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Indybay Feature
The Black Hole at KPFA
The April 8-14 issue of the East Bay Express features a 5,576-word cover story on Minister of Information JR. It doesn't bother to actually build a case for how he is a provocateur or who he is a supposed agent for; it's just a hit piece from someone who fancies himself of the "mainstream" perspective and doesn't get where JR is coming from on the issues he covers.
April 14, 2009
KPFA, the bastion of radical radio, will be celebrating its 60th birthday this week. It is almost cinematic looking at the issues this left-leaning radio station will be mired in at the same time it will be blowing out its candles.
For 60 years, KPFA has been legally and morally committed to achieving the Pacifica mission of racial understanding, yet here it is 2009 and still there’s no Black public affairs show anywhere on its scheduling grid! And yes, the station is located right in Berkeley on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, only blocks from where the Black Panther Party was founded.
If the station is so radical, why doesn’t it have a Black public affairs show? Whites have Democracy Now, which comes on twice daily, and Against the Grain. Latinos have La Raza Chronicles and La Onda Bajita, Asians have APEX Express and American Indians have Bay Native Circle.
“Shut up and keep dancing” is what KPFA’s management team is telling the Black community by giving Black programmers access only to music slots - with the exception of Walter Turner’s Africa Today, which is expected to cover the Black world in one hour a week.
The black hole created by this lack of a Black public affairs show has yawned wide and deep in recent months as the rumblings of revolution in Black Oakland have grabbed headlines and prime time around the country … but barely a whisper on KPFA. A few brave souls have broken the implicit taboo against covering the police beating of KPFA programmer Nadra Foster in the KPFA studios in August of 2008, but not many and not often. Nadra is still fighting false charges that the current management conjured up, but you would never know that listening to the station.
For millions tuned into mainstream media, the videotaped police murder of Oscar Grant and the rebellions that followed ushered in the New Year with a vivid view of the police war on Black people. Commercial media dug up evidence and ran probing interviews day after day, week after week, vying for listeners, viewers and readers hungry for more. To KPFA management apparently, though, the story was hardly newsworthy.
In the aftermath, community organizing of all kinds with a fervor not seen since the days of the Panthers should be finding a forum at KPFA, but it’s not. Police retaliation against the journalist best known for his coverage of police terrorism, Minister of Information JR, by brutally arresting him and charging him with a felony at the first rebellion, was covered by all the other Pacifica stations around the country but barely mentioned at KPFA, even though he’s one of KPFA’s many unpaid staff members.
The next battle in the police war against Black Oaklanders, ending in the tragic murder of Lovelle Mixon and four police officers, once again gripped the national media while leaving KPFA largely speechless. Minister of Information JR’s Block Report interview with Mixon’s family was the only coverage on the daily prime time show Flashpoints.
The truth is, for this middle-aged Black woman who grew up in Richmond and San Francisco and now lives in Oakland, the Block Report is the only reason I contribute to KPFA fund drives. No one else speaks to me about issues that are on my radar. I just learned from a recent hit piece in the East Bay Express - the cover story no less - that the Minister of Information JR, who reported on the KPFA airwaves on all of these cases, is a volunteer with no regular time slot.
The East Bay Express article says that his Block Reports, which cut through racial barriers to fulfill the Pacifica mission of racial understanding better than any show I know, are “sporadically” played on Flashpoints, and I occasionally hear him presenting issues of concern on the shows Transitions on Traditions and Hard Knock Radio. I looked on the KPFA website, though, and couldn’t find him mentioned anywhere.
By ignoring one of the best Black journalists on the West Coast, one who can break down the most complex and controversial issues so that people of all colors can understand and discuss them productively and who emboldens those he interviews to speak their hearts and minds, revealing the pain of injustice that fuels racial conflict, KPFA is reviling the Pacifica mission. Block Reports, on the rare occasions I hear them on KPFA, are to me an oasis, a safe space where I know Black people’s intelligence and the issues we care about will be aired fairly and respectfully.
