By Gracie Bonds Staples - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution......
This month would have marked Omar Butcher’s seventh year at CNN, but instead of celebrating, he hopes he’ll soon be vindicated for speaking out against what he considers the network’s discriminatory practices.
Butcher, 37, dreamed of becoming a journalist from the moment he saw Ed Bradley on “60 Minutes.” He wanted to use his voice to expose the good and bad in our society. He hoped to work one day at the New York Times or CNN, which in his mind were the pantheons of journalism.
Butcher, whose father was in the Army, grew up in Italy and Germany. After high school, he enrolled at Florida State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mass media studies in 2008.
When he was selected to intern at CNN, the entire Butcher clan celebrated.
“I’d made it,” Butcher said in an email interview.
Butcher set his sights on becoming a writer. When positions were posted on the company website, he eagerly applied. But without even knowing interviews had been conducted, Butcher said he’d get a mass email from his manager congratulating the new newsroom writer.
“I was crushed,” he said. “I was expecting an interview, a writer’s test and then a promotion. Instead, I was overlooked, forgotten. I felt something was not right.”
When he inquired about the process, a woman in CNN’s human resources department walked him through the steps an applicant normally goes through.
“I told her none of those things are happening when I apply,” he said. “She encouraged me to keep applying. So I did.”
By then, Butcher had worked his way up to writer/segment producer and associate producer, and he said all indications were he was good at both.
When he didn’t get an interview for another position, Butcher said he asked his manager, who questioned Butcher’s level of training. When Butcher requested training opportunities, he said he was denied.
He was noticing an ugly trend.
Not only was he not afforded an opportunity to interview for writing positions, those positions were being filled by his white colleagues.
Then in July, anchor Ashley Banfield asked in an on-air segment about violence in the African-American community.
Butcher was troubled by Banfield’s remarks and sent her a private email explaining his concern and noting that she did not make similar queries in a previous segment addressing young white males who murder.
He said Banfield responded, questioning whether Butcher was suggesting she was “a racist” and that she would “take [it] up with our bosses.”
A day later, Butcher was terminated.
This month would have marked Omar Butcher’s seventh year at CNN, but instead of celebrating, he hopes he’ll soon be vindicated for speaking out against what he considers the network’s discriminatory practices.
Butcher, 37, dreamed of becoming a journalist from the moment he saw Ed Bradley on “60 Minutes.” He wanted to use his voice to expose the good and bad in our society. He hoped to work one day at the New York Times or CNN, which in his mind were the pantheons of journalism.
Butcher, whose father was in the Army, grew up in Italy and Germany. After high school, he enrolled at Florida State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mass media studies in 2008.
When he was selected to intern at CNN, the entire Butcher clan celebrated.
“I’d made it,” Butcher said in an email interview.
Butcher set his sights on becoming a writer. When positions were posted on the company website, he eagerly applied. But without even knowing interviews had been conducted, Butcher said he’d get a mass email from his manager congratulating the new newsroom writer.
“I was crushed,” he said. “I was expecting an interview, a writer’s test and then a promotion. Instead, I was overlooked, forgotten. I felt something was not right.”
When he inquired about the process, a woman in CNN’s human resources department walked him through the steps an applicant normally goes through.
“I told her none of those things are happening when I apply,” he said. “She encouraged me to keep applying. So I did.”
By then, Butcher had worked his way up to writer/segment producer and associate producer, and he said all indications were he was good at both.
When he didn’t get an interview for another position, Butcher said he asked his manager, who questioned Butcher’s level of training. When Butcher requested training opportunities, he said he was denied.
He was noticing an ugly trend.
Not only was he not afforded an opportunity to interview for writing positions, those positions were being filled by his white colleagues.
Then in July, anchor Ashley Banfield asked in an on-air segment about violence in the African-American community.
Butcher was troubled by Banfield’s remarks and sent her a private email explaining his concern and noting that she did not make similar queries in a previous segment addressing young white males who murder.
He said Banfield responded, questioning whether Butcher was suggesting she was “a racist” and that she would “take [it] up with our bosses.”
A day later, Butcher was terminated.