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==Other issues==
==Other issues==
===The 24-hour news cycle===
===The 24-hour news cycle===
[[CBS]] posted a report on the "24-hour news cycle" with a statement that says: "The old [[United Press International]] wire service had a slogan: "Get it first, but first get it right." In the wake of the Shirley Sherrod story, it's worth asking whether more and more the second half of that slogan has been dumped into the [[trash bin]]."<ref>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/21/eveningnews/main6700333.shtml</ref> The [[BBC World News|BBC]], meanwhile, commented "about the absurdity of the spin-cycle in which American journalists and politicians are intertwined and about the febrile atmosphere that surrounds any story about race."<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10722121</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' published a story indicating "the influence of [[right-wing politics|right-wing]] [[World Wide Web|Web sites]] like the one run by [[Andrew Breitbart]], the [[blogger]] who initially posted the misleading and highly edited video, which he later said had been sent to him already edited. ... Politically charged stories often take root [[Internet|online]] before being shared with a much wider audience on [[Fox News Channel|Fox]]. The [[television]] coverage, in turn, puts pressure on other news media outlets to follow up."<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/us/politics/23sherrod.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1</ref> [[MSNBC]] reports "there’s a media circus, too," an that "...Sources either prove credible or they do not, and [[Andrew Breitbart|Breitbart]] and [[Fox News|Faux]] are not credible."<ref>http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/07/22/4732036-blog-buzz-sherrod-day-4-</ref>
[[CBS]] posted a report on the "24-hour news cycle" with a statement that says: "The old [[United Press International]] wire service had a slogan: "Get it first, but first get it right." In the wake of the Shirley Sherrod story, it's worth asking whether more and more the second half of that slogan has been dumped into the [[trash bin]]."<ref>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/21/eveningnews/main6700333.shtml</ref> The [[BBC World News|BBC]], meanwhile, commented "about the absurdity of the spin-cycle in which American journalists and politicians are intertwined and about the febrile atmosphere that surrounds any story about race."<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10722121</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' published a story indicating "the influence of [[right-wing politics|right-wing]] [[World Wide Web|Web sites]] like the one run by [[Andrew Breitbart]], the [[blogger]] who initially posted the misleading and highly edited video, which he later said had been sent to him already edited. ... Politically charged stories often take root [[Internet|online]] before being shared with a much wider audience on [[Fox News Channel|Fox]]. The [[television]] coverage, in turn, puts pressure on other news media outlets to follow up."<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/us/politics/23sherrod.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1</ref> [[MSNBC]] reports "there’s a [[media circus]], too," an that "...sources either prove credible or they do not, and [[Andrew Breitbart|Breitbart]] and [[Fox News|Faux]] are not credible."<ref>http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/07/22/4732036-blog-buzz-sherrod-day-4-</ref>


===Left-Right politics===
===Left-Right politics===

Revision as of 21:18, 22 July 2010

Shirley Sherrod
Shirley Sherrod at a March 2010 regional USDA meeting.
Born
Shirley Miller

1948
Baker County, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation(s)Civil rights activist
Development worker
Official of the USDA
Sociologist
Known forPigford v. Glickman
Her resignation in 2010

Shirley Sherrod, a former United States Department of Agriculture director of Rural Development in Georgia, was forced to resign[1] after a heavily edited video of her address to a March 2010 NAACP meeting was posted on the Internet on July 19, 2010. In the video, Sherrod (an African American woman) described her own attitude, while employed at a private advocacy firm in 1986, when a white farmer sought her help after his farm was about to be foreclosed.[2] The decision to fire her was revisited after the full version of the video, which presents the context for Sherrod's excerpted remarks more completely, was made public. The event re-ignited a debate regarding racism in the United States and about the decisions made by the administration of Barack Obama.[2] Sherrod has since received an apology from the administration, and has been offered another job with the Department of Agriculture.[3][4] Sherrod has not yet decided if she will accept the job offer.[5]

