Dear friends,

The Obama administration just caved in to the right-wing smear machine, firing a Black USDA official after she was smeared by far-right blogger Andrew Breitbart and his friends at Fox News Channel.

Shirley Sherrod’s dismissal was based on a selectively edited video that made it appear she was confessing to discriminating against a white farming couple. In reality she was telling the story of how working with that family to save their farm helped her to lose her racial preconceptions.

It took less than 24 hours for the lies to be debunked. But by that time, it was too late — Sherrod was forced to quit. And even now that the truth is known, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is refusing to reinstate her. Worse, Vilsack has President Obama’s support. This kind of political cowardice is beyond shameful.

That’s why I’ve joined the people at ColorOfChange.org in calling on the White House to immediately give Shirley Sherrod her job back, and to stop bowing to the will of right-wing propaganda artists. Will you join me? Click this link to sign an online petition for Shirley.

http://www.colorofchange.org/shirley/?id=2129-1245241

Continue reading Sign Petition to Save Shirley Sherrod’s Job →