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What happened to former CBCr @AhmarSKhan is disgusting. He won his arbitration. Starts with being reprimanded for tweeting about Don Cherry's racism, having his messages searched, screengrabbed, stripped of time stamps/context by colleague @AustinGrabish. https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/cala/doc/2021/2021canlii761/2021canlii761.html
I bristle at the deep-seated belief that naming racism is 'activism.' I remember frustrating conversations in which myself and other journalists argued that we should be able to call Trump's tweets racist. I did not see nearly the same hesitation in naming sexism, homophobia.
I find this hesitation of naming racism so deeply infuriating given the open display of white supremacy that overran the Capitol last week. Black/brown/Indigenous/racialized journalists saw the white supremacist tones of Trump and his followers from time, but had to 'be careful.'
As journalists our job is to tell the truth clearly, in simple language. But newsroom leaders often balked at stories about racism/racist behaviour so much that I believe it is tantamount to *obfuscating* the truth. At a time when race & racism are CENTRAL to politics, pandemic.
In the end, it wasn't the tweet about Cherry's racism that got @AhmarSKhan in trouble, it was "reputational impacts" on CBC for telling another outlet that he was asked to take down the tweet. Part of his termination letter also cited him calling management assholes. Ruling said:
The entire 41-page ruling borders on the unbelievable. Like a bad episode of the newsroom. Ultimately the ruling in @AhmarSKhan favour says the discipline imposed on him by CBC was "without just cause" and that he is entitled to his job back, and with no discipline on his record.