Today’s Chronicle, in a front page story noting KPFA’s 60th birthday, reported that this powerful station, with a signal that reaches the millions of people who live in the northern third of California, is currently drawing only about 150,000 listeners a week. “Broadening the audience, particularly among younger listeners,” is the goal, according to station management.
I know who can best help KPFA achieve that goal. I see the young people in my neighborhood jump to tune in KPFA whenever they hear a Block Report is coming on. Why can’t KPFA management see the solution within their grasp? Why are they treating JR like a leper when it comes to giving him and our community the time slot we want?
When a Black man is president of the United States and an East African woman is general manager of KPFA, is a Black public affairs show too much to ask for?
As KPFA turns 60, I’m going to be thinking hard about whether I’m respecting myself by supporting a station that some people in the Black community have been calling “Apartheid Radio.” Wouldn’t I be paying to be discriminated against? Around income tax time every year, I hear many KPFA programmers asking similar questions about whether to resist paying Uncle Sam until he does the right thing. What’s the difference?
Am I and the Black community supposed to be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of KPFA when our community is not deemed important enough to be given a public affairs show? Why doesn’t KPFA offer the Block Report a prime time public affairs show for the Black community and pay the brotha before some other station that recognizes his talent scoops him up?
KPFA, the bastion of radical radio, will be celebrating its 60th birthday this week. It is almost cinematic looking at the issues this left-leaning radio station will be mired in at the same time it will be blowing out its candles.
For 60 years, KPFA has been legally and morally committed to achieving the Pacifica mission of racial understanding, yet here it is 2009 and still there’s no Black public affairs show anywhere on its scheduling grid! And yes, the station is located right in Berkeley on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, only blocks from where the Black Panther Party was founded.
If the station is so radical, why doesn’t it have a Black public affairs show? Whites have Democracy Now, which comes on twice daily, and Against the Grain. Latinos have La Raza Chronicles and La Onda Bajita, Asians have APEX Express and American Indians have Bay Native Circle.
“Shut up and keep dancing” is what KPFA’s management team is telling the Black community by giving Black programmers access only to music slots - with the exception of Walter Turner’s Africa Today, which is expected to cover the Black world in one hour a week.
The black hole created by this lack of a Black public affairs show has yawned wide and deep in recent months as the rumblings of revolution in Black Oakland have grabbed headlines and prime time around the country … but barely a whisper on KPFA. A few brave souls have broken the implicit taboo against covering the police beating of KPFA programmer Nadra Foster in the KPFA studios in August of 2008, but not many and not often. Nadra is still fighting false charges that the current management conjured up, but you would never know that listening to the station.
For millions tuned into mainstream media, the videotaped police murder of Oscar Grant and the rebellions that followed ushered in the New Year with a vivid view of the police war on Black people. Commercial media dug up evidence and ran probing interviews day after day, week after week, vying for listeners, viewers and readers hungry for more. To KPFA management apparently, though, the story was hardly newsworthy.
In the aftermath, community organizing of all kinds with a fervor not seen since the days of the Panthers should be finding a forum at KPFA, but it’s not. Police retaliation against the journalist best known for his coverage of police terrorism, Minister of Information JR, by brutally arresting him and charging him with a felony at the first rebellion, was covered by all the other Pacifica stations around the country but barely mentioned at KPFA, even though he’s one of KPFA’s many unpaid staff members.
The next battle in the police war against Black Oaklanders, ending in the tragic murder of Lovelle Mixon and four police officers, once again gripped the national media while leaving KPFA largely speechless. Minister of Information JR’s Block Report interview with Mixon’s family was the only coverage on the daily prime time show Flashpoints.
The truth is, for this middle-aged Black woman who grew up in Richmond and San Francisco and now lives in Oakland, the Block Report is the only reason I contribute to KPFA fund drives. No one else speaks to me about issues that are on my radar. I just learned from a recent hit piece in the East Bay Express - the cover story no less - that the Minister of Information JR, who reported on the KPFA airwaves on all of these cases, is a volunteer with no regular time slot.
