[1][2] Her firing was an administration reaction to media reports on video excerpts from her address to an event of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in March 2010 and commentary posted by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart on his website.
However, review of her full speech showed that the excerpts had been selectively edited, and that her remarks – understood in context – were about the importance of overcoming personal prejudices.
Extensive media coverage of the excerpted videos, various parties' comments, and later corrections after the full story was discovered, exacerbated the affair.
The event brought to the forefront current debates regarding racism in the United States, cable news reporting, ideological websites on the internet, and decisions made by President Barack Obama's administration.
[4][5] The Obama administration apologized to Sherrod, and offered her a full-time, high-level internal advocacy position with the Department of Agriculture,[6][7][8] which she ultimately declined.
When Shirley Sherrod addressed the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund on August 21, 2010, she said she had been aware of the videos on July 14, 2010, five days before they were posted on Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment website.
The first video showed Sherrod describing an experience of working with a white man seeking help to save his farm.
[19] Greg Pollowitz of National Review Online, a conservative publication, said that the Media Matters timeline was "as good as any I’ve seen.
[24] Dana Loesch, an organizer for the Tea Party in Saint Louis, Missouri, mentioned the video in an appearance on Larry King Live;[25][26] it was also shown on Anderson Cooper 360 (both on CNN).
[4] Other references to race in Sherrod's speech related to a story of her more recent help of a black family to prevent forced sale of their farmland.
It was a case in which distant cousins, among numerous heirs, were forcing a sale of land that the family had owned since the grandfather bought it.
[30] Within hours of the excerpted video's being shown, Benjamin Jealous, president of the NAACP, condemned Sherrod for having abused her power and criticized the apparent audience reaction as well.
After the NAACP released the entire videotape, its officials retracted their previous statement and said:[36]Having reviewed the full tape, spoken to Ms. Sherrod, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans.
[36]During the uproar over Sherrod's resignation, Vilsack released a statement on July 20 saying that the USDA would "conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts".
[40] Sherrod watched live at the CNN Center when Robert Gibbs, White House press spokesman, extended her an apology.
[41] On July 21, Vilsack of USDA apologized personally and publicly to Sherrod for forcing her resignation based on an "out-of-context video".
In an interview with the CNN reporter Anderson Cooper, Sherrod referred to Breitbart as "vicious" and a "racist", and said that he would "like to get us stuck back in the times of slavery".
[52] National Review commentators suggested she owed Breitbart an apology,[53] and Salon's Joan Walsh said Sherrod's assertion came from her own viewpoint.
[57]After the release of the full video, media outlets across the political spectrum criticized the decision to force Sherrod to resign.
[61]The BBC commented about "the absurdity of the spin-cycle in which American journalists and politicians are intertwined and about the febrile atmosphere that surrounds any story about race.
"[62] The New York Times noted that, "Politically charged stories often take root online before being shared with a much wider audience on Fox.
[21] Howard Kurtz said in The Washington Post that the Fox News network, with the exception of brief comments by O'Reilly, did not discuss the story until after Sherrod's resignation was widely reported.
[64] In an interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News, the civil rights activist the Reverend Jesse Jackson said that he regretted that coverage given to the Sherrod incident had overshadowed more important federal actions that month.
Jackson noted the landmark nature of the national settlements of these cases and that tens of thousands of people benefited from the compensation for previous injustices.
[65]Appearing on ABC's The View on July 29, President Obama characterized the controversy over Sherrod's firing as a "bogus" one generated by the media; he said his administration overreacted in forcing her out.
[71] Breitbart and O'Connor filed joint motions for dismissal on First Amendment grounds, stating that the suit was barred by an anti-SLAPP law.
[74] The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, who repeatedly expresses frustration with the U.S. government's delays in providing discovery.
Circuit overturned Judge Leon's order directing Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack to give a deposition as part of pretrial discovery.
In a gesture they hope will inspire others to engage in the difficult but critically important process of bridging racial divides, the parties have agreed to resolve this lawsuit on confidential terms.