I'm tired of having to be this person, of being so sentient that whenever I see bigotry, I feel like, "Oh my God, are we not going to talk about this?" You can't buy your way out of the emotional labour and the emotional toll that it takes. There's no amount of money that can give you enough energy to talk about racism, homophobia, misogyny, transphobia and all of these other bigotries without getting exhausted. I'm lucky that I get to bear that burden and be compensated for it, but it's not enough. RACICOT: Do you feel it's a burden to be a Black person working in the media, having to always be the one pointing out the problems in society? Though I think the better question is, how are they being supported? Are they being paid what their white male predecessors were being paid? How long of a runway will they get in order to succeed? You cannot set someone up for failure and then say, "If you don't hit our benchmarks within six months or a year, you're gone." You have to give people the resources to succeed. GAY: Oh, I don't think it's cosmetic at all. Does this give you hope, or do you think it's just cosmetic? ST-VICTOR: Publications like Vanity Fair and Bon Appétit have newly-appointed women of colour and Black women as their editors-in-chief. Prominent book publisher Dawn Davis was recently named editor-in-chief of the food magazine Bon Appetit, becoming the first Black woman to hold the position. MARTINE ST-VICTOR: How can the media take charge in this? What has to change in the newsroom, besides the obvious need for more diversity? Is there one thing, one important catalyst that is structural? Roxane Gay, best-selling author and cultural critic Either you think people of colour are human or you don't. Otherwise, what are we doing? But I don't know how we do it, how every day we still have hope that things will get better, when there's so much overwhelming evidence against it. And I do think that we have to have hope. To see them entertain this and call it objectivity is so frustrating. And they still believe that there are both sides. There are no two sides to racism – either you're racist or you're not. White media are still doing the same bullshit they always do. The thing is, I think all of these things have happened, but they've only happened within Black media. GAY: I think it's been a slow burn, but I do think things have changed. Can you recall a specific moment in the media where you started to feel that something meaningful might be happening? RACICOT: We wonder whether actual change is on the horizon, because we saw this dramatic moment where Black anchors and Black journalists were speaking out, sometimes even walking out of newsrooms.
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(Marcio Jose Sanchez/The Associated Press) Gay explains how she feels hopeless every time she opens the news, faced with "terrible things in every realm", from the coronavirus pandemic to natural disasters.
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It just seems like maybe these are indeed the end times. And there are floods and tornadoes and hurricanes.
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Not only is it the political climate, it's the environment. And I know that's a luxury, but every time I open the news, I see how terrible things are, in literally every realm. ROXANE GAY: 2020 has been a year that has been entirely overwhelming and honestly, I feel really hopeless and helpless. ISABELLE RACICOT: How would you describe the emotions that you've been going through in 2020? Here is part of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. In the season finale of Seat at the Table, co-hosts Martine St-Victor and Isabelle Racicot reflect on being Black in the media with Roxane Gay, New York Times opinion writer and author of the best-selling book Bad Feminist.Īs crisis looms overs her country, Gay joined St-Victor and Racicot to talk about the added burden of proof imposed on Black people working in media, why she keeps fighting and what she believes will make a difference. Seat at the Table tackles systemic racism in Season 2.