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Resignation of Shirley Sherrod
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| Participants |
Shirley Sherrod Roger and Eloise Spooner US Department of Agriculture |
| Location |
Georgia, U.S. (Sherrod enroute: |
| Date | Resignation via BlackBerry, July 19, 2010 |
| Result | Afterward, apologies given her along with offer of new USDA position |
On July 19, 2010, Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign from her appointed position as Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture[1] because of video excerpts from her address to a March 2010 NAACP event, which the blogger Andrew Breitbart had posted on his website with a lengthy interpretation of her remarks.[2]
From these video excerpts, the NAACP condemned Sherrod's remarks as racist and U.S. government officials called on the official to resign because her effectiveness would be damaged. But, upon review of the complete unedited video in full context, the NAACP, White House officials, and Tom Vilsack, the United States Secretary of Agriculture, apologized for the firing and offered Sherrod a new position.
Extensive media coverage of the excerpted videos, various parties' comments, and later corrections when the full story was discovered, exacerbated the affair. The event brought to the forefront current debates regarding racism in the United States, cable news reporting, internet ideological websites, and decisions made by President Barack Obama's administration.[3][4]
The Obama administration soon apologized to Sherrod, and offered her a full-time, high-level internal advocacy position with the USDA[5][6][7], which she ultimately declined.[8] In 2011, Sherrod sued Breitbart for defamation.[9] His attorneys filed for dismissal two months later on First Amendment grounds.
Contents |
When Shirley Sherrod addressed the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund on August 21, 2010, she claimed to have been aware of the videos on July 14, 2010; five days before they were posted on Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com website. Sherrod says that she immediately notified the USDA about the videos, saying that they did not convey the entire or accurate story. She says that she heard nothing from the USDA until Monday, July 19, 2010, when she was first put on administrative leave and then asked to resign under orders from the White House.[10]
On July 19, 2010, two different video clips [A] were posted by conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart to his BigGovernment.com website, along with a nearly 1,000 word blog post:
We are in possession of a video from in which Shirley Sherrod, USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development, speaks at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner in Georgia. In her meandering speech to what appears to be an all-black audience, this federally appointed executive bureaucrat lays out in stark detail, that her federal duties are managed through the prism of race and class distinctions.
In the first video, Sherrod describes how she racially discriminates against a white farmer. She describes how she is torn over how much she will choose to help him. And, she admits that she doesn't do everything she can for him, because he is white. Eventually, her basic humanity informs that this white man is poor and needs help. But she decides that he should get help from "one of his own kind". She refers him to a white lawyer.
Sherrod's racist tale is received by the NAACP audience with nodding approval and murmurs of recognition and agreement. Hardly the behavior of the group now holding itself up as the supreme judge of another groups' racial tolerance.}}[11]
The first video showed Sherrod making the following remarks at a speech to the NAACP Freedom Fund:
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. 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 so that when he... I assumed the Department of Agriculture had sent him to me, either that, or the Georgia Department of Agriculture, and he needed to go back and report that I did try to help him. 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.
