Vilsack says USDA will reconsider ouster of employee who resigned over race comments

USDA reconsiders employee ouster over race remarks

WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says he will reconsider the department’s decision to oust a black employee over racially tinged remarks after learning more about what she said.

Vilsack said in a statement early Wednesday morning that he will “conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts” about his decision to ask Shirley Sherrod to resign.

Sherrod, who was the Agriculture Department’s director of rural development in Georgia, criticized the administration for pushing her to resign Monday 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.