Sherrod Turns Down Offer of Resinstatement

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Tom Crane

To most people, your job is your life or a very significant part of your life.  Survey after survey supports that view.  Common sense tells us it must be true.  We see that in the case of Shirley Sherrod.  Fired for no good reason as part of  a huge misunderstanding.  Her employer, the US Department of Agriculture, offered a different job doing something that would appeal to her.  Today, she turned them down.  See CBS news report.  She said she could not go back "with all that has happened."  

When that trust is gone, it is hard to put it back together.  i hear from clients all the time that they do not want to go back to their employer.  Usually, they mean no way will they go back so long as "so-and-so" is still working there.  When a person is fired, they see their employer in a new light.  At first, they cannot believe "it" happened.  Some find later that they are relieved to be away from a terrible place to work.  Many more miss their former place and the relationships they used to have.  

Bobby Bowden, former coach of Florida State, knows this.  In his new book, he tells how someone to whom he had ben close essentially fired him.  "I doubt I'll have a relationship" with him any longer, he said.  See report.  Coach Bowden and TK Wetherell had been friends for decades.  A termination for the wrong reasons can change all that.  

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Ex-USDA Official Will File Suit over Blog Post

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Tom Crane

Shirley Sherrod, the former Department of Agriculture official,  will sue the blogger who posted her comments out of context.  See report.  Good for her.  The report does not explain what the suit will be based on.  But, I would expect she could sue him for defamation or "false light" defemation.  The blogger, Andrew Breitbart, is said to be supported by the Washington Times.  

Key to a defamation suit would be whether Ms. Sherrod is considered to be a "public figure."  Since she spoke at the NAACP convention in Georgia, she might qualify as a public figure.  If she is a public figure, then she would have to show actual malice on the part of the blogger.  Proving actual malice is difficult. 

Everyone from the administration to Bill O'Reilly have now apologized for what they said about Ms. Sherrod.  See story.  Ms. Sherrod believes we can heal our racial differences, but we need to confront those differences.  

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USDA Employee Fired After Discussing Racism

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Tom Crane

 Racism is often just below the surface in our society.  A black woman admits that she felt some antipathy toward a white farmer.  She learned from her own racism and grew from it.  Yet, her story is used to fan the flames of white fear.  See story.  Shirley Sherrod discussed her first case working with a white farmer when she worked for a non-profit agency assisting poor farmers.  It was some 20 years ago.  She explained how she learned from her initial reaction and grew as a person.  But, a conservative website posted a video of her talk, excised the part about learning from her initial mistake and claimed the then USDA employee was biased against white farmers.  The NAACP condemned her supposed remarks, taken out of context.  Ms. Sherrod was then fired.  The USDA said it has zero tolerance for racism. 

Now, the USDA, realizing it mis-understood her remarks, will apparently ask her to come back.  The NAACP has also apologized.  Yes, it does pay to take the time to listen to the whole context, not just a few snippets.  In any event, Ms. Sherrod is not sure she would want to go back to the USDA.  That would be a pity.  Few of us, perhaps none, are truly free of bias and prejudice.  We need more public servants who recognize their weaknesses and learn from them.  

Ironically, her talk was at a NAACP banquet in Georgia last March discussing racism.  Her father was killed by white men in rural Georgia in 1965.  In her entire talk, she discusses how she had planned to leave Georgia after his death.  But, she stayed and committed herself to helping blacks. But, she concluded, God will put things in your path to teach you and you learn that your real commitment is to poor people, white or black.  

We all have a journey in life.  I think we need a few more like Shirley Sherrod in public service.  

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