Bombshell (2019)They tell you it is right to speak up. How long are you going to be trampled upon? Where is your dignity? It is a matter of principle. You can be the change that you want the world to be. We will back you all the way. So you take the difficult first step. You bite the bullet, stand through the embarrassment, convincing yourself that you are doing it for the greater good. You persevere, you fight a good fight and find yourself drained of your finances. The friends who promised you to stay through thick and thin now become sparse.
You proved your case. Your victimisation is proven. You should be happy, but then you have a bitter after-taste. Your image is tarnished. You will forever be frowned upon as a trouble rouser. You are a liability for peaceful coexistence. Somehow you get a feeling that others (read the purveyor of law and order, it seems) who benefitted most. They screamed for justice even though their methods remained much to be desired.
You stand alone, but you soldier on telling yourself that your action may rub and alert others in the same shoe.
This film, based on actual events, tells about a time in 2016 when an anchorwoman with Fox TV, Gretchen Carlson, decided to spill the beans on her Head, Roger Ailes. Soon many other female presenters came forward with accusations of sexual harassment against Ailes. Events like these spread like wildfire to other parts of the world. Many up and coming artistes came out with their bad experiences as part of the #Metoo movement.
Sometimes, I wonder if this is the proper way to expose overt discriminations. It leads to animosity, negativity, and it creates a toxic paranoid working environment. Sexual harassment, even though allegations may be proven, it is enough to tarnish the image of the alleged perpetrator. Any publicity is good publicity for the accuser.
I know a lawyer who once advised his client to sue his doctor. It was not because he had a strong case against the medical management of the client. He just wanted to disturb to ruin the doctor's routine for the client was upset that his diagnosis was unfavourable to him. Legal proceedings, which are notoriously lengthy and fraud with delays, was a sure way to turn the doctor's timetable topsy-turvy.
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| Norwell Roberts ©BBC |
That reminds me of a Norwell Roberts of 1967 London Metropolitan Police who is often hailed as the first black policeman in Britain. Actually, John Kent was the first black officer in the 19th century UK.
In the heady times of the mid-1960s, as a public relations exercise, Britain decided to recruit coloured police constables. Norwell Roberts who applied for a joke got called in. From the word go, Roberts had to endure systemic racism from his colleagues and superiors. He experienced verbal abuse and overt discrimination, even from the lay public. The officer never once complained. He was powerless to act and did not get any positive support from his top guns. He could have highlighted his plight in the media as it was closely watching the force and their efforts to make it multicultural, but he did not.
There was a time when he was called 'Judas' when he was part of the force that resisted anti-apartheid protestors in London.
After retiring as Detective Sergeant with the CID and receiving the Queen's medal for long service, he has this much to say. Nobody should be subjected to the type of treatment that he underwent, ever. Roberts likes to believe that his resilience made more blacks to be interested in the force. If he had gone on a rant after the initial hardship, he would probably not reached the level that he had attained.
Bite the bullet or fill it up in the barrel?
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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