The East Bay Express article says that his Block Reports, which cut through racial barriers to fulfill the Pacifica mission of racial understanding better than any show I know, are “sporadically” played on Flashpoints, and I occasionally hear him presenting issues of concern on the shows Transitions on Traditions and Hard Knock Radio. I looked on the KPFA website, though, and couldn’t find him mentioned anywhere.
By ignoring one of the best Black journalists on the West Coast, one who can break down the most complex and controversial issues so that people of all colors can understand and discuss them productively and who emboldens those he interviews to speak their hearts and minds, revealing the pain of injustice that fuels racial conflict, KPFA is reviling the Pacifica mission. Block Reports, on the rare occasions I hear them on KPFA, are to me an oasis, a safe space where I know Black people’s intelligence and the issues we care about will be aired fairly and respectfully.
Today’s Chronicle, in a front page story noting KPFA’s 60th birthday, reported that this powerful station, with a signal that reaches the millions of people who live in the northern third of California, is currently drawing only about 150,000 listeners a week. “Broadening the audience, particularly among younger listeners,” is the goal, according to station management.
I know who can best help KPFA achieve that goal. I see the young people in my neighborhood jump to tune in KPFA whenever they hear a Block Report is coming on. Why can’t KPFA management see the solution within their grasp? Why are they treating JR like a leper when it comes to giving him and our community the time slot we want?
When a Black man is president of the United States and an East African woman is general manager of KPFA, is a Black public affairs show too much to ask for?
As KPFA turns 60, I’m going to be thinking hard about whether I’m respecting myself by supporting a station that some people in the Black community have been calling “Apartheid Radio.” Wouldn’t I be paying to be discriminated against? Around income tax time every year, I hear many KPFA programmers asking similar questions about whether to resist paying Uncle Sam until he does the right thing. What’s the difference?
Am I and the Black community supposed to be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of KPFA when our community is not deemed important enough to be given a public affairs show? Why doesn’t KPFA offer the Block Report a prime time public affairs show for the Black community and pay the brotha before some other station that recognizes his talent scoops him up?
For more information:
http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/the-black-ho...
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First you say that Asians get Apex Express and American Indians get Bay Native Circle whereas there is no Black public affairs show, then you admit that Africa Today exists but lament that he can't be expected to cover the Black world in an hour.
Well, that's the exact amount of time that Apex Express and Bay Native Circle get. So you're getting the same amount of time so I don't see where you have grounds to complain. Add to that, the reporting that Hard Knock Radio does on race, ( a bunch ), Flashpoints and the racial, and cultural reporting done by Against The Grain. And I hate to say that your position looks a lot like whining.
Do you even listen to Against the Grain? in the last month alone the show topics were:
Against the Grain - April 22, 2009 at 12:00pm
U.C. Davis professor Clarence Walker talks about his new book "Mongrel Nation: The America Begotten by Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings."
Against the Grain - April 21, 2009 at 12:00pm
In his book "Moral Relativism," Steven Lukes asks whether we can, or should, abstain from judging other cultures' practices.
Against the Grain - April 15, 2009 at 12:00pm
On KPFA's 60th birthday, we present archived audio of two great dissidents: the writer and social activist James Baldwin, speaking in December 1964, and the Indonesian writer and long-time political prisoner Pramoedya Ananta Toer, being interviewed on KPFA in 1999.
Against the Grain - April 8, 2009 at 12:00pm
Adrian Burgos Jr. discusses the key roles played by Afro-Latinos in the racial integration of US baseball and the struggle against Jim Crow. And Octavio Solis talks about "Lydia," his new play about a Mexican immigrant family in El Paso in the 1970s.