Biography

Shirley Miller was born in 1948 in Baker County, Georgia, to Grace and Hosie Miller.[6][7] In 1965, when she was 17 years old, her father, a deacon at the local Baptist Church, was rumored to have been shot to death by a white farmer, reportedly over a dispute about a few cows.[7] No charges were returned against the shooter by an all-white grand jury.[7] This was a turning point in her life and led her to feel that she should stay in the South to bring about change.[7] That same year she was among the first black students to enroll in the previously all-white high school in Baker County.[6]

She attended Fort Valley State College[6] and later studied sociology at Albany State University in Georgia while working for civil rights with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee where she met her future husband, minister Charles Sherrod.[8][7] She went on to Antioch University in Yellow Springs, Ohio where she earned her master's degree in community development.[7] She would later return to Georgia to work with the Department of Agriculture in Georgia "to help minority farmers keep their land."[7] After finishing her education, Sherrod went to Lee County, Georgia, where she co-founded a black communal farm project known as New Communities Inc., which was modeled on kibbutzim in Israel.[7] The 6,000-acre project was opposed by white farmers, who accused participants of being communists.[7] A drought in the 1970s ultimately led to the project to be shut down in 1985.[7]

Sherrod went on to work with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, who help black farmers keep their land.[7][8] She and her husband lost their farm when they were unable to secure USDA loans.[8] Sherrod along with other activists sued the USDA in order to protect the remaining black farms which were in danger of becoming shut down. The Department agreed to a compensation which was to be paid between January 1, 1981 and December 31, 1999.[7] The event was considered as "the largest civil rights settlement in history, with nearly $1 billion being paid to more than 16,000 victims."[7] A bill was passed in 2008 to allow another 70,000 more potential claimants to qualify.[7] Sherrod was hired in August 2009 as the Georgia director of rural development by the USDA becoming the first black person to hold that position.[7]

Background

Leaked video

On July 19, 2010, a video released by conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart surfaced on the Internet, showing an African American woman who appeared to be making racist remarks as follows:[9]

You know, the first time I was faced with helping a white farmer save his farm... he took a long time talking but he was trying to show me he was superior to me. I know what he was doing. But he had come to me for help. 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.[9][10][11] 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...[11][12] So I took him to a white lawyer that had attended some of the training that we had provided because Chapter 12 bankruptcy had just been enacted for the family farm. So I figured if I take him to one of them, that his own kind would take care of him."[9][10][11]

Sherrod's account

According to Sherrod's own account, the story she retold in her speech is about a farmer named Roger Spooner, who in 1986 was the first white farmer to come to her for help. She says that "the land was being sold, and had in fact already been rented out from under him". At first, she felt that he had a superior attitude toward her causing her to recall her life in the South including the murder of her father,[13] but states that "I didn't let that get in the way of trying to help".[13]

I didn't discriminate ... If I had discriminated against him, I would not have given him any help at all because I wasn't obligated to do it by anyone ... I didn't have to help that farmer. I could have sent him out the door without giving him any help at all. But in the end, we became very good friends, and that friendship lasted for some years.[13]

She notes that black farmers would not support Spooner: "I didn't know of any black farmers who would come out and try to support a white farmer at that point. ... I wasn't really sure of what I could do because at that time, I thought they [white people] had the advantages. I learned that was not the case."[13] According to her, she had done her job, and took him to a white lawyer. She says [11]

[I]f I take him to one of them, that his own kind would take care of him ... but that lawyer failed to help ... I did not discriminate against [the farmer]. And, in fact, I went all out to frantically look for a lawyer at the last minute because the first lawyer we went to was not doing anything to really help him. In fact, that lawyer suggested they should just let the farm go. The second attorney [was able to help the farmer] file Chapter 11 bankruptcy to help the family stay on the farm.[11]

The Spooner family's account

Roger Spooner said on CNN that Sherrod is not a racist, that Sherrod did everything she could for his family, and over twenty years later, he and Sherrod remain friends.[14] The Spooners credit Sherrod with helping them save their farm: "If it hadn't been for her, we would've never known who to see or what to do," Roger Spooner said. "She led us right to our success." His wife, Eloise Spooner, said that later, "after things kind of settled down, she brought Sherrod some tomatoes out of her garden, and they had a good visit."[11] Eloise Spooner recalled Sherrod as "nice-mannered, thoughtful, friendly; a good person."[11] The couple were surprised by the controversy. "I don't know what brought up the racist mess," Roger Spooner said. "They just want to stir up some trouble, it sounds to me in my opinion." Eloise Spooner said that on seeing the story of Sherrod's resignation, "I said, 'That ain't right. They have not treated her right.'"[11]

