a story about her personal struggle over race. the story of that white farmer who came to her for help decades earlier. i was struggle with the fact that so many black people had lost their farm land and here i was faced with having to help a white person save their land. so i didn t give him the full force of what i could do. when this short edited version of the speech was posted by a right wing blogger, shirley sherrod was labeled a racist and asked to resign. but there was much more to the story. that s when it was revealed to me that it s about those who have versus those who have not. and not so much about white and black. if is about white and black, but it opened my eyes. reporter: the next day, sherrod appeared on cnn. she said her words had been twisted and taken out of
context. what was the point? the point was to get them to understand we need to look beyond race. reporter: stepping into back up her story, 87-year-old roger spooner and his wife elouise. reporter: i have someone who wants to speak to this whole controversy. her name is elouise spooner. elouise, thanks for taking the time to talk to me. what do you think of this whole controversy? first of all, what do you think of shirley? she s a good friend. they have not treated her right. she s the one i give credit to helping us save our farm. reporter: the woman whose father was allegedly killed by a white farmer would have her reputation rescued by a white farmer. sherrod hadn t seen or spoken to the spooners in more than 20 years.
shirley sherrod, right now, is mulling over a new job offer from the obama administration. it is a consolation of sorts for the shabby treatment she got this week after a right-wing blogger unfairly portrayed her as racist against whites. you are going to meet a remarkable and humble woman who did everything right but still fell victim to a vicious smear. i spent the day with her to figure out who she is. shirley sherrod. shirley sherrod caught on tape saying something very disturbing. i told them get the whole tape and look at the whole tape. we begin with the smearing of shirley sherrod. this is showing racism at an naacp event. he didn t care who he destroyed. miss sherry must resign immediately. no one wanted to hear the truth. i don t know what brought up
and still tv s most provocative news show at 11:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. this week, shirley sherrod became a household name. up next, a revealing and inside look at the woman behind the controversy. [ engines revving ] [ tires screech ] [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] before you take it on your road trip. we take it on ours. [ children laughing ] now during the summer event, get an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz like the 2010 c-class, an iihs top safety pick, for 1.9 percent apr or lease one for $349 a month. when pain keeps you up, nothing is proven to help you fall asleep faster than advil pm liqui-gels. rushing real liquid relief to ease you to sleep fast. for nighttime pain, make advil pm your #1 choice.
highway riding along because those they had deputies that would stop people and beat up folks. sherrod remembers that sheriff. he loved being called a gator. and he could do i don t know i never heard an alligator make a sound myself, but the sound an alligator makes is the sound he would make and it was supposed to scare you to death. during the civil rights movement in baker county, he had a sign up at his service station saying, we want white people business only. yes, i grew up knowing we were powerless. reporter: yet, at an early age, shirley witnessed blacks fighting for power. it was the fall of 1961. she was just 14. albany, georgia, a negro fight against segregation is led by the reverend martin luther king. and if necessary, we must be