Against the Grain - April 7, 2009 at 12:00pm
Why does the radical geographer David Harvey call the economic crisis a financial Katrina? And what can we learn from the general strike that shut down Seattle ninety years ago? Harvey and the sociologist Howard Kimeldorf discuss class power and worker power.
Does this sounds like a 'white' program to you ?
If you have a problem with East Bay Express, take it up with them,
but seriously and really frankly, you come off with the line
"When a Black man is president of the United States and an East African woman is general manager of KPFA, is a Black public affairs show too much to ask for?"
You have one, Africa Today,
and when a Black man is president of the United States and an East African woman is general manager of KPFA,
I think you can pick far better people to rally around than JR Valrey. JR, who punched coworker Davey D and bragged about it in his own publication BootyCrack (there's an uplifting publication title) (why does JR get your sympathy and Davey D does not ?) and seems to have such bad luck at being around when things spontanously catch fire. At any other stations, he'd be out on his ass by now, rather than being a martyr.
JR is the guy you hold up when you have a Black man as President?
Our President unites people, JR Valrey, not so much.
Well, that's the exact amount of time that Apex Express and Bay Native Circle get. So you're getting the same amount of time so I don't see where you have grounds to complain. Add to that, the reporting that Hard Knock Radio does on race, ( a bunch ), Flashpoints and the racial, and cultural reporting done by Against The Grain. And I hate to say that your position looks a lot like whining.
Do you even listen to Against the Grain? in the last month alone the show topics were:
Against the Grain - April 22, 2009 at 12:00pm
U.C. Davis professor Clarence Walker talks about his new book "Mongrel Nation: The America Begotten by Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings."
Against the Grain - April 21, 2009 at 12:00pm
In his book "Moral Relativism," Steven Lukes asks whether we can, or should, abstain from judging other cultures' practices.
Against the Grain - April 15, 2009 at 12:00pm
On KPFA's 60th birthday, we present archived audio of two great dissidents: the writer and social activist James Baldwin, speaking in December 1964, and the Indonesian writer and long-time political prisoner Pramoedya Ananta Toer, being interviewed on KPFA in 1999.
Against the Grain - April 8, 2009 at 12:00pm
Adrian Burgos Jr. discusses the key roles played by Afro-Latinos in the racial integration of US baseball and the struggle against Jim Crow. And Octavio Solis talks about "Lydia," his new play about a Mexican immigrant family in El Paso in the 1970s.
Against the Grain - April 7, 2009 at 12:00pm
Why does the radical geographer David Harvey call the economic crisis a financial Katrina? And what can we learn from the general strike that shut down Seattle ninety years ago? Harvey and the sociologist Howard Kimeldorf discuss class power and worker power.
Does this sounds like a 'white' program to you ?
If you have a problem with East Bay Express, take it up with them,
but seriously and really frankly, you come off with the line
"When a Black man is president of the United States and an East African woman is general manager of KPFA, is a Black public affairs show too much to ask for?"
You have one, Africa Today,
and when a Black man is president of the United States and an East African woman is general manager of KPFA,
I think you can pick far better people to rally around than JR Valrey. JR, who punched coworker Davey D and bragged about it in his own publication BootyCrack (there's an uplifting publication title) (why does JR get your sympathy and Davey D does not ?) and seems to have such bad luck at being around when things spontanously catch fire. At any other stations, he'd be out on his ass by now, rather than being a martyr.
JR is the guy you hold up when you have a Black man as President?
Our President unites people, JR Valrey, not so much.
james baldwin in 64 is great,but what about randall robinson NOW.his presentation tells of the disease that is america,not just the racial issue as a seperate think.its always the same blacks who get coverage.same speeches,however malcolm x never gets old,he is similar to robinson. more police state abuse coverage ,its hell sometimes here
There is no *dedicated* Black public affairs program on KPFA and there needs to be one.
'Africa Today' is a great program but is not about issues the Black community in the US and locally faces, as the SF Bayview does.