Extended video

The unedited video of her speech, later released by the NAACP,[15] shows Sherrod explaining that she learned from the incident. She says it was poverty, not race, that was the key factor in rural development. She also said she ultimately worked hard to save the farmer's land.[2] She said: "Working with him made me see that it's really about those who have versus those who haven't. They could be black, they could be white, they could be Hispanic. And it made me realize then that I needed to help poor people - those who don't have access the way others have."[2]

Resignation

After the first video surfaced, Sherrod was forced to resign from her post. According to Sherrod, she was called three times as she drove home by an official who had contacted her after prompting by the White House. The official was so insistent that she resign immediately that Sherrod pulled over to the side of the road to resign by email.[16] USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack commented in the immediate aftermath of the initial video, "There is zero tolerance for discrimination at USDA, and I strongly condemn any act of discrimination against any person... We have been working hard through the past 18 months to reverse the checkered civil rights history at the department and take the issue of fairness and equality very seriously".[17]

Sherrod rejected any claims that she was racist and further stated that the incident "helped her learn to move beyond race" and that "she t[old] the story to audiences to make that point".[11] She said that the White House forced her to resign while she was "on the road" from West Point, Georgia.[11] According to her, she was called by the Department of Agriculture three times, each time insisting that she resign. [18] In 2009, Sherrod had reportedly led a group that won a $13 million settlement in a longstanding discrimination suit against the USDA known commonly as the "Pigford Case".[19] The suit claimed the USDA racially discriminated against black farmers by not giving them fair treatment when they applied for loans or assistance. The case was first settled in 1999, resulting to date in more than $1 billion in compensation payments from the federal government.[19] Sherrod and her husband also personally received $150,000 each for "pain and suffering". There was speculation by news media that the Sherrod video affair was an attempt to derail Congressional funding of Pigford restitution to black victims, which is a noted goal for conservatives.[20] The White House, meanwhile, rejected any claims that they pressured Sherrod for a resignation with a statement that said that they were not involved in pressuring for a resignation: "The White House did not pressure her or USDA over the resignation. It was the Secretary’s decision, as he has said".[21] Congressman Towns called for more information on the incident.[22]

Aftermath

Ralph Paige, executive director of the nonprofit Sherrod worked for before being appointed to the USDA job in 2009, says that "[Shirley] garnered only praise and there were never any claims of discrimination against her", adding that "I can't praise Shirley enough, she holds no malice in her heart".[11] The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, meanwhile, made a statement within hours of the video surfacing. The foundation's president Benjamin Jealous said in his first statement that:[23]

Racism is about the abuse of power. Ms. Sherrod had it in her position at USDA. According to her remarks, she mistreated a white farmer in need of assistance because of his race. We are appalled by her actions, just as we are with abuses of power against farmers of color and female farmers. Her actions were shameful. While she went on to explain in the story that she ultimately realized her mistake, as well as the common predicament of working people of all races, she gave no indication she had attempted to right the wrong she had done to this man.[11][23]

However, after the entire videotape was released, the NAACP retracted their previous statement and said:[23]

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 ... Having reviewed the full tape, spoken to Ms. Sherrod, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans.[23]

Commentators, such as those from Fox News, have suggested that the resignation may have been an attempt by the Obama administration to refute accusations of "reverse racism" occurring during his term. They suggest that Sherrod was used by the administration as a "sacrificial lamb".[24] On July 20, 2010, in an interview with CNN's Larry King, Andrew Breitbart responded to questions regarding his intentions of releasing the video saying that:[25]

This was not about Shirley Sherrod. It's about me. This was about the NAACP attacking the Larry King Live show and this [the video of Ms. Sherrod] is showing racism at an NAACP event. I did not ask for Shirley Sherrod to be fired. I did not ask for any repercussions for Shirley Sherrod. They were the ones that took the initiative to get rid of her. I – I do not – I think she should have the right to defend herself. [R]acism is used by the left and the Democratic Party to shut up opposition [a]nd [by releasing the Sherrod video] I am showing you that people who live in glass houses should not be throwing stones.[25]

