July 22, 1999
BLACK RADICAL CONGRESS (Bay Area) Setting a Black Liberation Agenda for the 21st Century
P.O. Box 99286 Emeryville, CA 94662 (510) 652-6263 BRCbayarea at aol.com
We Fully Support the Demands of KPFA Workers, Volunteers and Listeners!
This past week, the situation at radio station KPFA-FM in Berkeley, California reached crisis proportions.
On Monday, 12 July 99, Dr. Mary Frances Berry, Chair of the parent Pacifica Network Board of Directors came to the Bay Area and met with leaders of CWA Local 9415, the union representing KPFA workers, and several community members. In the meeting, Berry "listened" to the concerns and demands of a few KPFA workers, volunteers and supporters. She agreed to act on only one: to remove the intimidating armed and expensive guards who have occupied the station for over a month. Also on Monday, an internal Pacifica Board memo advocating the sale of KPFA (and, WBAI in New York) to commerical interests, was leaked. Then on Tuesday evening, the struggle escalated as Dennis Bernstein was dragged out of the station and arrested for expressing his opinions on the crisis, during his show "Flashpoints." From that moment on, KPFA staffers, volunteers and supporters have been locked-out of the station. Local programming and news has been halted, replaced by taped speeches and music. Daily protests have taken place in front of the station, shutting down Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Way in Berkeley. Dozens of people have been arrested and beaten by riot police.
The Black Radical Congress/Bay Area calls on our members and the Afrikan and African American community to take a stand for justice and fully support the legitimate demands of KPFA workers, volunteers and supporters. Over the years, KPFA has been a major progressive and cultural outlet for dialogue on issues pertinent to WE people of the Afrikan diaspora, other communities of color, labor, anti-war and other non-corporate perspectives. It has been a major voice in our movements to popularize the truth around the case of our beloved Brother Mumia Abu-Jamal; our hundreds of political prisoners; around our movements to expose and stop police brutality; around the growing movement for reparations; and, even our young Black Radical Congress. Certainly, KPFA has major shortcomings, like all institutions in this white-supremacist capitalist society. Still, it has allowed ours and other neglected voices in the Bay Area, some say in the discussions, decisions and popular culture that affect us all. Therefore, WE, the Steering Committee of the Black Radical Congress/Bay Area call for the following:
1) That BRC members and their respective organizations and unions express public support for the demands of KPFA workers, volunteers and supporters through official letters and articles, organizing contingents for rallies, raising funds, etc.
2) That the BRC, locally and nationally, register a strong protest on the unjust treatment of KPFA workers and supporters to the Pacifica Board of Directors and Dr. Mary Frances Berry (who is African American) and call for immediate independently-mediated negotiations to end the crisis. Demand the following: a) An immediate end to the lock-out and the removal of Berkeley police and other armed guards; b) The re-hiring of all terminated and "disciplined" staff and volunteers and restoration of their programs; c) To take off the table any discussions of selling and privatizing community-suppported KPFA, WBAI and other Pacifica assets.
3) That BRC members make specific protests to the Mayor, Council and Police Chief of Berkeley and demand a cessation of arrests and brutalities, and that all charges be dropped against all who have been arrested.
Sincerely,
Jahahara Armstrong Frances Beal Karega Hart Cassie Lopez
[for the Black Radical Congress, Bay Area Steering Committee]
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