President Obama on Thursday urged Shirley Sherrod, the black Georgia Agriculture Department official whose firing and subsequent offer of rehiring this week renewed a conversation about politics and race, to continue “her hard work on behalf of those in need.”

Shirley Sherrod, who was forced to resign from her government job in Georgia based on incomplete and misleading reports of a speech she gave, has been offered a new job by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. But, she said Thursday she is “not so sure.”