Race, class, governance
by Terry Goodman
I do not think that Pacifica is in any danger of exagerating the race/class issue, either; which is why I instead wrote "Those who wish to exagerate the Race/Class issue in fact (either consciously or unconsciously) also aid White supremacy and class domination, though it takes some level of insight to recognize this."
Much time in Pacifica governance meetings in more than one station area is spent dealing with individuals who tend to frame every decision as one of Race/Class in some dubious or questionable manner, with the result that not much actual governance gets done and not much ovesight of station management occurs. This is quite separate from Pacifica's programming which markedly varies from station to station and about which the Local Station Boards should maintain distance to protect the editorial independence of station management and the artistic and political freedom of the station's programmers. It would not surprise me to learn that the same diversion of effort around Race/Class/Identity may also be occurring at some station staff meetings. It is a serious problem peculiar to the left, joyfully encouraged there by the right, and endemic within Pacifica.
If the Local Station Boards and committees spent more of their time fulfilling the specific responsibilities delegated to them by the Foundation bylaws, then they might have time to contribute more significantly to outreach efforts; but here, too, it is station management, not local governance, that has the resources and primary responsibility to address the task. Governance should be setting goals, identifying priorities, reviewing policies, identifying the boundaries of management authority in various areas, and monitoring compliance -- not taking stands on public controversies, issuing statements of support for various political prisoners, carefully balancing the ethnic and gender diversity of their various committees irrespective of relevant qualifications, or demanding that the station broadcast the LSB's latest wisdom in Public Service Announcements about Race/Class.
The way for listener-sponsors to improve Pacifica's programming is for them to go out and start producing programs that express their passions. The way for listener-sponsors to improve Pacifica's operations is for them to elect delegate candidates who understand and are serious about doing the actual work of governance as distinct from candidates who wish to use the office as a personal platform for changing the world in general or for changing the station's programming in particular. A candidate's activist credentials are all well and good and can give reassurance that the individual will not make decisions adverse to the station's health or the Foundation's Mission, but those are not primary qualifications for doing the job of a Local Station Board Member. Pacifica desperately needs to recruit for governance positions enough individuals with experience on nonprofit boards to recognize the central problem of LSB nonperformance and somehow persuade the LSBs to get themselves properly trained in policy governance and then to start applying that training to doing the actual work of governance.
--Terry Goodman, KPFK Delegate