July 22: An embarrassed White House has apologised to a black agriculture department employee who was ousted for her remarks about race, acknowledging that officials did not know all the facts when she was fired.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called the dismissal of Shirley Sherrod an injustice and a mistake. He said agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack was trying to reach her Wednesday to extend the administration’s apology. “I accept the apology,” Ms Sherrod said on CNN after watching Mr Gibbs talk to reporters.
Mr Gibbs said President Barack Obama has been briefed on the situation. Earlier, a White House official said Mr Obama had not spoken with Ms Sherrod about the controversy. Ms Sherrod was asked by department officials to resign on Monday after conservative bloggers posted an edited video of her saying she did not initially give a white farmer as much help as she could have 24 years ago, when she was working for a farmers’ aid group. Ms Sherrod says the video distorted her full speech. The White House called the agriculture department about the case on Tuesday night and it was agreed that her ouster should be reviewed because of new evidence. Mr Gibbs said people in the administration and outside of it acted without all the facts. The incident is the latest in a series of race-related issues that have garnered national attention since Mr Obama took office as America’s first black President.
Ms Sherrod’s dismissal had been the talk of cable news shows and has been debated on conservative and liberal blogs.