listen to the radio story Another criticism of Vilsack is his lack of action to help Black farmers. Much of that opinion stems from the case of Shirley Sherrod, the former head of USDA rural development in Georgia. She was forced out of her job during Vilsack’s tenure after a right-wing propaganda group released a maliciously edited video of her that made her appear to be racist. While Vilsack and Obama apologized for Sherrod’s ouster, the damage was done. USDA settled a discrimination lawsuit in 1999 brought by a group of Black farmers, but the department continues to be plagued by d...