Shirley Sherrod Gets White House Apology

Updated 4:36 p.m. Eastern Time

Stating that "a disservice was done," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs today apologized to former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod over her firing after a conservative news outlet posted an out-of-context video of comments she made two decades ago.

"I think without a doubt is Sherrod is owed an apology," Gibbs told reporters. "I would do so certainly on behalf of this administration."

Sherrod, who watched the briefing, immediately responded on CNN that "it makes me feel better that the apology is finally happening."

"I accept their apology," she said.

Gibbs maintained that the decision to fire Sherrod was made by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and that the White House, which initially stood by Vilsack's decision, did not direct that she be fired.

He said Vilsack was trying to reach Sherrod to apologize and "talk about their next steps." Later, Sherrod told media outlets she had spoken to Vilsack and that he had offered her a job, though not necessarily her previous position as Georgia State Director of Rural Development. Sherrod, who has expressed ambivalence about returning in light of her treatment, is reportedly considering whether to accept the offer.

Gibbs, calling the situation an "injustice," said at the briefing that "a lot of people involved in this situation, from the government's perspective on through, acted without all the facts."

Told Sherrod was watching the briefing, Gibbs was asked if he had anything to say to her. He repeated that he apologized on behalf of the administration. He said the White House had to look back at the last few days to "ask ourselves how we got into this."

"I think we live in a culture that things whip around, people want fast responses, we want to give fast responses, and I don't think there's any doubt is if we all look at this, I think one of the great lessons you take away from this is to ask all the questions first, and come to that greater understanding," he said.

Shirley Sherrod Case Exposes Raw Wounds About Race at the White House

"Members of this administration, members of the media, members of different political factions on both sides of this have all made determinations and judgments without a full set of facts," added Gibbs.

Gibbs denied that the administration acted so quickly to fire Sherrod because it is "afraid" of conservative commentators or hypersensitive on issues of race. But Sherrod, speaking on CNN, maintained that "being so afraid of the machine that the right has put out there, that's what driving this." (Above, watch a discussion of the Sherrod controversy and an interview with Sherrod on CBSNews.com's "Washington Unplugged.")

"I think that's why they were so quick to act without listening," she said. "Because I was saying please listen to the tape, this didn't happen." She said the attitude of the Obama administration was "get her out of the way, push her under the rug."

The press secretary said the president was briefed on the Sherrod situation yesterday and today. He suggested the situation could be a "teachable moment" on race, though he said the teacher isn't necessarily President Obama.

"We need to stop looking just at race," Sherrod said on CNN. "Just at black vs white. We need to get beyond that. We can't forget that because that is definitely a part of us, but we need to move on."

The USDA asked Sherrod to resign Monday after a conservative blog released an edited video of remarks she gave at an NAACP conference that gave the impression she discriminated against a white farmer. Her full remarks, however, made clear she was relating a story from two decades ago -- long before she joined the USDA -- and that she ultimately learned an important lesson to disregard race. The wife of the farmer in question stated yesterday that Sherrod is a "friend for life" who helped save their family farm.

Sherrod said yesterday that the USDA pressed her to resign without listening to her side of the story or taking the time to review the remarks she gave to the NAACP. She said the USDA official who contacted her said she was acting at the behest of the White House.

Critics Blast White House for Shirley Sherrod Firing
Shirley Sherrod: I'm Not Sure I Want my Job Back
Shirley Sherrod Helped Keep Us Out of Bankruptcy, Farmer's Wife Says
NAACP Retracts Shirley Sherrod Statement, Says It Was "Snookered" by Fox News, Andrew Breitbart
Shirley Sherrod: White House Forced My Resignation
Shirley Sherrod Resigns from USDA over Race Remark Furor
Watch the Remarks

[rrozsa]

I'm glad to see that things were made right. When I heard the story on CNN a few days ago, it was clear that the lady was demonstrating how her own views on race had changed from her early career. It was obvious the remarks were not condoning racial prejudice or favoritism. I was appalled to hear she had been fired, and kudos to the USDA for admitting their error and making it right.

[sally2you]

SHE IS A RACIST, and Gibbs and all these other Left wing crack pots need to get FIRED ASAP before our country finishes getting flushed down the toliet!! They ARE NUTS!

[CBSTV]

"Fox" and "news" are words that do not belong together. Watch this cable channel for opinion and entertainment, if you must; but not for serious news reporting.

[kamsack50]

Why don't we see the name and the firing of the person who submitted the film clip in the first place. If you want to stop this kind of thing you have to expose the source. They are not too small to be paraded and castigated publicly. The problem is America's only interested in the fall of big names. They love scandals. So, this guarantees that this kind of criminal behavior will continue.

[yaggyyow]

Why does someone always have to make a big ole "Black Thang" out of it??

Lou
www.privacy-tools.be.tc

[enaid3]

So WHAT??? It just goes to show you how the NAACP fixes their tapes to suit their needs, but this time it backfired on them!!!

[rbi149]

One American, did your mother have any children who LIVED?

[pragmatist1]

Now, if only Sharpton, JJ, and others who used the charge of racism to trash others would find the bones to apologize: to name a few, Officer Ogletree, Duke LaCrosse Team, Imus, Jimmy "The Greek", those involved in the false Tawanna Brawley case, etc. These things shouldn't happen. Unfortunately, irrational charges of racism make victims of both whites and blacks, but usually the whites are trashed the most for their racism.

[sadlymistaken]

Why is the whole point of this forgotten. That is that racism is everywhere - on both sides of the fence. None of us are immune. Sadly we have become a nation of finger pointers to take the spotlight off of us. It saddens me that all the news stations have decided they will tell how we should believe and not just reporting news. The gentleman that started this wasn't after a person he was trying to show that fact.

[sadlymistaken]

Why is the whole point of this forgotten. That is that racism is everywhere - on both sides of the fence. None of us are immune. Sadly we have become a nation of finger pointers to take the spotlight off of us. It saddens me that all the news stations have decided they will tell how we should believe and not just reporting news. The gentleman that started this wasn't after a person he was trying to show that fact.