Sherrod sues Breitbart
(CNN) - A former Department of Agriculture employee who was forced to resign last year after the posting of a misleading video has filed suit against Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger who posted it.
Shirley Sherrod's suit was filed in District of Columbia Superior Court on Friday, her attorney confirmed. The civil suit accuses Breitbart of "defamation, false light and infliction of emotional distress," according to a statement issued by the law firm representing her.
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E-Mails Show Rush to Judgment on Sherrod
Updated 11:08 a.m. with statement from Sherrod after the jump
(CNN) - Newly released documents give the public its first look inside the Obama administration's internal deliberations over whether to fire Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod, and the hundreds of e-mails clearly confirm officials pushed her out for political reasons despite knowing they did not have the full context of the explosive video that thrust her into the national spotlight.
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Sherrod: 'We can make this a better place for all of us'
Washington (CNN) - A former Agriculture Department employee who was forced to resign last month, then received an apology and a job offer she turned down, said Wednesday she hopes to continue to work on the issue of race relations in America.
"I don't have any job opportunities at this point," Shirley Sherrod told CNN's "American Morning." "I have to just look at what's possible. I do need to take a little time to think and look at the future. I do plan to be busy."
Sherrod resigned under pressure as the USDA's director of rural development for Georgia. The controversy began after conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted a portion of a speech Sherrod gave online. In that speech, she seemed to suggest that she did not offer her full help to a white farmer.
The original post appeared to indicate the incident occurred while Sherrod was a USDA employee. News outlets quickly picked up on the story, and Sherrod was asked to resign. However, the incident took place during the 1980s, and Sherrod's speech in its unedited form showed that she was telling the story to illustrate that people should move beyond race. In addition, the white farmer mentioned by her came forward, crediting Sherrod with helping save his farm.
Sherrod insists White House was behind her ouster
(CNN) - Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod insists that the White House was behind the rush decision in July to ask her to resign after a conservative web publisher released an edited video clip that seemed to show her recounting racist behavior on her part. But she left open the possibility that the request for her resignation might not have come from "others working for the president" rather than directly from President Obama.
After a meeting with Sherrod Tuesday morning, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack repeated his previous assertions that he did not speak with anyone at the White House before deciding to force Sherrod to step down.
"This was my responsibility," he said. "I disappointed the president (and) the country. ... I have to live with that."
But, in an interview set to air Tuesday on Anderson Cooper 360° Sherrod said "I stand by that" when asked about her past assertions that the White House had been involved in the loss of her job.
Sherrod declines USDA job offer
(CNN) - Shirley Sherrod said Tuesday that she has enjoyed her work at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and "would want to see that work continue."
But she add, "I just don't think at this point with all that has happened" that it is possible to continue working at the department. "It doesn't mean I'm not interested in that work, because I am," she said.
She said she needs to "take a break" from the events of the past few weeks, but looks forward to "some type of relationship with the department in the future."
"We need to work on issues (of) discrimination and racism in this country, and I'd certainly like to play my role," Sherrod added.
Shirley Sherrod to meet Tuesday with Vilsack over job
(CNN) - Shirley Sherrod, who received an apology after being forced to resign from the Agriculture Department, will meet Tuesday with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to discuss a job offer, a department official confirmed Saturday.
It will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two since a controversial sequence of events last month culminated in her stepping down.
Sherrod, who was the Agriculture Department's Georgia Director of Rural Development, has said she is being offered the position of Deputy Director of the Office of Advocacy and Outreach.
Obama takes on '24/7 media cycle'
President Obama appeared on the daytime talk show ‘The View’ on Thursday. (PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images)
(CNN) - President Obama wasted no time in an interview on ABC's The View to pounce on the media for providing a culture that "loves conflict."
"The things that the media may focus on are not necessarily the things I focus on," Obama, the first sitting president to visit a daytime television show, said. "I have to sign letters to parents of children who have been killed in Afghanistan or the husbands or wives of people who have been killed in battle and that gives you a sense of perspective that is just different from what is going on on cable TV on any given day."
The president highlighted the recent Shirley Sherrod controversy, which seemingly drown out his major legislative accomplishments such as the Wall Street reform bill becoming law.
Poll suggests pessimism over race as NABJ opens
San Diego (CNN) - Provocative issues regarding race will be on display at the largest gathering of African-American journalists on Thursday. This comes as two-thirds of blacks say they have been victims of racial discrimination, in a fresh CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, and a growing number say that racial tensions between blacks and whites will always exist.
Thousands of producers, editors, reporters, media executives and others are attending The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in San Diego, which ends on Sunday. The annual gathering is a venue for journalism education and career development and provides networking opportunities for assembled media professionals.
It will also serve as a forum on an issue that continually inflames passions or stokes tension: race relations between minorities and whites.
Ousted USDA staffer Shirley Sherrod spoke at the convention Thursday and indicated she would sue the conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart - the man responsible for posting an edited video clip of Sherrod appearing to say she discriminated against a white farmer looking for assistance. The NABJ said it had invited Breitbart to also attend the gathering and that the conservative blogger initially accepted, but later declined.
Sherrod plans to sue Breitbart
(CNN) - Former Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod said Thursday she will pursue a lawsuit against conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart.
Breitbart posted an edited video clip of Sherrod appearing to say she discriminated against a white farmer looking for assistance. The clip showed her addressing a chapter of the NAACP.
"I will definitely do it," she said when asked whether she was considering legal action. Sherrod made her remarks during an appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in San Diego, California.
Breitbart "had to know that he was targeting me," Sherrod said. "At this point, he hasn't apologized. I don't want it at this point, and he'll definitely hear from me."
Earlier: Sherrod deserved better, Obama says
Obama: Sherrod deserved better
Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama said Thursday that Shirley Sherrod "deserves better than what happens last week when a bogus controversy ... led to her forced resignation."
"Many are to blame" for the reaction that followed, he said, "including my own administration."
Her whole story, Obama said he told Sherrod, "is exactly the kind of story we need to hear in America (because) we all have our biases."
The president made his remarks during an appearance at the National Urban League's 100th Anniversary Convention in Washington.
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