Entertainment

Case of TV Anchor Dismissed for Using Epithet Heads to Court

Published

11 years ago

June 10, 2015

Oakland Post

Tom Burlington and Joyce Evans (Courtesy Photo)

MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former TV anchor’s discrimination lawsuit over the racial epithet that ended his career raises the question of whether the station let black staffers use the same word with impunity but not whites.

Tom Burlington, who is white, believes he lost his job over a news meeting discussion of the epithet because he said the full word instead of the hyphenated version.

The June 2007 discussion at WTXF-TV, the local Fox station, involved a story on the ceremonial “burial” of the word at an event organized by an NAACP youth group. The participants had used the word repeatedly, although the reporter did not plan to use it herself.

“Does that mean we can finally say the word ‘N—–?'” Burlington asked in the meeting, according to court documents.

At least one black colleague took offense, and tension at the station grew after co-anchor Joyce Evans, who is black, heard about the conversation, the judge found.

“Evans encouraged other co-workers to complain to management …, even urging a white co-worker to do so because ‘(t)he only people who have complained so far have been black people,'” U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick, quoting a white employee, wrote in a memo last year.

Evans, on the stand Tuesday, denied saying that but said she was concerned about Burlington’s statement because co-workers were upset.

She said that heated words were exchanged inside the station that week as the issue devolved into “a little more than a journalistic debate about what to say on television. It turned into a little something more than that, I think.”

Bad press followed in the local newspapers. Burlington, initially sent for sensitivity training, was instead told to clear his desk. By then, he had used the word several more times in his attempts to apologize to black colleagues, according to witness depositions.

“It was the continual insensitivity that Tom showed,” former WTXF general manager Mike Renda testified Tuesday. “He continued not to get it.”

Burlington, who had joined the station in 2004, was paid $90,000 for the months remaining on his contract. Renda insisted Tuesday that he was never fired.

The 2009 lawsuit against Fox TV has been on hold for years while the U.S. Supreme Court decided a legal theory involved in a parallel case. Surrick finally ruled in October it could go to trial.

“Management was clearly aware that plaintiff’s actions were being judged in light of the social norm that it is acceptable for African-Americans to use the word, but not whites. Deposition testimony suggests that some supervisors even subscribed to this view themselves,” Surrick wrote in a 30-page decision.

Burlington is seeking unspecified damages for lost income, pain and suffering, legal expenses and punitive damages.

The jury seated in the Philadelphia courtroom this week is all white. The federal courthouse pulls jurors from the city and eight suburban counties.

Burlington told jurors when the trial opened Monday that he never used the racial slur maliciously.

He now works in real estate. Evans remains on-air.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

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January 2, 2026

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December 25, 2025

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Alameda County

Bling It On: Holiday Lights Brighten Dark Nights All Around the Bay

On the block where I grew up in the 1960s, it was an unwritten agreement among the owners of those row homes to put up holiday lights: around the front window and door, along the porch banister, etc. Some put the Christmas tree in the window, and you could see it through the open slats of the blinds.

Published

2 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

Christmas lights on a house near the writer’s residence in Oakland. Photo by Joseph Shangosola.

By Wanda Ravernell

I have always liked Christmas lights.

From my desk at my front window, I feel a quiet joy when the lights on the house across the street come on just as night falls.

My father, the renegade of the block, made no effort with lights, so my mother hung a wreath with two bells in the window. Just enough to let you know someone was at home.

Two doors down was a different story. Mr. King, the overachiever of the block, went all out for Christmas: The tree in the window, the lights along the roof and a Santa on his sleigh on the porch roof.

There are a few ‘Mr. Kings’ in my neighborhood.

In particular is the gentleman down the street. For Halloween, they erected a 10-foot skeleton in the yard, placed ‘shrunken heads’ on fence poles, pumpkins on steps and swooping bat wings from the porch roof. They have not held back for Christmas.

The skeleton stayed up this year, this time swathed in lights, as is every other inch of the house front. It is a light show that rivals the one in the old Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia.

I would hate to see their light bill…

As the shortest day of the year approaches, make Mr. King’s spirit happy and get out and see the lights in your own neighborhood, shopping plazas and merchant areas.

Here are some places recommended by 510 Families and Johnny FunCheap.

Oakland

Oakland’s Temple Hill Holiday Lights and Gardens is the place to go for a drive-by or a leisurely stroll for a religious holiday experience. Wear a jacket, because it’s chilly outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 4220 Lincoln Ave., particularly after dark. The gardens are open all day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the lights on from dusk until closing.

Alameda

Just across the High Street Bridge from Oakland, you’ll find Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda.

On Thompson Avenue between High Street and Fernside drive, displays range from classic trees and blow-ups to a comedic response to the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Lights turn on at dusk and can be seen through the first week in January.

Berkeley

The Fourth Street business district from University Avenue to Virginia Street in Berkeley comes alive with lights beginning at 5 p.m. through Jan. 1, 2026.

There’s also a display at one house at 928 Arlington St., and, for children, the Tilden Park Carousel Winter Wonderland runs through Jan. 4, 2026. Closed Christmas Day. For more information and tickets, call (510) 559-1004.

Richmond

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display, featuring a recreation of the town of Bethlehem with life-size figures, is open through Dec. 26 at 7501 Moeser Lane in El Cerrito.

Marin County

In Marin, the go-to spot for ‘oohs and ahhs’ is the Holiday Light Spectacular from 4-9 p.m. through Jan. 4, 2026, at Marin Center Fairgrounds at 10 Ave of the Flags in San Rafael through Jan. 4. Displays dazzle, with lighted walkways and activities almost daily. For more info, go to: www.marincounty.gov/departments/cultural-services/department-sponsored-events/holiday-light-spectacular

The arches at Marin County Civic Center at 3501 Civic Center Dr. will also be illuminated nightly.

San Francisco

Look for light installations in Golden Gate Park, chocolate and cheer at Ghirardelli Square, and downtown, the ice rink in Union Square and the holiday tree in Civic Center Plaza are enchanting spots day and night. For neighborhoods, you can’t beat the streets in Noe Valley, Pacific Heights, and Bernal Heights. For glee and over-the-top glitz there’s the Castro, particularly at 68 Castro Street.

Livermore

The winner of the 2024 Great Light Flight award, Deacon Dave has set up his display with a group of creative volunteers at 352 Hillcrest Avenue since 1982. See it through Jan. 1, 2026. For more info, go to https://www.casadelpomba.com

Fremont

Crippsmas Place is a community of over 90 decorated homes with candy canes passed out nightly through Dec. 31. A tradition since 1967, the event features visits by Mr. and Mrs. Claus on Dec. 18 and Dec. 23 and entertainment by the Tri-M Honor Society at 6 p.m. on Dec. 22. Chrippsmas Place is located on: Cripps Place, Asquith Place, Nicolet Court, Wellington Place, Perkins Street, and the stretch of Nicolet Avenue between Gibraltar Drive and Perkins Street.