That's when it was revealed to me that it's about poor versus those who have, and not so much about white – it is about white and black, but it's not, you know, it opened my eyes because I took him to one of his own.[11]
Subsequent events showed that the posted video was an excerpt of broader comments that conveyed a different meaning.[12] Breitbart said he did not edit the video and did not have a copy of the entire speech.[13] The full 43-minute video[B] was produced by a Douglas, Georgia, company that filmed the banquet for the local Georgia chapter of the NAACP. The owner of the video company, Johnny Wilkerson, said on July 20 that he was sending the full video to the national NAACP and would post it in full once he got permission to do so.[14] Breitbart's source for the excerpt remained confidential as of July 2010[update].[15]
Much of the controversy surrounding this incident involves actions that were taken by the parties and when these actions were performed. An extensive timeline of the affair was produced by a Media Matters for America, described as a left of center media outlet. Greg Pollowitz of National Review Online, considered a right-of-center media outlet, endorsed Media Matters' timeline as "as good as any I’ve seen," with the exception of the exclusion of a TV news broadcast timeline.[16]
The first news outlet to report on the Breitbart video was FoxNews.com, which posted an article about the story on its website.[17] The New York City affiliate for CBS also posted a report on its website later that afternoon.[17] The Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper's related website also soon picked up the story.[18] In addition, the story was picked up and reported widely in the blogosphere.[17]
According to Sherrod, on the afternoon of July 19, she received numerous demands from government officials to submit her resignation, demands that she characterized as harassment.[19] In response to a call from USDA deputy undersecretary Cheryl Cook, Sherrod submitted her resignation via email. Sherrod claims that Cook told her White House officials wanted her to quit immediately because the controversy was "going to be on Glenn Beck tonight",[19] a claim disputed by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.[5]
That same evening, the President of the NAACP, Benjamin Jealous, posted a tweet stating that his organization was "appalled" by Sherrod's comments.[17] USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack released a statement the following day explaining his agency's actions in the firing, suggesting that Sherrod's statements as shown in the video damaged her effectiveness as USDA tried to improve its previous discriminatory record.[20]
The Breitbart video was first broadcast that evening on The O'Reilly Factor, a talk show on the Fox News Channel;[17] host Bill O'Reilly stated that Sherrod should resign.[17] At the time of the taping of the show, news of Sherrod's resignation had not yet been reported, nor had the NAACP yet released the full video. But, the program was not broadcast until after Sherrod resigned and O'Reilly's staff had confirmed that fact with the USDA.[21]
The video was also mentioned by St. Louis Tea Party organizer Dana Loesch on Larry King Live,[22][23] and on Anderson Cooper 360 (both on CNN).[21][24] It was discussed on Hannity and On The Record with Greta Van Susteren (both on Fox) as well,[18] but notably not on Glenn Beck.[25]
In the full video, Sherrod related her experience with a farmer, who in 1986 was the first white farmer to come to her for help. (On July 20 CNN received a telephone call from the farmer's wife and learned his name was Roger Spooner.[26]) Sherrod narrated 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 harsh aspects of her life in the South including the murder of her father[27], but she went on to say the following:
I didn't let that get in the way of trying to help... 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.
...
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.[27]
According to Sherrod, she did her job – taking him to a white lawyer.[28]
[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.[27][28]
Sherrod rejected claims that she was racist and said she "went all out" to help the man keep his farm. She said that the incident helped her learn to move beyond race, and she told the story to audiences to make that point.[28]
Roger Spooner said on CNN that Sherrod is not a racist, that she did everything she could for his family, and over 20 years later, he and Sherrod remain friends.[29] 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 "after things kind of settled down, she brought Sherrod some tomatoes out of her garden, and they had a good visit."[28] Eloise Spooner recalled Sherrod as "nice-mannered, thoughtful, friendly; a good person."[28] 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.'"[28]
The extended unedited video of her speech released by the NAACP[30] showed that in her full speech Sherrod emphasized what was only touched on in the excerpt,[31] that she learned from the incident that poverty, not race, was the key factor in rural development. She said she ultimately worked hard to save the farmer's land.[3]
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.[3]
As follows, other references to race in Sherrod's speech related to a story of her more recent help of a family to prevent forced sale of their farmland.
