By: Milo Villareal
President Obama in a speech to the National Urban League Thursday called the events leading to
the firing of former Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod a "bogus controversy," and
said his own administration is partly to blame.
"She deserved better than what happened last week," Obama said to the historic civil rights
organization. Thursday's speech, intended to address education issues, was the longest amount of
time Obama has spent talking about the Sherrod incident.
Sherrod was forced to resign last week after conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart posted an out
of context video clip of Sherrod speaking on race relations at a March NAACP conference. The short
clip shows Sherrod telling the story of her initial feelings about helping a white farmer, but the
entire speech reveals her own racial reconciliation.
Once the context was released, Obama said he called Sherrod to apologize and told her that the
"story she was trying to tell, a story about overcoming our own biases, and recognizing ourselves
and folks who, on the surface seem different is exactly the kind of story we need hear in America."
Obama went on to talk about Race to the Top, a multi-billion dollar federal grant based education
reform competition. The program has come under fire by some civil rights groups who say it isn't fair
to low-income and minority students. Obama warded off criticism, and said the program targets children
with the most need. "Let me tell you, what's not working for black kids and Hispanic kids and Native
American kids across this country is the status quo," he said. "That's what's not working."
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