Thread by @sandela

1/ The CBC needs more Black producers. And to cut the crap. #BlackLivesMatter
#JusticeForRegis
I was tapped yesterday to appear on The Current this morning to discuss "George Floyd and Amy Cooper."

When I asked if we would also talk about Regis Korchinski-Paquet, I was told:

2/ "I checked with the team, and while we want to look at the issue as a whole we do want to focus on George Lloyd and Amy Cooper. It's an 8 min slot so if we start to get into all the other elements of the conversation (Regis, Breonna), we would run out of time.

3/ In my pre-interview, the producer went on to say that the focus of the piece was "American racism" and that there wouldn't be time to talk about "Canadian issues," though she had heard about it and thought "of course" it was important.

4/ I reminded the producer that Amy Cooper is Canadian, and told her to go ahead with the pre-interview questions so I could show her that I am quite skilled at ensuring that a local issue relevant to the CBC's audience could be raised within the time constraint

5/ (note: the producer didn't know who I was or why I had been suggested for the piece).

We did the pre-interview and everything was going well until the final question.

She asked me, "what's next? Where do you think we go next?"

I focused my answer on defunding the police.

6/ I made an argument about how the police budget in Toronto is outrageous, and that especially in this time of pandemic, it did not make sense that a reduction in police funding was not a priority discussion.

7/ I spoke about how the police budget "eats up 24 per cent of every homeowner’s property taxes (by comparison, the TTC constitutes 15 per cent). Policing costs the taxpayer more than firefighters, paramedics, libraries and public housing combined." (torontolife.com/city/crime/tor…)

8/ I also spoke about the need to develop an alternative, non-police, front-line service for emergency mental health support, and a refusal to engage in anti-Black PR exercises (like the $25 million Trudeau allocated to Black communities in 2017's budget that has yet to be spent.

9/ Basically the same shit we've been saying since 2016 because we're stuck in a cruel and maddening time loop.

Anyway at some point the producer interrupted me and said, "excuse me? I'm sorry, did you just say *defund* the police? I just wanna make sure I heard you properly."

10/ She sounded incredulous.

I said yes and continued. She then said (and no Current or CBC producer has *ever* said this to me), "just so you know we have a bunch of people chasing this story so I don't know if we'll be able to confirm...I'll circle back if we can have you on."

11/ I was not on The Current this morning. I didn't listen, and don't know who was, but know this:

This is the way Cdn media consistently refuses to engage w/ Cdn anti-Blackness. This is how white supremacy operates in Cdn media. This is how misogynoir operates in Cdn media.

12/ And this is how journalists are complicit in the impacts of anti-Blackness. If I had said to the question "what's next?" some shit like "we hold hands and sing kumbaya and understand one another" I think I'd have been on the air this morning.

13/ But a cogent arg abt a concrete thing that cld and shld be done? Too much for CBC. That's how anti-Blackness works. Keep searching until you find the appropriate, acceptable, not too upsetting Black person so you can say you did ur duty.

Sick and tired of the CBC's bullshit.