You know, I was helping a family here recently: 515 acres of land, never had a drop of debt on it since the grandfather bought it years ago and he – he died in 1974. And two cousins up in the North, guess what they decided? They tried to force a sale of every acre of it.[27]
...And we found some honest lawyers – they were white. I wish I could say that about all lawyers, especially black lawyers.[27]
...But they were trying to force a sale of all of it. They'll eventually get 62 acres of the 515. And guess what? They have a white man already lined up to buy it.[27]
Ralph Paige, executive director of the nonprofit Sherrod worked for before being appointed to the USDA job in 2009, said that Sherrod "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".[28] Within hours of the video's being shown, the NAACP made a statement, with the president Benjamin Jealous condemning Sherrod for having abused her power and criticizing the apparent audience reaction as well.[32]
After the NAACP released the entire videotape, its officials retracted their previous statement and said:[32]
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.[32]
During the uproar over Sherrod's resignation, Vilsack released a statement on July 20 saying that the USDA would "conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts".[33] Sherrod said, "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."[34]
On July 21, 2010, Fox News rejected claims that it inflamed the situation.[35] 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, as well as those of several other news organizations, prior to her resignation.[2][17]
Later, the White House sought official review of the case.[36] Sherrod watched live at the CNN Center when Robert Gibbs, White House press spokesman, extended her an apology.[12] She said she welcomed the review and accepted the apology.[37]
On July 21, Vilsack of USDA 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."[38] He said that he had offered Ms. Sherrod a new position in the department, and that she was taking time to consider it.[38] That night, Bill O'Reilly, the political commentator, apologized to Sherrod for his remarks calling for her removal from office; he said he had not done his homework adequately. He had been the first on cable TV to air the video excerpt posted by Breitbart.[C]
Initially, Breitbart claimed she "harbored" racist sentiments.[39] On July 20, 2010, in an interview with CNN's John King, Breitbart responded to questions on his intentions in releasing the video, saying that:[40]
| “ | This was not about Shirley Sherrod. It's about the NAACP. This was about the NAACP attacking the Tea Party 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.[40] | ” |
Breitbart questioned CNN's accepting Eloise Spooner's identity. [41] In a July 30 interview with Newsweek, Breitbart said he would be glad to meet with Sherrod privately. He agreed that the excerpted video took things out of context and said that if he could do things all over again, he would not have posted the excerpted video.[42] However, he has never apologized to Ms. Sherrod.
President Barack Obama spoke to Sherrod personally in a phone call that lasted for seven minutes. Although he did not apologize personally to her, Sherrod said she was "very, very pleased with the conversation."[43] On July 22, Sherrod said she planned to sue Breitbart, who published the excerpted video that led to her resignation.[44] She also said that she would like to see Breitbart's BigGovernment.com website "shut down".[45]
The attack on my wife has opened up an avalanche of discussion on a tabooed subject – race. It is a blessing to be an instrument of God's grace.
In an interview with the CNN reporter Anderson Cooper, Sherrod referred to Breitbart as "vicious" and a "racist," and said that he would "like to get us stuck back in the times of slavery".[47] National Review commentators suggested she then owed Breitbart an apology[48][49][50], and Salon's Joan Walsh said Sherrod's assertion came from her own viewpoint.[51]
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Shirley Sherrod
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Shirley Sherrod at a March 2010 regional USDA meeting. |
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| Born | Shirley Miller c. 1948 Newton-Baker County, Georgia, U.S. |
| Residence | Albany, Georgia |
| Ethnicity | African-American |
| Education |
Albany State Univ.: sociology, 1970 Antioch University: masters, community development, 1989[52] |
| Occupation |
Civil rights activist Former Georgia State Director of Rural Development United States Department of Agriculture Sociologist |
| Known for | Albany Movement[53] New Communities (collective farm)[53] Forced resignation from the USDA, July 19, 2010 |
| Religion | Baptist |
| Spouse | Charles Sherrod minister |
| Parents | Grace and Hosie Miller |
Shirley Sherrod (née Miller) was born in 1948 in Baker County, Georgia, to Grace and Hosie Miller.[54][55] In 1965, when she was 17 years old, her father, Hosie Miller, a deacon at the local Baptist Church, was shot to death by a white farmer, reportedly over a dispute about livestock.[55] No charges were returned against the shooter by an all-white grand jury.[55] This was a turning point in her life and she decided to stay in the South to bring about change.[55] Several months after Miller's homicide, a cross was burned at night in front of the Miller family's residence; Grace Miller and her four daughters, including Shirley, and infant son, born after her husband's killing, were inside.[56]
