Frank's picks and observations
by Frank LeFever, 10-30-07
[Frank LeFever a neuropsychologist who came to WBAI governance as an enthusiastic outsider and sooned figured out how it works. He goes back a way - he started out political life as a Willkie man but soon came around.]
***
I did not recognize the name of ANY candidate in the first LSB election. I took notes during on-air forums, read and re-read statements, etc. Finally voted for a list which included some independents, some J&U or JUC, some List-Prog.
Being very naive and enthusiastic, I joined ALL of the LSB committees.
As a result, I know most of the candidates very very well. I know first-hand from working with them on committees how valuable James Ross, Pat Logan, and Ken Laufer can be on the LSB.
I have met and talked with several others, and am especially impressed with Seth Goldberg, Jennifer Jager, and Carla Cubit. Other independents look very good from their life histories and statements and come well-recommended by people whose opinions in these matters I respect.
As for Albert, I have worked with him on committees and know him to be a good soul who is if anything SIGNIFICANTLY less racist than the average white American. He was foolish to attempt a clumsy parody of J&U language in his statement, but he was trying to illustrate what J&U routinely does and thereby shame them.
Having tried to work with J&U operatives and for the most part failed, I am appalled by the contrast between what their campaign materials say and what they actually do. Simply put, they describe everything and everybody in racial terms. Their standard defense against any criticism of them or of management (whom they exist to protect) is to say the critic is a racist (if white) or an Uncle Tom (if black). Ugly, but true.
I can supply some representative quotes from "printed" (email) sources, if you want, but there are many more evanescent in-person racist ad hominem attacks that go un-recorded.
I myself was told I had a "melanin deficiency" disease when I confronted Nia Bediako (LSB delegate, Programming Committee chair, and wife of J&U-appointed LSB Treasurer Baruti Bediako) for her spectacularly inept handling of planning for an abortive "Town Hall" meeting. This language was formally accepted by Lisa Davis, Cerene Roberts, and other J&U operatives on the Programming Committee; only the two independent members present at that meeting voted against it.
Broadcasters pick up on this sort of thing and begin to think it's permissible on air. Many listeners have complained about the divisive tone of recent programs and I think some have simply tuned out and gone elsewhere.
One of the things WBAI has lost in recent years is the talent and time of enthusiastic volunteers. They have not been made to feel welcome (unless OK with J&U). My own efforts towards very broad outreach to many minority communities have been ignored; outreach by others have been condemned because directed towards "the wrong demographic" (code name for white and middle-class). Many volunteers have had their records lost and thereby have been omitted from the list of those being sent ballots.
This is no accident. One J&U operative has declared that "volunteerism" is simply a device to sneak affluent white people into the station. I kid you not.
Well, believe me: if we have an LSB after this election that is active and receptive to volunteers, you will see volunteers return. (J&U has shirked all of its mandated duties; even the simple one of publishing MINUTES of meetings, thereby concealing their actual motions and votes.) You will see imagination and talent put to work. You will see support that will actually move membership towards the "28,000 members" J&U claims we have (we do not, and it is either incompetence or dishonesty that lets them assert membership is not declining: it has declined every year from the year before while they have been in charge: we have only slightly more than 15,000 this year).
I could go on and on, but...