Thread by @JarrettHill

we, within the leadership of @nabjlaofficial, have been working on the current situation unfolding between @cerisecastle & @kcrw for days.

cerise’s accounts here on Twitter and on @thelapod are representative of racism at kcrw and more broadly at most media organizations. 1\11

part of the complication of this is that i, too, am employed by @kcrw as a fill-in host – i've hosted five weeks (across two and a half years), of 'greater la' when the show’s host has been on vacation. and i’m also the incoming president of @nabjlaofficial. 2\11

our organization has been engaged in consultation with @kcrw about their need to be better when it comes to dealing with race, from under-employing black talent to needing better business practices and trainings addressing anti-blackness. 3\11

i met @cerisecastle in 2019, during my first stint on greater la, as she was seated next to me in the newsroom. we were fast friends, excited to see each other’s black selves, something any black (or brown) person in a sea of white faces at work knows all too well. 4\11

like @cerisecastle, i’ve experienced various instances that hit me as either racist or, at the least, racially problematic. i’ve been stopped & questioned when attempting to enter the building, keycard in-hand. 5\11

i’ve had to push back on things I wasn’t comfortable saying, that had been written by greater la’s (generally good) team.

i’ve received frustrating pushback on things that I wasn’t comfortable saying. 6\11

i’ve participated in multiple editorial meetings, with a dozen or so of the show’s team members, where we were discussing issues re: race and I was the lone Black person (and one of maybe two or three people of color) in the room — and i’m not on that team regularly. 7\11

in honesty, my personal time at @kcrw has been *relatively* positive – though sometimes upsetting, and always as a guest. that said, the things i’ve experienced, info i’ve been privy to, and their own admissions make it abundantly clear that there is a race problem at kcrw. 8\11

i believe @cerisecastle’s experience of racism at @kcrw.

we will continue to hold kcrw accountable to be a better environment for black (& brown) journalists and talent.

we call on kcrw to be *actually* representative of the city it is meant to represent & serve. 9\11

also, you'll note that there isn't a preponderance of black journos coming out to talk about their experiences working at @kcrw. that may be bc @jeromercampbell and @cerisecastle were it when they left late last year. i'm an employee, but i haven't been there since august. 10/11

to my understanding, there are a handful of other black employees and freelancers, working in other departments, but when @cerisecastle and @jeromercampbell left they were the entire full-time black representation on the editorial staff. 11/11

i've been told that there is one person in editorial at kcrw, angie perrin. respect, love, and support to you.