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. (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. It just seems like maybe these are indeed the end times. And there are floods and tornadoes and hurricanes. 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.