The Silence Around Black Journalists' Cancellations Makes The Jimmy Kimmel Outcry Ring Hollow

[PunkinPi]

Lots of folks are in uproar over Jimmy Kimmel. One white man loses his late-night show, and suddenly it’s the end of free speech, the death of comedy, and the collapse of American democracy. Now that his suspension is over and he’s getting his show back, the whole saga is being spun as vindication, as proof that white voices are too essential to ever stay silenced. Funny how all that righteous outrage was mute when a long line of Black journalists lost their shows or platforms over the past several years.
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This is why Kimmel’s saga makes the hypocrisy so clear. His temporary removal was treated as an emergency for democracy. His reinstatement is framed as a victory for free speech. But where was that same urgency when Black journalists were erased for good? Their cancellations didn’t come with a countdown clock to their return, they came with the door slamming shut.
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Melissa Harris-Perry, Tiffany Cross, Joy Reid, Jemele Hill, Don Lemon, Marc Lamont Hill, Karen Attiah, Amber Ruffin, and others. Their departures were met with either silence or outright hostility, and they happened in an industry already starved of Black voices.
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These weren’t treated as free speech issues because the dominant culture doesn’t believe Black speech is integral to the nation’s civic life. It sees it as expendable, sometimes even dangerous. This is about who gets to define reality for the nation. White men like Kimmel are treated as indispensable cultural institutions. Black journalists are treated as expendable, even threatening. The double standard is blinding.

More/Source: https://newsone.com/6482055/theres-outrage-jimmy-kimmel-black-journalists/
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While I'm glad Kimmel got his show back, it's disheartening knowing that Black journalists do not get the same level of support.