There is a faction at KPFA which often stresses the lack of Black (and other community) programming on KPFA, the pro-democratic faction, of which People's Radio is a part. Unfortunately KPFA governance has been taken over by the anti-democratic faction of the "Concerned Listeners" and their associates. More on this later.
The way programming has gotten on the air at KPFA was through the Program Council (PC) and the Program Director (PD).
KPFA and its parent foundation, Pacifica (plus Pacifica"s other 4 stations) were subjected to an attempted takeover during 1991 to about 2000, but the listeners, staff, and others won them back in court cases and Bylaws were written which instituted shared (democratic) decision making.
One of the pillars of KPFA democracy is the semi-democratic Program Council (which actually predates the Bylaws). The Program Council evaluates the programming and takes requests for new programming.
Unfortunately, the undemocratic faction has fought the role of the Program Council (PC) and its sponsor the Local Station Board in programming. In the last 2 years or so a Program Director was illegally appointed by Management, who is of the undemocratic faction, and together they forced the PC to stop most of its meetings, characterized it as merely "advisory", and failed to consult with it *at all*. The Program Director has been making all the programming decisions, and her faction has not promoted local community concerned programming, though there were opportunities to add such programs.
Note that JR and his report are carried by Dennis Bernstein's Flashpoints. Dennis and Flashpoints are aligned with the democratic faction at KPFA.
While we would prefer to blame "the station", and not have to consider the dynamics of the problem, or get involved in station "politics", we can't solve the problem without the community being educated and involved in it!
We need (true) concerned listeners to become, or remain, voting members, in order to vote in Local Station Board elections, and VOTE OUT the so-called "Concerned Listeners" slate, whom I call"the Listeners Concerned with Protecting Entrenched Staff and their Management". Otherwise, the present situation will continue of having a majority voting bloc of listener reps who are there to rubberstamp the wishes of entrenched staff and their management, instead of providing democratic checks and balances from the listeners, and oversee KPFA governance.
For example, they recently voted to meet *every other* month, instead of every month as LSBs everywhere have done forever - especially needed in this time of financial crisis in the network. But why meet, when we can just leave Management to make all the decisions, which is what we CL are here to do anyway?
A Local Station Board election is coming up in October,
so become a KPFA member - a minimum of $25 or 3 hours
volunteer work for the year - will get you membership,
vote for pro-democracy candidates *only*, and keep raising
your voice to KPFA.
As the election nears there will be information about
candidates and platforms. Meanwhile, besides the
SF Bayview, there are sometimes articles and letters in the Berkeley Daily Planet,
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com
One such article, about the Nadra Foster incident:
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-09-04/article/31010?headline=Rough-Arrest-at-KPFA-Stuns-Station-Community
Search IndyBay and find many articles about KPFA (under "Media"). A recent article:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/04/13/18588446.php
Or check the People's Radio website which though not active
and up to date at this time has much information about
the KPFA situation: http://peoplesradio.net
'Africa Today' is a great program but is not about issues the Black community in the US and locally faces, as the SF Bayview does.
There is a faction at KPFA which often stresses the lack of Black (and other community) programming on KPFA, the pro-democratic faction, of which People's Radio is a part. Unfortunately KPFA governance has been taken over by the anti-democratic faction of the "Concerned Listeners" and their associates. More on this later.
The way programming has gotten on the air at KPFA was through the Program Council (PC) and the Program Director (PD).
KPFA and its parent foundation, Pacifica (plus Pacifica"s other 4 stations) were subjected to an attempted takeover during 1991 to about 2000, but the listeners, staff, and others won them back in court cases and Bylaws were written which instituted shared (democratic) decision making.
One of the pillars of KPFA democracy is the semi-democratic Program Council (which actually predates the Bylaws). The Program Council evaluates the programming and takes requests for new programming.
Unfortunately, the undemocratic faction has fought the role of the Program Council (PC) and its sponsor the Local Station Board in programming. In the last 2 years or so a Program Director was illegally appointed by Management, who is of the undemocratic faction, and together they forced the PC to stop most of its meetings, characterized it as merely "advisory", and failed to consult with it *at all*. The Program Director has been making all the programming decisions, and her faction has not promoted local community concerned programming, though there were opportunities to add such programs.
