Jesse Jackson talks with Ag Sec Vilsack; Says he wants an apology for USDA employee’s exit

Jesse Jackson wants apology for Sherrod’s ouster

WASHINGTON — The Rev. Jesse Jackson is calling for an apology from the Obama administration for ousting an Agriculture Department employee now at the center of a racially tinged firestorm.

Jackson said he talked to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack late Tuesday night before Vilsack said that he would reconsider his department’s decision to ask Shirley Sherrod to leave her job.

Vilsack issued a short statement early Wednesday morning after Sherrod said she was pressured to resign because of her comments that she didn’t give a white farmer as much help as she could have 24 years ago. Until Tuesday, Sherrod was the department’s director of rural development in Georgia.