The reputation of a person is important and valuable, and should be protected. In July 2010 an employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Shirley Sherrod, was all the evening news, with accusations of racism. Even the NAACP denounced and repudiated it. Shortly after the controversy to the surface, Ms. Sherrod was summarily dismissed by the USDA. In fact, she was heading to a meeting when he received a series of calls, one of which shows the "White House" wanted out of there. Ms. Sherrod, under extreme pressure resigned. All this took place in little more than a day. It all was a giant, public misunderstanding, with statements taken out of context, made in complete contradiction to the reports, and a much larger story.How could it get that far (the recall)?
Ms. Sherrod is a manager of respect, a positive "face" for the government, and represents his employer as well. One day she was competent, highly regarded, and insurance. The next day, his name was on all the national media, who left his job in disgrace, and was unemployed, almost a national pariah.
Ms. Sherrod is a black woman (African American). He was accused of having discriminated against a white farmer twenty years ago. Unfortunately, Ms. Sherrod recently spoke of his experience, which took place several decades earlier, at a public meeting. Like almost everything these days, his speech was videotaped. When an edited version of his comments were leaked to conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart stagefor set a rapid sequence of events.
