USDA Reconsiders Axing 'Racist' Worker

Vilsack 'considering additional facts'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 21, 2010 2:45 AM CDT
USDA Reconsiders Axing 'Racist' Worker
Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack is reconsidering the firing of Shirley Sherrod.   (AP Photo/Adam Rountree, File)

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is reconsidering the USDA's decision to oust a black employee over racially tinged remarks after learning more about what she said. Vilsack will "conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts" about his decision to ask Shirley Sherrod to resign. Sherrod criticized the administration for pushing her to resign yesterday after a blogger posted an edited video of her saying that she didn't give a white farmer as much help as she could have 24 years ago. Sherrod says her remarks were part of a story about racial reconciliation, not racism. (More Tom Vilsack stories.)

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