WASHINGTON, May 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture said former official Shirley Sherrod would be working with the agency again as a contract employee.
Officials told Politico Sherrod had signed on to work on a USDA outreach program for minority farmers based on a report on longstanding claims of discrimination.
Sherrod was fired last year in a flap over public remarks she made that were spun on a Web site to make it appear she was discriminating against white farmers. The claim was debunked, but Sherrod declined to rejoin the department.
Politico said Sunday that the study had begun long before the Internet flap occurred. The USDA also recently reached a settlement in a large civil rights lawsuit filed by African-America, Indian and Latino farmers.
Sherrod now runs the Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education, one of three organizations that will work with the USDA on the outreach project. She could not be reached for comment, the newspaper said.
