Shirley Sherrod Helped Keep Us Out of Bankruptcy, Farmer's Wife Says

By: Stephanie Condon
Topics: In The News ,; Obama Administration

Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign from the Department of Agriculture because of recent remarks she made that, taken out of context, suggested she discriminated against a white farmer. That farmer's wife, however, is saying Sherrod is a "friend for life" who saved their family farm from foreclosure.

Sherrod served as director of rural development in Georgia until Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack forced her to resign after she came under scrutiny for remarks she gave at an NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet on March 27. A video of a portion of her remarks were posted on a conservative blog, giving the impression that Sherrod admitted to discriminating against a white farmer as an employee of the USDA.

The incident in question, however, took place two decades ago, and the wife of the farmer in question told told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sherrod "kept us out of bankruptcy."

"Her husband told her, 'You're spending more time with the Spooners than you are with me,' " Eloise Spooner, the wife of the farmer, told the AJC. "She took probably two or three trips with us to Albany just to help us out."

Spooner also remarked on CNN this afternoon, Sherrod "helped us save our farm by getting in there and doing all she could do to help us."

Shirley Sherrod: White House Forced My Resignation
Shirley Sherrod Resigns from USDA over Race Remark Furor

Stephanie Condon
Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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by silentseeker July 27, 2010 10:03 PM EDT: Do racists really understand dominant and recessive genes, genetics and race?; Reply to this comment


by soetoro July 23, 2010 10:49 AM EDT: YEAH,BUT I wonder how many she CAUSED to lose their farms because of her RACISM!!!!!! She said what she said.; Reply to this comment

by rationall7 July 22, 2010 12:12 PM EDT

As shirley said in the video to the audience it's not about race it's about power and control over the have not. This woman took the farmer to a white lawyer first and then to a black lawyer who saved him from losing his farm, why didn't the white lawyer save the farmer's property?

After Reagen, Bush, Bush years some of us lost our healthcare, jobs, 401K and so on and you want to dwell on racism.

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by soetoro July 23, 2010 11:00 AM EDT: Rationall7:your reading skills are lacking--the black lawyer dropped the case and the mean ole white lawyer SAVED their farm--not racist shirley or the black lawyer.


by paulettepowell July 21, 2010 6:20 PM EDT: It appears that since a black man is president of the United States, racism has been a weekly topic on every cable news channel. This makes me wonder why, when there are many other issues and concerns facing the USA.

In regards to the mis-information about Shirley Sherrod, all parties (i.e. Obama Administration, NAACP, Fox News, etc.) are at blame. These entities viewed by many as reputable news reporting sources, again failed. For instance, none conducted any investigative tasks to validate the accusations of racism before sharing this information with the public.

I believe its time for all sides Tea Party, The Dems, and The Reps to stop all of the bickering about one another. I pray this situation is soon resolved so that we can get back to the business of as unemployment, jobs, immigration, home modifications, the wars, the BP Oil spill, fluctuating gas prices, and other pertinent concerns and issues facing our country.; Reply to this comment


by hakori July 21, 2010 7:49 AM EDT: This is a turning point, righties. Now everyone is clued in to what we wacky liberals have know form the beginning of FNC: it's unfair, it's unbalanced--or unhinged, and it LIES. Thanks Brietbart! Now let's start shedding light on the rest of the lies the right-wing media has perpetrated on America. I love to see conservative SQUIRM. Say bye bye to November, righties... Your final downfall has begun and I LOVE IT! Your pathetic party of liars and middle class haters is OVER until it reforms itself and kicks out the radicals!; Reply to this comment


by endurorob_5 July 21, 2010 7:20 AM EDT: For me the issue with her speach was not the speach itself, the incident happened over 20 years ago, the issue is with the way the NAACP uadience reacted to her statement.; Reply to this comment


by tiredofeverything July 21, 2010 12:07 AM EDT: I see a massive (and justified) wrongful dismissal suit on the horizon; Reply to this comment


by RightwayPaint July 20, 2010 10:23 PM EDT: It's time for African Americans to ban together on this one. If she gets fired, we need to call for the termination of every USDA staffer involved in the systemmic discrimination against African American farmers during 1981 to 1997. Acts over a period of 24 years (boy does that number sound familiar), for which the USDA admitted to, but failed to fully accept responsibility. Imagine, a cut-off date to accuse the USDA of discrimination.

http://www.dailyyonder.com/discrimination-usda-against-black-farmers-gets-presidential

"From 1981 to 1997, the United States Department of Agriculture discriminated against tens of thousands of African American farmers, denying loans provided to white farmers in similar circumstances. The discrimination was the subject of the Pigford v. Glickman lawsuit brought by members of the National Black Farmers Association, which resulted in two settlement agreements of $1.25 billion in 1999 and of $1.15 billion in 2009. To qualify, farmers were subjected to many requirement which included a cut off date, leaving the matter of discrimination unresolved."

