Huffington Post – Outgoing CNN pundit Roland Martin said on Thursday that executives who were uncomfortable with hiring black people as hosts had held back his rise at the network.

There has recently been a good deal of discussion about the diversity in the cable news world, as mostly white faces continue to dominate the coveted anchor chairs.

Speaking on HuffPostLive, Martin–who was recently let go by CNN–said that he had come to the network with every intention of getting his own show. He added that it was never made clear to him why that wasn’t happening, but that he suspected race had something to do with it.

“You have largely white male executives who are not necessarily enamored with the idea of having strong, confident minorities who say, ‘I can do this,'” he said. “We deliver, but we never get the big piece, the larger salary, to be able to get from here to there.”

Martin said that he hosted highly-rated specials for CNN, so he didn’t understand why he wasn’t rewarded.

“If it’s a ratings game, and we won, how is it I never got a show?” he said.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/29/roland-martin-cnn-race_n_2979742.html