Cartoon : Secretary Vilsack Throws Egg On His Face

By Jeff Koterba of Omaha World Herald in Omaha, Nebraska published on 23 July 2010

In this cartoon, we see US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack throwing egg on his face. In English, to have egg on egg on your face means to be embarrassed or seem stupid by something you’ve done. Look at a few example sentences:

‘I was completely wrong, and now I have egg on my face.’

‘You'll be the one who has egg on your face if it goes wrong.’

‘If the computer problems continue, then the software giant will have egg on its face.’

 

Background of the cartoon : Several days ago a video was released on the internet of Ms. Shirley Sherrod, an official at the Agricultural Department, telling a meeting of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) how she withheld support from a white farmer. The Department of Agriculture quickly fired her for her ‘racist’ remarks. However, not the entire video was originally released. She was in fact telling a story from 24 years ago and she ended up becoming close to this white farmer and learned to see beyond her racism. The US Secretary of Agriculture was forced to admit that they jumped to conclusions and made a mistake in the treatment of Ms. Sherrod and offered her job back. President Obama even called her to apologize for how the government treated her.

 

This story has become national news because race relations has become a huge issue in the United States after it was discovered the Justice Department refused to prosecute members of the Black Panthers, a black revolutionary party, for intimidating white voters from voting at a polling station in the 2008 elections. A former member of the Justice Department came out and testified that these members weren’t prosecuted because they were black.