Retaliating against an African American woman for taking a stand against racism in 1981. I think not. Go ahead and make her day USDA. Prepare for paying out big bucks to this lady.

Hats off to Ms. Sherrod for doing her part in privately protesting a system-wide racism. Could she take on the entire USDA - of course not, but she made her stand in her own way.; Reply to this comment

by Mayusan July 20, 2010 8:04 PM EDT

Where those aliens back to visit you again Ucvbn_Bjfyuvs? Did you take a picture of the crop circle they left when they abducted bigfoot? whatever dude.

My question to the rest of the world is... how do we know this is really the white farmer's wife? As far as I know... the farmer wasn't mentioned by name... could this be a false statement for the purpose of image repair? too coincidental that that particular farmer's wife would come to her defense when she wasn't named... and seeing she probably visited more than one white farmer, it would be rediculous of this particular farmer's wife to think she was talking about her husband...

And as if the wife of the farmer would come to the defense of a woman who was accusing her husband of being a racist by trying to act superior to her.

this all sounds too fishy to me. Sry. Racism is racism. Doesn't matter if it was white against black, or black against white. Wrong is wrong and she should have been fired had she not resigned.

as for the tea party is racist comment..

one word... proof. We're still waiting for it.

I was at a tea party and saw ONE racist sign. They were kicked out. When I was leaving, I saw that person that was holding the racist sign standing and laughing with a bunch of people across the street who were protesting the tea party. Can we say left wing plant?

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by Ucvbn_Bjfyuvs July 20, 2010 8:36 PM EDT: Wow. You just make stuff up and run with it don't you. I'm sure a lot of people would love to live in your fantasy world. But, the rest of us prefer to live in the real world. Well, good luck with that.


by Mayusan July 20, 2010 9:15 PM EDT: My comments are rooted in fact Bjfyuvs. Your comments are rooted in consipracy theories with a side of bunk. You have no valid evidence or proof to what you say about foxnews (which by the way, has nothing to do with this blog...)

I however have stated things that are rooted in evidence.

1. What this woman said is available online in full, and what she said is racist. That she did not help this white farmer to the fullest of her extent to stick it to whitey basically.

2. She accused the husband of this alleged supporter of being racist and acting superior to her, so she admittedly did not help him to her fullest ability to stick it to him. Guarantee you the real farmers wife would NOT come to her defense after hearing that. Its common sense. Not to mention the farmer's name was never released... so how would this "supporter" know she was talking about HER husband in particular?

3. I've been to many tea parties. None of which have had racist undertones except that one... and again, that very person was asked to leave and suh-prize suh-prize... that person ended up laughing it up with protestors of the tea party across the street. That's not making stuff up and running with it... that's a fact supported by other witnesses.

What is making stuff up and running with it are things people like you say.

There is NO evidence of real racism in the tea party. No video, no audio, nothing but supposed eye witnesses (on the left mind you.)

There is NO evidence of FOX news lying about anything they've reported on.

There is evidence of MSNBC lying by omittion. (IE when they tried claiming tea party goers were violent racists who hated obama because he's black, by showing a close up of a rifle on a person's back. However they neglected to show the person carrying the rifle was black... standing up for his constitutional right to bear arms.)

That's proof of actual false reporting and lying by omission on the part of the news media. Something that can not be said of Fox News. Unlike MSNBC, whenever they are accused of falsifying reports... they will counter with actual proof of what they are talking about.

Its people like YOU who make things up as you go along and run with it. The sad thing is you delude yourself into believing it's true... even though you know you have no evidence to back it up.

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by dawg8it July 20, 2010 7:29 PM EDT

HA. The white farmer agreed with Shirley Sherrod said "helped us save our farm by getting in there and doing all she could do to help us".

NCAAP needs to stand there ground! Stop listen to right wing blogger who is doctoring the video.

The Tea party IS a racist movement

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by davidfromaustin July 20, 2010 11:05 PM EDT: There is no evidence that the Tea Party is racist. I've seen many vids of Democrat plants. The Hitler-Obama-Stalin billboard, though very stupid, is not racist. Enough of these filthy racism allegations. This is McCarthyism. And let's give the lady her job back. She was a racist 20 years ago, and got past it. Glory to God. Glory to her.


by hakori July 21, 2010 7:43 AM EDT: davidfromaustin, just stop. Of course there are racists in the tea party. They all aren't, but from the signs and slurs and spitting, we know there are. But that's not what this is about. This is about the right-wing media perpetrating a lie on us to get back at the NAACP for calling on the Tea party to condemn the racist elements within the Tea party. It was a hasty and desperate act which is now blowing up on the right-wing media. I LOVE IT! Liberals were right: FOX LIES!