Breibart also questioned Eloise Spooner's true identity on CNN: "You tell me as a reporter how CNN put on a person today who purported to be the farmer’s wife? What did you do to find out whether or not that was the actual farmer’s wife? You’re going off of her word that the farmer’s wife is the farmer’s wife?"[26]

After the uproar regarding Sherrod's resignation, Secretary Vilsack released a statement on the night of July 20 saying that the Department will "conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts".[27] Sherrod asserts that the NAACP was "the reason why this happened. They got into a fight with the Tea Party, and all of this came out as a result of that."[28] She adds that "she might not want her job back if it's offered ... because of all the publicity surrounding what happened … how would I be treated once I'm back there? I just don't know ... I would have to be reassured on that."[29]

On July 21, 2010, Fox News rejected any claims that they helped inflame the situation with a statement saying "[the network] did not make any mention of this story yesterday on the air until after Shirley Sherrod had already lost her job after Secretary Vilsack had already drawn his own conclusions — conclusions that the president apparently agreed with."[10] While the story was not mentioned on the Fox News Channel until after Sherrod's resignation, the edited video and an accompanying article had been published on the Fox News website prior to her resignation.[30] Later, the White House sought for an official review of the case. Vilsack, meanwhile, sent an e-mail regarding the issue that states "I am of course willing and will conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts to ensure to the American people we are providing services in a fair and equitable manner."[31][32] Sherrod was at the CNN Center, watching live, when Robert Gibbs extended an apology to her.[33] There, she stated that she had accepted the apology and welcomed the review although she felt that this experience was "bittersweet"[34]

House Minority Leader John Boehner, a Republican, criticized Breitbart's airing of only a small portion of the video. He said, "It’s unfortunate that whoever laid this out there didn’t lay out the whole story, as opposed to a part of it... They only put a little piece of the story out there and people make judgments and they rush and they make bad decisions."[35] In an interview with Media Matters reporter Joe Strupp, Sherrod stated, in response to the implication that Fox News was being racist in the initial reporting of the incident, "When you look at their [Fox News'] reporting, this is just another way of seeing that they are [racist]. But I have seen that before now. I saw their reporting as biased during the Bush Administration and the Clinton Administration."[36]

In the afternoon of July 21, Vilsack said he offered a "personal and profound apology to Shirley Sherrod for forcing her to resign as a result of an out-of-context video posted to a conservative website."[37] He also said that he has offered Ms. Sherrod a new position in the department and that she is taking time to consider it.[37] During the night, Bill O'Reilly, who, on Monday July 19, was the first on cable television to air the edited version of the clip originally posted by Andrew Breitbart on BigGovernment.com, apologized to Sherrod for his remarks calling for her removal from office.[38] O'Reilly also called for Sherrod’s resignation. On Wednesday, O'Reilly said "I owe Ms. Sherrod an apology for not doing my homework, for not putting her remarks into the proper context."[38] However, O'Reilly took issue with Sherrod's referring to the white lawyer she sent the white farmer to as "one of his own". He also described her as a "long-time liberal activist", citing her winning $300,000 "for her and her husband" when she sued the Department of Agriculture, and concluding she should not be "doing the people's business".[39]

Sherrod stated on July 22 that she would consider taking legal action against Andrew Breitbart, who published the edited video on his website that led to her resignation.[40] As of that date, Breitbart has not apologized to her,[41] and his website still labels the Sherrod posting with the heading "Video Proof - The NAACP Rewards Racism."[42] President Obama apologized to her personally later that day through a phone call that lasted for seven minutes.[43]

