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May 31, 2017: Atlanta Magazine: Fredricka Whitfield
Some people crave routine; not Fredricka Whitfield. The anchor of CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield, which ranks No. 1 among the coveted 25–54 demographic, says she prefers being on her toes. “It’s the thing I love most about my job,” says Whitfield, a fifty-two-year-old mother of three. “You never know what the day’s going to bring.” June 16, 2015: BizPac Review: Texas lt. gov. calls for CNN to fire ‘shameful’ host ‘immediately'; send written apology to cops, Texans
When CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield finally offered an on-air apology Monday for calling the man who shot at Dallas police headquarters “courageous and brave,” some fellow pundits closed ranks in forgiveness, but a Texas politician called the remarks “shameful” and demanded she be fired. |
May 31, 1965: Fredricka Whitfield was born in Brownsville, Maryland.
June 13, 2015: Whitfield described the gunman who attacked police in Dallas, Texas, as "courageous and brave" on air, when she thought he might be part of a coordinated terrorist attack.
June 14, 2022: Whitfield claimed she misspoke but made no formal apology for the initial statement. June 15, 2022: Whitfield issued a formal on-air apology, saying she terribly misused those words and was sincerely sorry. Nov 19, 2015: Whitfields father, Mal Whitfield, died. April 25, 2021: Whitfield posted an Op-ed on CNN: "My husband and I were at a lovely dinner at a friend’s home, where the Rev. Andy Young was among the guests. I was telling the former Atlanta mayor and UN ambassador about how upset I was that racism, discrimination and oppression were being discussed in my son’s kindergarten. That classroom conversation sprang from a talk on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his letter written from jail, responding to White clergymen after they criticized his non-violent protests “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here,” King wrote. Other lines of the letter read: “We were the victims of a broken promise” and “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” This was too complex a topic, I thought, for my son’s age group. What sensitivity came from providing the context or any breakdown of the circumstances from which King was speaking? I shared with Young that I was irked and would have preferred this kind of enlightenment when my son was older. Young listened intently as I shared my thoughts. He started shaking his head from side to side. I said, “No? I’m wrong?” Young said something like, “You have that talk early,” and added, “He needs to hear it from you, parents first. You can’t save it for later.” Racism, and the disparities and injustices produced from it, sadly continue to be America’s living nightmare, painfully being felt at any age. Young and King’s words still ring clearly." |