That same year, Sherrod was among the first black students to enroll in the previously all-white high school in Baker County.[54] Eleven years later, her mother Grace Miller became the first black woman elected to a county office, one she continued to hold, as of 2010[update].[56]
Sherrod attended Fort Valley State College[54] and later studied sociology at Albany State University in Georgia while working for civil rights with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. There she met her future husband, minister Charles Sherrod.[55][57] She went on to Antioch University in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where she earned her master's degree in community development.[55] She returned to Georgia to work with the Department of Agriculture in Georgia "to help minority farmers keep their land."[55]
In 1969, Sherrod and her husband were among the U.S. civil rights and land collective activists co-founding New Communities, a collective farm in Southwest Georgia[53][58][59] modeled on kibbutzim in Israel.[55][60] According to research by Susan Witt and Robert Swann, New Communities' founding in 1969 was connected to the Albany Movement[59]. It served as a laboratory and model in a movement toward the development of Community Land Trusts throughout the U.S.: "The perseverance and foresight of that team in Georgia, motivated by the right of African-American farmers to farm land securely and affordably, initiated the CLT movement in this country."[61]
Located in Lee County, Georgia, the 5,700-acre (23 km2) project was one of the largest tracts of black-owned land in the U.S.[60][62] The project encountered difficulties in the opposition of area white farmers, who accused participants of being communists,[55] and also from segregationist Democratic Governor Lester Maddox, who prevented development funds for the project from entering the state.[60] A drought in the 1970s and the inability to get government loans led to the project's demise in 1985.[55] [63]
After Sherrod and her husband lost their farm when they were unable to secure USDA loans,[57] they became class action plaintiffs in the civil suit Pigford v. Glickman. The Department agreed to a settlement in which compensation was paid between January 1, 1981 and December 31, 1999,[55] in "the largest civil rights settlement in history, with nearly $1 billion being paid to more than 16,000 victims."[55]
A federal law passed in 2008 — with then-Senator Barack Obama's sponsorship, as well as Senator Grassley of Iowa — to allow up to 70,000 more claimants to qualify,[55] which included New Communities, for the communal farm in which Sherrod and her husband had partnered. In 2009, the chief arbitrator Michael Lewis ruled that the USDA had discriminated against New Communities by denying a loan to the operation and extending more favorable terms to white farmers.[53] New Communities received a $12.8 million settlement, which included $8.2 million in compensation for loss of farm land, $4.2 million for loss of income and $330,000 to Sherrod and her husband[64] for "mental anguish".[60][62]
Sherrod was hired by the USDA in August 2009 for the political appointee position as the Georgia director of rural development, the first black person to hold that position.[53][55]
| Dates known | Position | Organization | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| From 1965 | Organizer | Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's Southwest Georgia Project | |
| Co-founder | Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education (among other organizations) | Organized childcare and pre school programs throughout Southwest Georgia and participated in voter registration drives[65] | |
| 1969–1985 | Co-founding member; store manager[66] |
New Communities land trust | Entity went bankrupt, with most its lands sold, in 1985.[58] In 2009, New Communities members were compensated for their losses, by settlement of a class-action suit against the USDA. |
| Prior 2009 | Georgia State Lead | Southern Rural Black Women's Initiative[65] | |
| 1985–2009[67] | Georgia office lead | Federation of Southern Cooperatives | Assisted black farmers in retaining their land[55][57][65] |
| 1993–1996 | Fellowship awardee | Kellogg National Fellowship program[65] | |
| 1999–2000 | Executive Director | Community Alliances of Interdependent Agriculture[67] | |
| July 2009–July 2010[67] | Georgia State Director of Rural Development[65] | U.S. Department of Agriculture | On August 24, 2010, Sherrod turned down an advocacy position in Washington, D.C., with the USDA, doing internal, anti-discrimination training and outreach, offering instead to consult with the Department.[8] |
| Late July 2010 | No longer a federal employee (nor thus constrained by the Hatch Act), campaigned for local Democratic Party United States Congressman[53]
Further information: United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia, 2010#District 2