Other issues

The 24-hour news cycle

CBS posted a report on the "24-hour news cycle" with a statement that says: "The old United Press International wire service had a slogan: "Get it first, but first get it right." In the wake of the Shirley Sherrod story, it's worth asking whether more and more the second half of that slogan has been dumped into the trash bin."[44] The BBC, meanwhile, commented "about the absurdity of the spin-cycle in which American journalists and politicians are intertwined and about the febrile atmosphere that surrounds any story about race."[45] The New York Times published a story indicating "the influence of right-wing Web sites like the one run by Andrew Breitbart, the blogger who initially posted the misleading and highly edited video, which he later said had been sent to him already edited. ... Politically charged stories often take root online before being shared with a much wider audience on Fox. The television coverage, in turn, puts pressure on other news media outlets to follow up."[46] MSNBC reports "there’s a media circus, too," an that "...sources either prove credible or they do not, and Breitbart and Faux are not credible."[47]

Left-Right politics

Commentators have attributed the rivalry between the Left and the Right as an important factor in the controversy. The resignation came weeks after the Department of Justice’s decision to scale down a lawsuit against the New Black Panther Party, which the Tea Party movement attacked as racially motivated,[48] and which led the NAACP to pass a resolution condemning the Tea Party.[citation needed] Breitbart, who has described himself as a Tea Party member, stated that the release of the video is a response to the NAACP's resolution.[48][49] The day before Breitbart posted the Sherrod video, the National Tea Party Federation had announced that it was distancing itself from Tea Party spokesperson Mark Williams because of a racially offensive letter Williams had written, also in response to the NAACP resolution.[50]

Public reaction

The general public almost universally criticized the decision to make her resign and sympathized with her plight.[51] Immediately after the release of the full video, private individuals sought that her job be reinstated.[51] Newsweek reported that commentator's reactions to the controversy were generally "sad," "indignant," "accusatory," "sickened," and "scolding."[52] A commentator from the Huffington Post have likened her to Rosa Parks.[53]