Note that JR and his report are carried by Dennis Bernstein's Flashpoints. Dennis and Flashpoints are aligned with the democratic faction at KPFA.
While we would prefer to blame "the station", and not have to consider the dynamics of the problem, or get involved in station "politics", we can't solve the problem without the community being educated and involved in it!
We need (true) concerned listeners to become, or remain, voting members, in order to vote in Local Station Board elections, and VOTE OUT the so-called "Concerned Listeners" slate, whom I call"the Listeners Concerned with Protecting Entrenched Staff and their Management". Otherwise, the present situation will continue of having a majority voting bloc of listener reps who are there to rubberstamp the wishes of entrenched staff and their management, instead of providing democratic checks and balances from the listeners, and oversee KPFA governance.
For example, they recently voted to meet *every other* month, instead of every month as LSBs everywhere have done forever - especially needed in this time of financial crisis in the network. But why meet, when we can just leave Management to make all the decisions, which is what we CL are here to do anyway?
A Local Station Board election is coming up in October,
so become a KPFA member - a minimum of $25 or 3 hours
volunteer work for the year - will get you membership,
vote for pro-democracy candidates *only*, and keep raising
your voice to KPFA.
As the election nears there will be information about
candidates and platforms. Meanwhile, besides the
SF Bayview, there are sometimes articles and letters in the Berkeley Daily Planet,
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com
One such article, about the Nadra Foster incident:
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-09-04/article/31010?headline=Rough-Arrest-at-KPFA-Stuns-Station-Community
Search IndyBay and find many articles about KPFA (under "Media"). A recent article:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/04/13/18588446.php
Or check the People's Radio website which though not active
and up to date at this time has much information about
the KPFA situation: http://peoplesradio.net
there is kpoo or start your own radio station look at radio part 15 us
What's Crackin' People's?
I thought I'd chime in, due to all of the inconsistent views of what we feel to be "Liberty for all, and the pursuit of happiness!" I thought the writer of the Express piece did a fairly decent job of puttin' the pieces on the table. It was obvious to see, however, that they couldn't venture too far in the area of "being fair" to J.R. without the possibility of losing their job and becoming a part of this recently destroyed economy as another unemployment statistic, not to mention once again silencing the very freedom that the Express deems to insist that they express. With that said, I've known J.R. for about 10 years, having met him as a youngster looking to make a change in his world. Having had created a magazine targeting inner city youth, The BootyCrack Magazine, I felt that if we didn't keep the message of total freedom (institutional, mental, and physical) on the streets that death for them was imminent. That message was expresed in The BootyCrack, and until I had met J.R., I thought that I was the only one on the street with that message, besides the brothers of The Nation of Islam. Upon meeting J.R. we discussed the fate of our people, and agreed that our youngsters were in a state of hypnosis, clouded by Malt Liquor, fast money, and the violence upon ourselves that self-hate (caused by years of brilliant psychological programming and purposeful media misinformation) creates. It was then that he began to submit more thought provoking articles to The BootyCrack that were desperately needed. While we at The BootyCrack went around in circles to get to the message, J.R. was never scared to tackle the biggest topics, with the most controversial figures. I felt an old school soul, and our ancestors spirit within a product of the very streets he was insitent to change. I never saw money motivate him in any way. I never saw money, women, drugs, or alcohol deviate his mission. I've seen him sleep on floors, go without meals, and travel uncomfortably in the back of pickups, just to further Black freedom agenda. And this agenda was to uncover lies told by mainstream media, to expose plots and methods used to deceive us, to explore new ways to get the truth out to the masses. I thought I was dedicated to this agenda, but I fell far short of the dedication that saw in this young man.
