SUPPORT FOR PEOPLE’S MULTI-MEDIA ARTISTS

REFA One is a style supremacist, street calligrapher, and spray can artist extraordinaire, as well as being a member of the
TCB CREW...

“In a world obsessed with 15 minutes of fame, it’s a rare occasion to find those who press toward a long lasting legacy. California has managed to produce such a rare breed of legacy legends in the form of the TCB crew(The Capital’s Best/The Chosen Brothas). The TCB crew is one of the oldest HipHop Art Dynasty in the west coast, reigning for over 25 years. The Order was formerly initiated in 1985 by a group of inner city teenagers bent on spray painting their cosmic imaginations on the Urban Canvas we call walls. TCB recruited the gifted youth of Northern and Southern California creating the hybrid Style of Street Calligraphy that has sustained their legendary prowess. Although membership has shifted and changed, the classic core members of the group remain. The pillars of the crew are Toons, Refa1, MadHatter and Sir Asia. Toons brought a phenomenal style and a detailing technique from his home town of LA, Refa1 and Asia brought the Bay Area’s World Class Wild Style lettering, and MadHatter(a Sacramento Native) imposed his superior abilities in the form of B-Boy Iconography. Today the core membership continues to evolve...”http://www.myspace.com/tcbcrew

The TCB CREW just completed a highly successful presentation, entitled AEROSOUL: We Do De-Fine Art at the renowned Joyce Gordon Gallery
http://www.joycegordongallery.com located @ 406 14th Street, Oakland, CA. (12th St BART access.)

SEE REFA ONE’S WORDS & HIS ART BELOW, IN RESPONSE TO WHAT IS HAPPENING @
KPFA RADIO STATION.

NADRA FOSTER is a dedicated radio programmer, graduate of KPFA’S Apprentice Program, and a 12 year member of KPFA’s UNPAID Staff Organization.
She is a young committed AFRIKAN Woman-daughter-mother.
On 20 August 2008 KPFA’s response to her commitment and her life was (despite her pregnancy)
to order her criminally attacked, brutalized, hogtied, jailed, and ransomed at $81,000.00
by the city of Berkeley and approximately 2,000 pounds of their pork...
[read: ‘representatives’ of the Berkeley Police Department]
for the capital crime of utilizing a station Xerox machine 4 months earlier
to run off math sheets for her young children in order that their minds
be occupied while she worked at the station.

This was KPFA’s way of pronouncing NADRA FOSTER ‘banned’ from her job.
Apartheid is indeed well and living in Berkeley.

KPFA Radio station should be considered to be a non-progressive entity. It is evident that for quite some time now the station has been steadily devolving into the corporate monstrosity that it dearly wishes to become. Much of its programming evidences this, being anti-progressive, and in some instances, in direct collaboration with coup regimes, fascist alliances, and corporate states. It definitely moves to ban and / or to limit anything being aired which speaks to AFRIKAN mental, physical, and / or spiritual liberation.

Progressive programming has to fight for its existence – and its workers – or go elsewhere.

Thus, the station’s increasingly negative responses to AFRIKAN people, particularly we who work and have worked there should surprise no one. Sistah used a Xerox machine, Sistah got banned, beat down, and jailed – and this is considered to be ‘not newsworthy.’ That is not surprising either, considering that what masquerades as the 6:00 pm evening news at the station is both a travesty and a monument to ineptitude.

Obviously, the only listeners supporting this madness are the corporate pigs who called their henchmen in to defile yet another AFRIKAN Woman – in a studio called UJIMA – in complete defiance of any sense of justice. Willie Lynch has risen up from his tomb and made himself a permanent home @ the Pacifica Foundation.

Obviously we, the people on the ground, have to stop this hard – and now.

Otherwise every Ancestor we’ve ever known has died in vain.

War Without Terms.
----m

FROM:

REFA ONE

BY REFA 1
refa1@hotmail.com
TCB-Crew@hotmail.com
http://www.myspace.com/tcbcrew

Greetings,

BROTHA REFA One here...

I was alerted by Weyland (Hard Knock Radio) about the racist crime committed against
my SISTAH NADRA. I also read what you have been sending out and I wanted to
show support for the Sistah. Attached you will find a graphic poster I created to
expose the Berkeley pigs and to bring attention to Nadra Foster's case for justice.
I hope people in the community can use it. I'm granting permission for it's duplication
and usage as long as it is not sold. Please pass it on as you see fit. I wanted to include
the names of the pigs who lead the attack, do you have that information? if so please
send it to me and I will edit the piece. If you have any suggestions about the work
I invite your critique.

Your Brotha in the Struggle
Refa1

POLICE TERRORIZE BLACK KPFA PROGRAMMER IN THE STATION

HEAR:
Block Report coverage: on Friday, 22 Aug. 2008 @ http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?show=9
You Tube coverage: @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REbDCcLkaxg
Audio eyewitness accounts: of the police terrorism inflicted on Nadra Foster @ http://www.blockreportradio.com
Stay updated on the community organizing surrounding this topic.

