Obama on Shirley Sherrod and 'The Discrimination That's Still Out There'

In a talk to the National Urban League on Thursday, President Obama addressed the controversy surrounding the doctored video and subsequent firing of Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod. A transcript of his remarks, from Congressional Quarterly:


SPEAKER: PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Now, last week I had a chance to talk to Shirley Sherrod. An exemplary woman whose experiences mark both the challenges we have faced and the progress that we've made. She deserves better than what happened last week.

(APPLAUSE)

When a bogus controversy based on selective and deceiving excerpts of a speech led her -- led to her forced resignation. Now many are to blame for the reaction and overreaction that followed these comments including my own administration.

And what I said to Shirley was that the full 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 to hear in America.

(APPLAUSE)

It is -- it's exactly what we need to hear because we've all got our biases. And rather than jump to conclusions and point fingers, and play some of the games that are played on cable TV, we should all look inward and try to examine what's in our own hearts.

We should all make more of an effort to discuss with one another in a truthful and mature and responsible way the divides that still exist. The discrimination that's still out there. The prejudices that still hold us back.

A discussion that needs to take place not on cable TV, not just through a bunch of academic symposia, or fancy commissions or panels, not through political posturing, but around kitchen tables and water coolers and church basements, and in our schools, and with our kids all across the country.

If we can have that conversation in our own lives, if we can take an opportunity to learn from our imperfections and our mistakes, to grow as individuals and as a country, and if we engage in the hard work of translating words into deeds -- because words are easy and deeds are hard -- then I'm confident that we can move forward together. And make this country a little more perfect than it was before.