USDA Worker Shirley Sherrod Unfairly Ousted by Obama Administration, Thanks to FOX News

altObama administration appointee Shirley Sherrod is unemployed. The former Agriculture Department director of rural development in Georgia is a victim of an underhanded attempt by FOX News to embarrass the Obama administration and the NAACP.

FOX aired a snippet of the video clip of Sherrod’s speech at the NAACP’s 20th annual Freedom Fund banquet in Georgia. The speech went viral after white conservative Andrew Breitbart posted the manufactured version on his Web site, biggovernment.com; with the title, “Video Proof: The NAACP Awards Racism-2010.”


During her presentation, Sherrod expressed how race should not be a consideration when helping needy people. More than 20 years ago, she dealt with her own racial bias when a white farmer came to the nonprofit organization where she worked seeking aid to save his farm. That admission during her speech this past March led to her demise. On Monday, July 20, the mid-level official received a call from a U.S. Department of Agriculture official, Deputy Undersecretary Cheryl Cook, to pull her car over to the side of the road and submit her resignation via her BlackBerry.

In an interview on CNN, Sherrod defended her comments. “In telling that story of how I changed while working with him, I used that to help others to see it is not about race,” she said.


Ironically, the white farmer in Iron City, Ga., whom Sherrod is accused of treating unfairly, stands by her. “I appreciate everything she has done for us. We got our farm back,” said Roger Spooner.alt

“We probably wouldn’t have (our farm) today if it hadn’t been for her leading us in the right direction,” said Eloise Spooner. “I wish she could get her job back because she was good to us, I tell you.”

In a letter to the media, Sherrod’s former boss, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, defends the organization’s swift decision to force her resignation, “… we have been working to turn the page on the sordid civil rights record at USDA and this controversy could make it more difficult to move forward on correcting injustices.”

Initially after reviewing the video, the NAACP condemned Sherrod’s actions, calling them, “shameful and intolerable.” They later recanted. NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous said in a statement that they had been “snookered.”

An example of racial redemption has been distorted and has damaged Sherrod’s image as well as that of the Obama administration. Let’s face it, Shirley Sherrod is not a rogue racist. This is another futile attempt by white conservatives to thwart progress. Let’s stay focused on the midterm elections and protect our power in Congress. –yvette caslin

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