Thread by @thrasherxy

1. THREAD—Jamie Schwartz and Leonard Lopate suspended at WNYC, after Hockenberry out. I have important new context to report presently.

2. Here's the context you need to know about Schwartz and Lopate.

Yesterday, employees of WNYC confronted management about the Takeaway, the sidelining of people of color/women/women of color.

After @lwalker's on air stint with @BrianLehrer. WNYC employees weren't happy.

3. Employees thought @lwalker and WNYC mgmt were hiding behind "legalese." They demanded to know what executive oversaw the Takeaway: it was Dean Capello (@dcappello) who oversaw the show from its launch to 2009 to the present.

4. WNYC employees confronted mgmt about how they KNEW what Hockenberry had said to @farai. Capello admitted that what Hockenberry said/did to Farai was "a fireable offense," multiple sources in the room have confirmed to me.

5. So WNYC mgmt admitted what Hockenberry did was fireable, they didn't fire him, & they sent him off the air with some fanfare.

In same meeting. Walker (@lwalker) admitted ultimate responsibility was hers.

Pressed on how mgmt would be held accountable, they didn't say.

6. In same meeting, WNYC employees said there were "several" people in the building who had had the same kinds of allegations against them as Hockenberry had. Walker said victims wanted confidentiality but it would be dealt with "rapidly," multiple sources told me.

7. Hence, the suspension (which may turn into firing) of Schwartz and Loptae.

BUT HERE'S THE BIG PICTURE WE CAN'T MISS!

WNYC has been EXPOSED for systemtically protecting the careers of a few white men for decades, while stymieing/ending the careers of women, WOC & POC.

8. Apology -- Jonathan Schartz, not Jamie

9. The concentration of power in white male hands at WNYC, even when those hands are attached to an abuser, is a violation of the public trust. NYC is a diverse city. We never deserved a city where all the hosts of our public radio station were white men.

10. Laura Walker and Dean Capello do not deserve anyone's support. They have taken millions of dollars to turn OUR public radio station into a hotbed of racism, sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assualt that they found acceptable until @sukisworld called them out.

11. If @sukisworld hadn't pulled it together, and brave women wouldn't have spoken up, @lwalker and @dcappello would still employ Schwartz and Lopate be COVERING UP- yes, it was a cover up- Hockenberry

12. Another key person we need to look at — Jim Schachter (@jimschachter). As head of the news room, who did he protect? Who did he advance? Did he only promote and support white men? Did he promote and support women, people of color, and women of color?

13. I am SICK thinking of the female/femme/POC brain drain at WNYC that has been allowed to happen under the watch of Laura Walker, Dean Capello, and Jim Schachter. It is a shame they'd taken millions of YOUR donor $ to run a hostile workplace tailored to serve a few white men.

14. I wanna hear from you, POC/WOC/women forced out of public radio because Walker, Cappello and Schachter thought it was more important to protect Schwartz/Lopate/Hockenberry (& patriarchal white supremacy) than to believe in you.

I BELIEVE IN YOU. My DMs are open.