The Obama administration finally got it right on the Shirley Sherrod matter. But what about other victims of injustice?

This morning, we launched a petition calling President Obama to reinstate Shirley Sherrod at the USDA, and to stop caving to right-wing smear campaigns.

More than 20,000 ColorOfChange.org members have signed it in just a few hours. You can join us by clicking here.

It’s recently been reported that the White House and Tom Vilsack are reviewing the situation and reconsidering the decision to fire Sherrod. If enough of us speak out, we may be able to convince the Obama administration to correct this injustice.

UPDATE:

Robert Gibbs has apologized to Sherrod on behalf of the Obama administration, and it sounds like they may offer to reinstate her. This is great news, and we hope the administration follows through and puts Sherrod back in her position at the USDA. We encourage you to keep signing our petition until it becomes clear that Shirley Sherrod has been offered her job back.

Update: White House Press Secretary Gibbs just apologized to Shirley Sherrod. From TPM:

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today offered an apology to Shirley Sherrod on behalf of the Obama administration.

He said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is trying to reach Sherrod as well, to offer his own apology and to "talk about their next steps."

"I think without a doubt Ms. Sherrod is owed an apology. I would do so, certainly, on behalf of this administration," Gibbs said.

"Members of this administration, members of the media, members of different political factions on both sides of this have all made determinations and judgments without a full set of facts," he said.

We’re still waiting for an explanation for how the Administration (and who) made such a bad decision and why it wasn’t obvious to them in the first place. In the meantime, I hope someone takes the shovel away from Jim Messina, permanently. Via Alex Pareene at Salon:

The Rick Warren invocation is a strategic gamble.