Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department employee who got caught in a ginned-up racial controversy last month, just said she will not accept another position at her old department.
Sherrod lost her job after conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart posted a heavily edited video that appeared to show her bragging about turning down a white farmer because of his race. But once the full video surfaced — showing she was actually talking about the importance of moving beyond race when dealing with others — almost everyone from the White House to the NAACP realized they had gone off half-cocked. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack offered her a civil rights job at the agency, hoping to smooth things over and ease some of the administration’s embarrassment.
The AP reports Sherrod and Vilsack said she may work with USDA in the future as a consultant on improving minority outreach.
