Shirley Sherrod Tells CNN She Received 3 Phone Calls Saying White House Wanted Her to Resign

Shirley Sherrod tells Tony Harris on CNN that she was contacted three times by telephone saying the White House wanted her to resign. 

Shirley Sherrod isn't going away quietly. She appeared on CNN with Tony Harris and laid blame at the feet of the NAACP and the White House. She said she had done more to advance the cause of civil rights in the South than many in the NAACP. She said she was called three times saying the White House wanted her to resign. She said the last phone call was from Cheryl Cook, USDA Deputy Undersecretary, who told her to pull over on the side of the road and resign. She seems very sincere during her interview, but this is a mess that could have been avoided. This is a really sad turn of events and I am really sorry that this is happening. Eloise Spooner, the wife of one of the white farmers in the incident, is speaking out in defense of Shirley Sherrod. She said she was very helpful to the family.

You will recall that President Obama interjected himself in the arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., at the hands of a white officer, James Crowley. I had hoped the White House would have avoided this controversy like a plague. Such actions portray the president as weak. The White House panicked then and they panicked again. Unbelievable. Tom Vilsack, the White House and the NAACP threw this woman under a bus without even hearing her side of the story. Fox News and Andrew Breitbart are two of a kind. It is clear that the genius that Andrew Breitbart thinks he is, erred when he went on this modern-day lynching of a woman who gave her professional life to helping the poor farmers -- black and white. How many of us have said something we have later regretted? The incident did not occur while Mrs. Sherrod worked at the USDA but prior to that nearly 26 years ago.

Here is an excerpt of her comments during an interview with the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

But Tuesday morning, Sherrod said what online viewers weren't told in reports posted throughout the day Monday was that the tale she told at the banquet happened 24 years ago -- before she got the USDA job -- when she worked with the Georgia field office for the Federation of Southern Cooperative/Land Assistance Fund.

Sherrod said the short video clip excluded the breadth of the story about how she eventually worked with the man over a two-year period to help ward off foreclosure of his farm, and how she eventually became friends with him and his wife.

"And I went on to work with many more white farmers," she said. "The story helped me realize that race is not the issue, it's about the people who have and the people who don't. When I speak to groups, I try to speak about getting beyond the issue of race."

The reality is that people have to be careful for what they say in life because it may come back to haunt you. The fact remains that Mrs. Sherrod made these racist comments and she should pay the price for it.

UPDATE#1:  I have had some time to research Ms. Sherrod's background and she is correct, the people in the NAACP who decided not to contact her to seek her side of the story haven't done a quarter of what she has done to help the civil rights cause. Here is her biography on the Rural Development website. I cannot believe the White House threw this woman under a bus because they were afraid the claims of racism against her by Andrew Breitbart would be the lead topic on Glenn Beck's show. Who is the president of the United States of America? Glenn Beck or Barack Obama? I am slowly losing all respect for President Obama. He jumped to the conclusion that Professor Gates was discriminated against by white officers when he was arrested without getting the details. It's also telling that Cheryl Cook and USDA Secretary Vilsack are largely silent today.

UPDATE#2: According to lawyer Rosie Sanders, who appeared on CNN, Mrs. Sherrod's father was killed a white farmer in the area in which they grew up in the South and no one has ever been tried for this crime. 

UPDATE#3: If you feel Shirley Sherrod was wronged, contact Tom Vilsack at agsec@usda.gov phone: 202-720-3631.

UPDATE#4: Tom Vilsack has issued a "profound" apology for throwing Shirley Sherrod under a bus and has offered her a new and "unique" job at the USDA. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has also apologized for this modern-day lynching instigated by Andrew Breitbart and magnified by Fox News. As I said before, I apologize for falling for this hoax. I have the utmost respect for Shirley Sherrod. I have never walked in her shoes, but I can only see her life through her eyes.


Photo: Cheryl Cook, USDA Deputy Undersecretary