“Disappearance” of Black TV Producer Remains Unsolved
A Workplace Lynching?
On October 5th 2022, it will be four years since American production assistant Terrence Woods allegedly disappeared while filming with the UK company, Raw TV. Woods’ co-workers claimed that he “ran down a cliff,” while on set at Penman mine in a remote part of Idaho, and apparently vanished into thin air. Aside from some attention from the Dr. Phil talk show, Vice.com, and a few local US news outlets, this story has been eerily ignored by the mainstream media. Furthermore, the limited coverage has been one-sided in its ready acceptance of Woods’ co-workers’ version of events, and its overwhelmingly colorblind approach in a case with obvious racial overtones.
Black Man in the White Man’s Territory
Prior to being reported as missing, Terrence Woods had been navigating a challenging work situation — he was the lone Black male in what appears to have been an all-white, largely male production crew and cast. Moreover, the culture of the TV company that Woods was working for, Raw TV, has been described as particularly toxic by ex-employees. As reported by Vice.com (2020), a previous employee described “a toxic undercurrent [at Raw] which made [him/her] feel very uncomfortable.” Similarly, according to the news site, Deadline.com (2020), a former Raw employee spoke of a…