SPEAK OUT:
Speak out at the town hall meeting Sunday, Sept. 7, 3 p.m.,
@ the Black New World, 836 Pine St., West Oakland

FROM:
AKILAH ZAINABU-EL
KIILU NYASHA

Before I left KPFA as a regular programmer in 1995, I worked with Akilah. She was an exceptionally talented engineer and mixer (her mix for B.A. '93 of Bato's poem in tribute to Hugo Pinell was sheer genius). I remember feeling very powerless when she called and told me about this incident. What should be kept in mind on reading her account of the brutal humiliation she suffered is the glaring fact that Akilah is tiny. I mean she's perhaps 5' more or less and no more than 100 pounds soaking wet! Akilah is a beautiful person and I love and respect her. The Woman Dread (Akilah's radio pseudonym and reggae show) should have become an institution at KPFA, as was the case with Johnny Otis, etc. But then, she's a Black woman, huh. KN

IT HAS COME TO PASS...

By AKILAH ZAINABU-EL

As I read the post about what happened to Nadra Foster, I broke out in a cold sweat and my heart started to beat faster and faster. I experienced painful flashbacks as this red hot feeling came over me from head to toe, skin to bone. Then, after listening to the audio, I felt that burn of tears welling up in my eyes. I knew this would happen again. I told folks it would happen again. And sadly, tragically, it has come to pass.

When I was removed from kpfa in handcuffs by five of Berkeley’s finest pigs and summarily banned from the station -- after more than a decade -- I tried to tell folks of the reality of kpfa’s racist hypocrisy, instead of the myth of their benevolent liberalism. Well, after reading the details of the recent incident in which a pregnant Black woman was beaten inside the walls of kpfa, I just have one question...can you hear me now?

My case, sadly, was not the first case where a Black woman was sorely mistreated by kpfa. And my case was not the same as Nadra’s. I don’t know, can’t know, the fullness of what happened because I wasn’t there, nor have I personally spoken to Nadra. But I am intimately familiar with kpfa’s methods. For me, it is of equal concern what caused this outrageous incident as the incident itself and the barbaric manner in which it was handled because kpfa always seems to have a hidden agenda, an ulterior motive, for what they do...especially where Black women are concerned.

I condemn kpfa in the strongest terms. In what universe do they exist where it is all right to cause this to happen to any one, especially one who has consistently demonstrated an unyielding and forthright commitment to them as well as the community. Nadra is a apprentice alumni, as am I. And kpfa takes folks through an intense and extensive screening process in order to enter the apprenticeship program. It is simply unjust that a person who exhibits the type of attitude and level of integrity that would afford them not onl y acceptance in, but also completion of, that program -- not to mention working in the station -- would not be given, at the very least, the benefit of the doubt before having the goon squad called on them to deal with what is an internal kpfa matter.

What makes this even more outrageous is that kpfa is well aware that the Berkeley pigs -- like most pigs -- are infamous for gearing up to inflict unjustified assaults. As a matter of fact, as pigs, they generally get highly upset if they can’t mess somebody up when they come out. I am not surprised by what they did. They are, after all, pigs. It is their job. But, as if there was no other option in this case, it was kpfa who chose to call these legal gang members. It is fundamentally hypocritical as well as pitifully ironic that the staff of kpfa, who demonstrated against the unnecessary brutality and false arrests that they themselves experienced at the hands of the pigs of Berkeley when the station was closed down several years ago, would subject pregnant Nadra to significantly more than the possibility that the same -- or worse -- could happen to her. They cavalierly put Nadra in jeopardy as well as the life of her unborn child.

As I said, my case was not exactly like Nadra’s, though there are numerous similarities. I am, by nature, and was all during my time at kpfa, nothing but kind to every single person I knew or worked with. And even those I didn’t particularly like, I treated with respect, demonstrating that “we’re all in this together even though we may disagree” community radio station attitude that was so instilled in members of the apprenticeship program. And I bought into it hook, line and sinker. I personally and consistently witnessed that same principled discipline in Nadra as a graduate of the apprenticeship program. That principle, as a matter of fact, was a prerequisite for being an apprentice. Even though Nadra may not have signed a contract to that effect, as I did, we have both proven that our word is bond. It is contained within the content of our character to respectfully co-exist. Not only that, Nadra is one of the most spiritual, peaceful and gentle sisters I have ever met. I have never heard her use a single swear word, let alone aggress against anyone. This is why I can state without doubt or hesitation that when it comes to Nadra, there was no need for kpfa to have called the pigs on her, and no provocation for them to have done what they did. In Nadra’s case20as well as mine, the same thing applies -- all we was doin’ was defendin’.

