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Subject: Pacifica's KPFA incites police beating and arrest of young
Black programmer
To the People,
Again, the so-called righteous and civil and human rights sensitive
Pacifica Broadcasting (which includes L.A.'s KPFK and the Bay Area's
KPFA and others) is again showing its ugly racist head. The white (and
Black) folks at Pacifica are truly "bleeding liberals" who walk around
and sign petitions to Save Darfur while helping make sure US imperialism
is strong and ready in places like L.A. and Berkely. For years, I
fought with KPFK for their blatant and frequent broadcast of the "n"
word. I fought with them for their insensitivity to the use of other
derogatory words that defame African people, but to no avail. Even
today, liberal entities like Pacifica and PBS still broadcast images,
and words that marginalize and defame African people, and to this I say
- "don't give these phonies networks a dime of your money."
Please read the following news story on how Pacifica called the police
on a young Black programmer who was simply trying to help make her
community one that should be respected. AND PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS
STORY WIDELY.
Fige Bornu, Chairman
Positive African Image Institute
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
by Minister of Information JR
On Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008, between 1 and 2 p.m., Nadra Foster, a young
Black woman programmer and single mother, was beaten to the ground by
the Berkeley police, arrested, hog-tied and taken to jail, after the
management of KPFA radio and the Pacifica Foundation had called the
police on her, falsely accusing her of being "banned" from the station.
The incident started when Nadra, a graduate of the KPFA apprenticeship
program who hosted the program Elemental Roots for several years at KPFA
and often works with other programmers, came to the radio station to
work on the KPFA jazz radio show Transitions on Traditions. She was
working in the studio called Ujima, which means collective work and
responsibility in Swahili - a studio that signifies racial justice.
Michael Yoshida, KPFA's chief engineer and a member of KPFA's management
team, had personally let her into that studio the previous Friday.
Vini Beecham, a member of the paid staff, contacted Lois Withers, the
KPFA business manager, aka accountant, telling her that Nadra was in the
building using station resources for her personal benefit. Lois, another
member of KPFA's management team, contacted Michael Yoshida to escort
her while she kicked Nadra out of the station.
When the two arrived at the door of Ujima, Nadra stated that she refused
to leave because Lois does not have the power to kick her out. According
to Yoshida, Lois called Dominga Estrada, the human resources director of
the Pacifica Foundation - which is in charge of the Pacifica network of
five major radio stations and dozens of affiliate stations around the
country - to ask how to deal with the situation. Dominga authorized Lois
to call the police.
According to what Nadra told me, Lois told the police that she was the
general manager of the station and that Nadra was a fired employee who
refused to leave. In reality, Lois is the business manager and Nadra is
a volunteer at the station and a member of the Unpaid Staff
Organization.
Two male police officers slammed Nadra to the ground, kneeing her in the
groin in the process, as well as severely spraining her arm. A number of
KPFA broadcasters saw what happened, including Anita Johnson of Hard
Knock Radio, who was in tears pleading with the management and other
people at the station to get involved and help Nadra, to no avail.
Weyland Southon of Hard Knock Radio taped Nadra's chilling screams as
the police were slamming her to the ground and twisting her arm. He also
taped Nicole Sawaya, the executive director of the Pacifica Foundation,
slapping his camera out of his hand on the scene.
Interim Program Director Sasha Lilley was also an eyewitness to this act
of management initiated police terrorism, yet did nothing in defense of
Nadra's human rights. Initially charged with several felonies, her bail
set at $81,500, Nadra spent two days in jail and is now facing five
misdemeanors, including trespassing, two assault on a police officer
charges and two charges of resisting arrest.
The Prisoners of Conscience Committee, along with the Malcolm X
Grassroots Movement, the Black New World and producers from the Voices
of the Middle East radio show are organizing in the Black and Brown
communities of the Bay Area and throughout the media to expose this
grave injustice.
A town hall meeting is planned for Sunday, Sept. 7, at the Black New
World - at 836 Pine St., West Oakland, at 3 p.m. - so that the community
can have an opportunity to get the facts about what happened to Nadra
Foster and the current status of her case and a glimpse into the shady
workings of the corrupt administration running KPFA currently.
We invite everyone to express themselves about this outrageous act of
police terrorism in our community and get involved in organizing to get
the charges against Nadra Foster dropped, get KPFA to pay all medical
and legal bills, demand that they acknowledge that they didn't follow
any due process or protocol as laid out in the handbook in relation to
"banning" somebody, demand that the Unpaid Staff Organization be
reinstated and a transparent grievance process be established, among
other things.
People should also start to think about organizing to get this interim
administration at KPFA removed from power and a Black public affairs
show broadcast during prime time on the airwaves of KPFA that talks
about the domestic affairs of Black people in this country. Consider
that KPFA and the broader Pacifica network of radio stations uses Black
voices like James Baldwin, Paul Robeson, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King
and the Black Panthers to raise money, but the reality is if these
people were alive today they would not have a show on the KPFA airwaves
that is dedicated to the people they were organizing. Although most
people would expect KPFA to have done this decades ago during the Civil
Rights Movement, still today no such program exists on the KPFA
schedule.
After the Block Report broke this story on KPFA airwaves Thursday, Aug.
21, and followed it up with Block Report coverage on Friday, Aug.
22 - listen at www. kpfa. org/archives/index. php?show=9 - Interim
Program Director Sasha Lilley, Lois Withers and Vini Beecham went on
vacation for two weeks. On Aug. 22, KPFA Interim General Manager Lemlem
Rijio issued a statement on the incident. It reads in part, "It is
important for you to know that the Berkeley Police acted independent of
direction from KPFA.
"
Considering that Rijio is an African woman, can you believe that she or
any Black person who is connected to the Black community would call the
police thinking that after the police arrive she can control their
actions? This incident and the writing of the press release exemplifies
the incompetence of this current KPFA administration led by Lemlem
Rijio, as well as that of the current Pacifica administration led by
Nicole Sawaya.
Aileen Alfandary, the white news director of KPFA, told me personally
that what happened to Nadra was not newsworthy, and that is why KPFA
News did not cover the issue on Thursday. The disabled white executive
producer of the KPFA Morning Show, Mitch Jeserich, also told me on
Thursday, a day after the tragic incident, that it was not newsworthy.
And Andrea Ali, the manager of Guerrilla Cafe, told me, when asked if we
could have a community meeting there regarding the incident, that she
was on a spiritual quest and did not want to deal with KPFA's negativity
at Guerrilla Cafe.
Community, support those who support you and don't support people who
don't support you!
If you did not get a chance to hear the audio accounts from people who
eyewitnessed the police terrorism inflicted on Nadra Foster, you could
go to www. blockreportradio. com and stay updated on the community
organizing surrounding this topic.
Email POCC Minister of Information JR at [EMAIL PROTECTED] and
visit www. blockreportradio. com.
To reach the Bay View, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Fige Bornu's Blog: www.figebornu.blogspot.com
MySpaces: www.myspace.com/figebornu
www.myspace.com/la_air
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