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Courts Asked to Equalize Playing Field in Wright vs CBS Television Inc.
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Press Release
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Justice for the Community and Jackie Wright
P.O. Box 884714
San Francisco, CA 94188
"Right is right and right don't wrong nobody!"
Mama Nora Henderson
For Immediate Release
July 4, 2009
CBS TELEVISION ATTEMPTS TO DENY FORMER EMPLOYEE DAY IN COURT
Corporation asks U.S. Federal Court in San Francisco to Dismiss Discrimination Suit.
San Francisco- Three-time Associated Press Award winning journalist and
Emmy-nominated producer, Jackie Wright has asked the U.S. Federal Court
in San Francisco to prove the founding tenets of the United States of
America by not dismissing her suit of racial and age discrimination
against CBS Television, Inc. as the corporation has requested.
In documents to the court, Wright, who is representing herself,
stated, "Allowing my day in court as a person who has struggled and
worked hard to find out that the American Dream of working hard to be
successful has not worked for all people in America, will give some
semblance of equalizing the playing field to examine whether "All men
are created equal. In that I am filing as "forma pauperis," I do not
have the money to engage a legal firm as the executives of the
billion-dollar company, CBS Television, Inc."
In February 2009, Wright, 55, who is Black, filed suit based on race
and age discrimination. In January 2007 Wright, was laid off with at
least five others that included a Latina, a White male over 50, and a
Gay male. Wright, who said her wrongful termination resulted after
experiencing on-going racism during her three years at CBS 5/CW Bay
Area TV in San Francisco, immediately sought redress through the EEOC
and also appealing directly to the Chairman of CBS Television, Sumner
Redstone.
Wright's stand against CBS Television, Inc. is also a stand for the
community. UCLA law professor, Dr. Jerry Kang's "Trojan Horses of Race"
says TV news creates and perpetuates racism and it is a document Wright
references to show that the elimination of her position as "Public
Affairs Manager is a disservice to community and the station's
responsibility to serve in the public interest as mandated by the FCC.
(Photo courtesy of Jim Haslett & 114 Aviation Company-Air Mobile Light
Jacksonville, FL nativeSp5 Wyley Wright Jr. & PFC John Francis Shea of
Boston died in accident while escorting Sec. Defense Robert S. McNamara.)
Wright, who raised two of her siblings after the death of her parents
including her father, Sp5 Wyley Wright, who died in 1964 in Viet Nam
while escorting then Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara, told the
court she wants to have the opportunity to try to find out as the White
Firefighters in New Haven, Connecticut did that working hard will
result in success and that you should not be judged by your race.
"Working my way through the University of Georgia as a full time
student and full time worker raising my teenage sister and my
elementary-age daughter,receiving two of my Associated Press Awards
while working my way through the University of Georgia at a commercial
radio station; having more than a decade of direct media experience as
a news reporter, radio news director, and TV camera operator, I have
not experienced that working hard in America results in success. The
reason being, is the unbridled institutional racism that still exists in
the workplace. That is a reality even in an age where there is a man
of color who is President of the United States of America," Wright said.
Wright described the CBS 5/CW Bay Area as a toxic environment where
there was such a plantation hierarchal mentality until what Dr. Julia Hare calls "leading Blacks" (Tavis Smiley's "State of the Black Union")
as opposed to "Black Leaders" at the station suffered what Wright
termed the "first and only syndrome." Wright's definition of the
syndrome is someone of color being fearful that his or her position
within a mostly White institution will be threatened, undermined or
replaced by another person of color joining the institution. At CBS
Wright described, "It was the classic case of the oppressed imitating
the behavior of the oppressor just as Jewish overseers were harsher on
Jews than the Nazis in the Jewish ghettoes in Poland during World War
II and the Black slave overseers were harsher on other Blacks than
Whites during slavery."
Wright also asked the court to look at what she termed as "bait and
switch racism," describing that a Latino salesperson was hired just a
few weeks before an effective Latina salesperson, was fired. Wright
described the flow of Latinos through particularly the sales department
as a " swift turnstile" and asked the court to examine the length of
time people of color remained at CBS Television Inc. That would be an
indicator to the true nature of the institutional racism in the company.
Wright, whose actions were independent of Unity Journalists of Color,
spoke before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors about elimination of people of color from the airwaves and its impact on public service,
the same day Unity distributed a news release on the subject, April 21, 2009. Wright
hopes the recent news releases from major organizations including Unity
and the Association of Black Journalists, will help the courts and
general public know that the lack of people of color in media is a
cause for concern.
· Unity Journalists of Color - Small number of people of color in media dwindling even more
http://www.unityjournalists.org/news/2009/news042109losses.php
· NABJ- Blacks Hit hard and eliminated from newsrooms 4/20/09
http://en.afrik.com/article15591.html
· National Women's Congress says Media ignores Black Women
http://en.afrik.com/article15424.html
· Trojan Horses of Race TV News Creates and Perpetuates Racism
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=627381
· Ted Turner's "My Beef With Big Media"-2004 - the Public Interest not served
http://www.alternet.org/media/19327?page=entire
In documents to the court, Wright said it's important not to dismiss
her case because of the importance of media in the democratic process.
Media are supposed to be the "watchdog of government." Wright asked,
"Who is watching the watchdog?" With the waning of media activist groups, the
courts are the most viable avenue for providing checks and balances to
media organizations.
Other past and current lawsuits indicate there is a history of racism and bias at the CBS affiliate in San Francisco.
· Fired KPIX reporters sue allege age, sex bias October 2008
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/17/BAHN13IO7H.DTL
· Journalists sue CBS 5 (KPIX) January 2002
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/01/29/MN123621.DTL&type=printable
As Wright continues her quest for her day in court, she is outreaching
to other journalists who may have experienced institutional racism or
other bias at a CBS affiliate across the nation. She can be emailed at justiceforcommunityandjackie@gmail.com to share your personal story or
that of a colleague or friend.
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