In my case, despite an extensive paper trail documenting numerous incidents, pleading and warning what could happened if the particular situation was not handled by management, kpfa elected to ignore it, allowed the matter to not only fester, but escalate, until it ultimately played out violently, resulting in me being, first, physically assaulted by another kpfa member, then physically removed by Berkeley’s finest pigs. I wasn’t arrested, though. The pigs simply paraded me around outside the station -- handcuffed, fighting to breath, doubled over in pain and bruised by the assailant -- for all to see. As I struggled, laboring to explain that I could not breathe, they threatened to take me to Herrick Hospital on a 51/50 (crazy person). They wanted to make an example out of me. And it worked, too, because no one had the balls to help a sistah out. I was left laying on the sidewalk.

If kpfa management would have handled the matter in the first place, the inci dent never would have happened in the second place. They more than allowed it, they instigated it. And when it did happen, there were other options than calling the police. I am not a violent person, regardless of the character assassination campaign kpfa ran on me. They tried to make me out as crazy, when in truth, I was the victim of a violent person. In truth, I don't mess with nobody that don't mess with me first. It’s called self-defense. Yet, I was the one banned without a hearing. kpfa had a duty to investigate the incident. They didn’t do it. They had a duty to provide me a grievance procedure as guaranteed in their bylaws. They didn’t do it. And the offending party -- the man who put his hands on me in the first place -- was protected by kpfa and still remains there to this day. Hmmm...The violent initiator remains while the victim is punished. What’s up with that?

There is so much about my case that folks just don’t know People walk up to me all the time -- eight years later -- and ask me what happened. And when I tell them, they can hardly believe that that’s what goes on at “the people’s station”.   What's not to believe? What happened to me had everything to do with the fact that I, along with some others, created BJR -- Blacks For Justice In Radio -- for the specific purpose of addressing reparations for Black folks at kpfa, and to have a say in hiring, programming and policy. Again, kpfa always has an ulterior motive, always.

What now? Well, if kpfa is running true to form, even though Nadra has done nothing but demonstrate exemplary community service for over a decade - same as me - she will probably now be accused of being a threat to the safety of those at kpfa -- same as me. I was continually referred to (as well as treated like) a ‘psychotic Black bitch’ by other kpfa staffers. Even though all Nadra was doing was defending herself, she will probably be blamed as the initiator -- same as me. Then, through their corporate attorneys, kpfa might file all the necessary paperwork to have an injunction placed on Nadra, resulting in her being banned from the station, probably for life and probably without a hearing -- same as me.   As I said, I am more than familiar with their methods. Nadra can count on the fact that those folks at kpfa will lie, not only at the drop of a hat, but well. They will produce witnesses that were not even there who will swear out false statements against her -- same as me. It is my experience that they will do damn near anything to justify their actions and objectives....even orchestrate a beat down.

There are two major differences between Nadra’s situation and mine, for which I am truly happy; Her incident is being exposed, and she is getting support. No one was there for me. No one. Not Black, white, male or female, legal or layman. And as outrageous as it was, I hope that her incident will finally bring to light those nasty issues long hidden inside the bowels of kpfa that they don’t want known. Their dirty laundry is long overdue for a washing because it stinks in the nostrils of decent people.

for real...

--- --- --- --- --- ---

What is it about this radio station (KPFA, in Berkeley, CA) that sucks in young AFRIKAN women, single or not, with or without children; uses our youth, labor, energy, knowledge, expertise, love and commitment to AFRIKAN Liberation; for a dime or more of years – for NO PAY and completely disregards our commitments to our children; then bans us, kicks us out under fire, attempts to destroy our reputations, does, threatens, and/ or attempts to do violence to us, and at least, in my case, as well removes every single one of our taped programs from the KPFA Pacifica Foundation archives, so that it seems as if we did not exist at all?

The fact that this has been going on for [judging by recent reports] nearly 4 generations at a so-called ‘listener sponsored’ so-called ‘community’ radio station is so not cool, people...
And now we have a 12 year volunteer – a pregnant AFRIKAN Woman - ‘banned’ and beat down by the Berkeley police on 20 August 2008 - (the police were called by her employers)
for using a Xerox machine (allegedly w/o ‘authorization’ (??) the previous April?

Is there an apartheid wall in Berkeley?
Is this 1984 [burn the books/don’t use the Xerox machine, shoot the messenger when she does]?
Is this the KPFA-Orwellian version of Animal Farm, where some people are
more unequal than others – all of the time - and Napoleon the pig (how apropos)
has just taken over?
Is this jack boot stew
and quisling soup?

What’s wrong with this picture? And why is it ‘listener supported?’

War Without Terms

---m
former KPFA programmer
(unpaid) staff news reporter
program producer, reporting
on African Liberation struggles
local, national, international news,
and SF Bay Area solidarity movements.