Shirley Sherrod Wants to Educate President Obama On Issues of Race

Shirley Sherrod might be too much for the Obama administration after all. And I mean that as praise for Sherrod. The Associated Press reports that Sherrod wants to educate President Obama on issues of race. Sherrod believes that Obama has some lessons to learn because his life experiences did not expose him to some of the difficulties that she faced:

I'd like to help him see some of the things that he could do in the future."

"I really regret what they did. But as I said before, he's my president," Sherrod said. "When you get it down to where the rubber meets the road, I think you need to understand a little more what life is like. I'd love to talk to him, though, or people in his administration ... to help them understand."

"I can't say that the president is fully behind me. I would hope that he is," she added. "I would love to talk to him."

Also, George Stephanopoulos interviewed Sherrod on Good Morning America. Stephanopoulos discussed the interview on ABCNews.com. During the interview, Sherrod said the following:

“[Obama] is not someone who has experienced what I have experienced through life, being a person of color. He might need to hear some of what I could say to him. . . .I don’t know if that would guide him in a way that he deals with others like me, but I at least would like to have the opportunity to talk to him about it.”

I doubt this conversation will ever happen. The Obama administration treats race as a form of political kryponite -- something to avoid by any means necessary. Also, I would hate to see something similar to the silly Beer Summit the followed the controversial arrest of Henry Louis Gates. Nevertheless, Sherrod seems like a person who could offer Obama some valuable insight regarding race and social justice.

See also:

This Is How Post-Racialism Looks: Another Take on the Firing of Shirley Sherrod

Lessons For the NAACP From the Shirley Sherrod Fiasco.

UPDATE: This essay was updated to include an analysis of the report by George Stephanopoulos.