Sherrod plans book tour, discusses life and career
Published 9:56 pm Wednesday, August 15, 2012

- AP Photo/United States Department of Agriculture An undated photo provided by the United States Department of Agriculture shows USDA official Shirley Sherrod. Sherrod is at the center of a racially tinged firestorm involving the Obama administration and the NAACP. Sherrod was ousted Tuesday by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack over her comments that she didn't give a white farmer as much help as she could have 24 years ago.
ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia woman who was at the center of a political firestorm in 2010 is planning a tour to promote her upcoming book, “The Courage to Hope: How I Stood Up to the Politics of Fear.”
Shirley Sherrod tells The Albany Herald (http://bit.ly/NCAYlv) that U.S. Department of Agriculture officials were perfectly willing to “throw me under the bus” after a clip from one of her speeches was released.
The video clip described her initial reluctance to help a white farmer years earlier when she worked at a nonprofit group, touching off controversy. But the excerpt omitted Sherrod’s explanation that she did help him save his farm, and that poverty — not race — was the issue in rural development.
The White House asked for Sherrod’s resignation, but later reversed its decision and apologized.
___
Information from: The Albany Herald, http://albanyherald.com
Copyright 2012 The AP.