week in a high-profile visit to the US. Among the issues discussed were the war in Afghanistan where the UK has about 9,000 troops. Both Obama and Cameron are facing constituencies that are increasingly skeptical of the war. In fact, as news reporters fill pages about the so-called “special relationship” between the US and the UK, comparisons are being made with the relationship between then President George W Bush and then Prime Minister Tony Blair who claimed a close relationship over the Iraq war. Blair infamously assured Bush, “You know, George, whatever you decide to do [about Iraq], I’m with you.” In fact the bond between the two nations has generally been centered on military cooperation. As the Kabul conference in Afghanistan wrapped up earlier in the week, both the major Western powers will now have to decide whether to honor President Karzai’s goal of Afghan forces taking full charge of security by 2014.

GUEST: Robert Naiman, Policy Director at Just Foreign Policy

Find out more at www.justforeignpolicy.org and read Robert Naiman’s writings at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow.” — Martin Luther King Jr.