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Commentators attributed the rivalry between the left and the right as an important factor in the controversy. The NAACP had passed a resolution asking the Tea Party to repudiate racist language among its members.[68] Breitbart said he posted the videos in response. Commentators from each side noted that racial issues were being manipulated for political gain. Imani Perry, a professor at Princeton's Center for African American Studies, said some conservatives manipulated white fears for political advantage:
I think many white Americans are fearful that with Obama in the White House, and the diversity in his appointments, that the racial balance of power is shifting. And that's frightening both because people always are afraid to give up privilege, and because of the prospect of a black-and-brown backlash against a very ugly history. Some liberals have long maintained that racism requires power, and so black people can't be racist. Obama's election undercut the first argument and made the specter of black racism appear more threatening.[69]
Journalist Ben Smith of The Politico remarked,
The America of 2010 is dominated by racial images out of farce and parody, caricatures not seen since the glory days of Shaft. Fox News often stars a leather-clad New Black Panther, while MSNBC scours the tea party movement for racist elements, which one could probably find in any mass organization in America. Obama's own, sole foray into the issue of race involved saying a Police Officer acted "stupidly", and regretting his own words [the Henry Louis Gates incident]. Conservative leaders and the NAACP, the venerable civil-rights group, recently engaged in a round of bitter name-calling that left both groups wounded and crying foul. Political correctness continues to reign in parts of the left, and now has a match in the belligerent grievance of conservatives demanding that hair-trigger allegations of racism be proven.[21]
After the release of the full video, media outlets across the political spectrum criticized the decision to force Sherrod to resign.[70] [71][72]
Jeff Greenfield of CBS News criticized the role of the 24-hour news, saying,
"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."[73]
The BBC 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."[74] The New York Times noted that, "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".[75]
Mediaite's Steve Krakauer reported that although FoxNews.com broke the story, it was later reported by other online sites such as the Atlanta Journal Constitution's, and that it was repeated by a number of people on various shows and networks. He noted full coverage by other networks and channels, so Sherrod's resignation was not simply because of the Fox News coverage.[18] Howard Kurtz said in The Washington Post that the Fox News network, with the exception of brief comments by O'Reilly, did not discuss the story until after Sherrod's resignation was widely reported.[21] Clemente of Fox News said that it was a mistake to have put the story on their website before Sherrod's resignation was announced.[76]
In an interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News, the civil rights activist the Reverend Jesse Jackson said that he regretted that coverage given to the Sherrod incident had overshadowed more important federal actions that month. The government had settled longstanding claims of racial discrimination in programs of USDA and the Department of Interior. Jackson noted the landmark nature of the national settlements of these cases and that tens of thousands of people benefited from the compensation for previous injustices. He said:
[J]ust this past Thursday the black farmers got a $1.2 billion settlement, the [American] Indians a $3.2 billion settlement, for race discrimination. We're not discussing all the facts... 100,000 black farmers get no press. Native Americans get no press. We're still arguing about how fast or slow the White House reacted. Also the Spooner's testimony – this white family farmer, Eloise and Mr. Spooner – I thought their stepping up to the plate in alliance with Sherrod was a great news story that none of us should miss.[77]
Appearing on ABC's The View on July 29, President Obama characterized the controversy over Sherrod's firing as a "bogus" one generated by the media; he said his administration overreacted in forcing her out.[78]
Sherrod v. Breitbart was filed February 11, 2011, by Sherrod's attorneys, Thomas Yannucci, Michael Jones, Thomas Clare, and Beth Williams of Kirkland & Ellis, in District Court For the District of Columbia, naming as defendants Breitbart.com LLC Chairman and CEO Andrew Breitbart, Breitbart TV chief Larry O'Connor, and a "John Doe," who, according to the complaint, is "an individual whose identity has been concealed by the other defendants and who, according to defendant Breitbart, was involved in the deceptive editing of the video clip and encouraged its publication with the intent to defame Mrs. Sherrod."[9][79][80]
On April 18, Breitbart and O'Connor's attorneys – Eric Kuwana of Katten Muchin Rosenman and Bruce Sanford of Baker Hostetler, respectively – filed joint motions for dismissal on U.S. First Amendment grounds, arguing that Breitbart's "1400-word, July 19, 2010 commentary...that is the subject of Sherrod’s lawsuit" was in the context of a "months-long and very loud public clash between Tea Party conservatives and the NAACP and its allies in Congress."[81]
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.’