In controversial speech, Sherrod talks about withholding help to a white farmer 24 years ago.
Shirley Sherrod was the USDA's Georgia State Director of Rural Development, but was asked to resign Monday night from her position, after remarks that she made at a NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet on March 27 were made public.
The USDA and NAACP both backed Sherrod’s resignation after conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart and his site biggovernment.com released clips of the speech. The video showed Sherrod talking about an instance 24 years ago when she was dealing with a white farmer facing the loss of his family farm, and her thoughts about withholding help. Sherrod said in the speech, "What he didn't know while he was taking all that time trying to show me he was superior to me was, I was trying to decide just how much help I was going to give him. I was struggling with the fact that so many black people had lost their farmland, and here I was faced with having to help a white person save their land. So I didn't give him the full force of what I could do. I did enough."
The edited video made the rounds on conservative blogs and was shown on Fox News.
Other news organizations had asked for the full video to be released, and just hours after it was Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack decided he will reconsider his department’s decision on the firing of Shirley Sherrod. The newly released video showed a different story than the original three minute video that was released. Vilsack said a statement Wednesday morning that he will "conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts."
The NAACP who also originally agreed with Sherrod’s departure from the agency, has since changed their stance. NAACP President Benjamin Jealous released a statement Tuesday night saying, "With regard to the initial media coverage of the resignation of USDA Official Shirley Sherrod, we have come to the conclusion we were snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart into believing she had harmed white farmers because of racial bias."
What do you think, should the USDA reinstate Shirley Sherrod? Leave a comment below.
» Atlanta Journal-Constitution: USDA reconsiders firing of Ga. official over speech on race
» CBS News: NAACP retracts Shirley Sherrod statement
» Washington Post: Firing of USDA official Shirley Sherrod now under review