References

  1. ^ "Vilsack: I Will Have to Live With Shirley Sherrod Mistake". CBS News. 2010-07-21.
  2. ^ a b c d Kevin Connolly. "BBC News - White House sorry for Shirley Sherrod 'racism' firing". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  3. ^ "Fired Ag worker mulls job offer after WH apology - Yahoo! News". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  4. ^ "Fired USDA official receives apologies from White House, Vilsack". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  5. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/22/agriculture.employee.usda/index.html?video=true&hpt=T2
  6. ^ a b c http://www.ajc.com/news/shirley-sherrod-shaped-by-575702.html
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/21/sherrod.profile/#fbid=X40jhuCTauq
  8. ^ a b c Thompson, Krissah (22 July 2010). "Despite adversity, Shirley Sherrod has history of civil service". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  9. ^ a b c "Video Shows USDA Official Saying She Didn't Give 'Full Force' of Help to White Farmer". FOXNews.com. 2010-04-07. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  10. ^ a b c "Andrew Breitbart on 'Hannity': 'This Is Not About Shirley Sherrod' - Hannity". FOXNews.com. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l By the CNN Wire Staff (2010-03-27). "NAACP 'snookered' over video of former USDA employee - CNN.com". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2010-07-21. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  12. ^ "Was It Fair to Fire Shirley Sherrod, the Department of Agriculture Official? - 'World News' Question of the Day - ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  13. ^ a b c d "Shirley Sherrod: the FULL video". NAACP. 2010-07-20.
  14. ^ David Kurtz. "Endearing". Talking Points Memo. Retrieved 2010-07-21. {{cite web}}: Text "July 21, 2010, 10:51AM" ignored (help)
  15. ^ WH apologizes to fired Ag worker; she mulls return, Yahoo.com, retrieved July 22, 2010
  16. ^ "US officials stumble on the firing of Shirley Sherrod". BBC News. 22 July 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  17. ^ "SHOCK: Racism At NAACP Event?". wcbstv.com. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  18. ^ "Fired Ag employee says White House wanted her out - The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency". Content.usatoday.com. 2010-01-07. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  19. ^ a b "Official Ousted From Agriculture Department Had Taken USDA to Court, Won". FOXNews.com. 2010-04-07. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  20. ^ http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/shirley_sherrod_and_the_discrimination_of_black_fa.php
  21. ^ "CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Sherrod: White House worried about Glenn Beck « - Blogs from CNN.com". Politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  22. ^ "Chairman Towns Wants More Information on the Forced Resignation of Shirley Sherrod". U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 2010-07-21.
  23. ^ a b c d Hechtkopf, Kevin. "NAACP Retracts Shirley Sherrod Statement, Says It Was "Snookered" by Fox News, Andrew Breitbart - Political Hotsheet". CBS News. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  24. ^ "Why Was Shirley Sherrod Ousted? - Glenn Beck". FOXNews.com. 2006-10-01. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  25. ^ a b "John King USA: Blog Archive - Breitbart: 'This was not about Shirley Sherrod' « - CNN.com Blogs". Johnkingusa.blogs.cnn.com. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  26. ^ Breitbart’s New Conspiracy Theory: The ‘Purported’ Farmer’s Wife Is A Plant
  27. ^ "Sherrod says Ag secretary offers to hire her back | Top AP Stories | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle". Chron.com. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  28. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/us/21sherrod.html?src=mv
  29. ^ "Viral Videos: Shirley Sherrod Flap Highlights Growing Political Trend - ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  30. ^ — J.V.B. (2010-07-20). "Video Shows USDA Official Saying She Didn't Give 'Full Force' of Help to White Farmer". foxnews.com. Retrieved 2010-07-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ Ed Pilkington in New York. "White House forced into U-turn over Shirley Sherrod race row | World news". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  32. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/us/politics/22sherrod.html?_r=1
  33. ^ Dodge, Catherine. "USDA Employee Ousted Over Video Excerpt of Speech Gets White House Apology". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  34. ^ By the CNN Wire Staff (2010-03-27). "White House apologizes to former USDA official accused of racism". CNN.com. Retrieved 2010-07-21. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  35. ^ http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/21/gop-house-leader-criticizes-decision-to-air-partial-video-of-shirley-sherrod/#ixzz0uLzOoXUs
  36. ^ http://mediamatters.org/strupp/201007210037
  37. ^ a b http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20011263-503544.html
  38. ^ a b "Bill O'Reilly apologizes to Shirley Sherrod for 'not doing my homework'". Los Angeles Times Showtracker (blog). July 21, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-22. Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign Monday after conservative activist Andrew Breitbart posted a video clip of Sherrod's speech at an NAACP dinner on his website BigGovernment.com in which she appeared to say that she had once discriminated against a white farmer. The edited clip did not include the portion of the speech in which Sherrod said the episode had taught her the importance of overcoming personal prejudices....O'Reilly was the first on cable to air the video, calling for Sherrod's resignation Monday night. (By the time his taped show aired, she in fact had already resigned, a fact Fox News noted on the screen.) On Wednesday, he said he should have gotten the full story first. "I owe Ms. Sherrod an apology for not doing my homework, for not putting her remarks into the proper context," he said on "The O'Reilly Factor," adding that his own words had been taken out of context by critics in the past. "I well understand the need for honest reporting."
  39. ^ Duboff, Josh (2010-07-21). "Bill O'Reilly Apologizes To Shirley Sherrod... Then Continues Criticizing Her". New York. Retrieved 2010-07-22. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  40. ^ Smith, Stephen (2010-07-22). "Sherrod: I'd Consider Legal Action against Breitbart". CBS News.
  41. ^ http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/22/sherrod-says-inclined-turn-outreach-job-usda/
  42. ^ Obama voices regret to ousted Agriculture official (Boston Globe 7/22/10
  43. ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/22/agriculture.employee.usda/?hpt=T1#fbid=X40jhuCTauq
  44. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/21/eveningnews/main6700333.shtml
  45. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10722121
  46. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/us/politics/23sherrod.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
  47. ^ http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/07/22/4732036-blog-buzz-sherrod-day-4-
  48. ^ a b http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0722/1224275196578.html
  49. ^ http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/07/21/sherrods-teachable-moment/
  50. ^ Tea party group expels leader for ‘clearly offensive’ blog post Yahoo News, Sun Jul 18, 4:05 pm ET
  51. ^ a b Longer Video of Speech in Question Is Released by N.A.A.C.P.: Reader's comments. The Lede. The New York Times.
  52. ^ http://www.newsweek.com/spectrum/2010/07/21/the-shirley-sherrod-scandal.html
  53. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sophia-a-nelson/is-shirley-sherrod-the-ro_b_655614.html

Biographies

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