I could go on and on and on and on, but I won't! However, in wrapping this up, I need to uncover a few things. For one, The Davey D issue, was a manhood issue between two grown men. And although I like Davey D very much, and have quite a bit of respect for him, at times he can say the wrong thing to the wrong people, often. And on this particular occassion, J.R. was the wrong person to antagonize/intimidate, and since men will be men, they had an altercation that led to Davey's lip being swollen. The misinformation in your post was that J.R. bragged about this action. The truth is that he begged me not to report it, but it was just too juicy for "The BootyCrack" to pass up. So I wrote and published the article anyway, due to previous my personal disdain for Davey at the time. As for the term "Provacateur," I guess that is one way of seeing things. But, that would also equate to calling Barack a "provacateur" of bilateralism, or Al Gore a provacateur of free global information with his insistence of mainstreaming the internet. To call someone who isn't afraid to lead the way on unchartered or unfavorable issues a "provacateur" is more irresponsible than calling President Obama a socialist for wanting prosperity for all peoples, or Al Gore a fear monger for warning the world about the fate that the dangers of climate impose. However, you always got someone who benefits by turning these necessary truths and those committed to reporting them, into public villains. And somehow in this society those individuals, knowing their reasoning and knowing their true identities as villains, become our voices of reason and humanitariun heroes.
So to you sir, I ask, do you really believe J.R. to be the villain, or do you have reason to ridicule J.R. and make it seem that your true identity as a provacateur (in the negative sense), hate monger, villain, and proponent of false idols, is really his true identity as a fearless leader in the pursuit of freedom and prosperity for all while thirsting for the one truth in all things, including God, Universe, Race, and Equality (or Superiority if that is indeed the truth of the matter)? I have a feeling that you are the former, and all those involved in the attack of J.R. Valray will soon have forgiveness to ask for your judgments and false ridicule. I equate J.R. with a Moses, Abraham, and dare I say even Jesus, becasue we all know that Jesus was a rebel and an advisary of those who oppressed, so I don't think I'm too far fetched in the metaphor. J.R. is only out seeking the truth, and revealing it to all of those interested. If that's not you, then pick up the Wall Street Journal or some other publication, but watch your mouth, because you may have to answer to it one day and be punished accordingly.
Sorry so long, but that's what I was inspired to post.
Jusdre,
BootyCrack 1 Time.
http://www.thebootycrack.com
I thought I'd chime in, due to all of the inconsistent views of what we feel to be "Liberty for all, and the pursuit of happiness!" I thought the writer of the Express piece did a fairly decent job of puttin' the pieces on the table. It was obvious to see, however, that they couldn't venture too far in the area of "being fair" to J.R. without the possibility of losing their job and becoming a part of this recently destroyed economy as another unemployment statistic, not to mention once again silencing the very freedom that the Express deems to insist that they express. With that said, I've known J.R. for about 10 years, having met him as a youngster looking to make a change in his world. Having had created a magazine targeting inner city youth, The BootyCrack Magazine, I felt that if we didn't keep the message of total freedom (institutional, mental, and physical) on the streets that death for them was imminent. That message was expresed in The BootyCrack, and until I had met J.R., I thought that I was the only one on the street with that message, besides the brothers of The Nation of Islam. Upon meeting J.R. we discussed the fate of our people, and agreed that our youngsters were in a state of hypnosis, clouded by Malt Liquor, fast money, and the violence upon ourselves that self-hate (caused by years of brilliant psychological programming and purposeful media misinformation) creates. It was then that he began to submit more thought provoking articles to The BootyCrack that were desperately needed. While we at The BootyCrack went around in circles to get to the message, J.R. was never scared to tackle the biggest topics, with the most controversial figures. I felt an old school soul, and our ancestors spirit within a product of the very streets he was insitent to change. I never saw money motivate him in any way. I never saw money, women, drugs, or alcohol deviate his mission. I've seen him sleep on floors, go without meals, and travel uncomfortably in the back of pickups, just to further Black freedom agenda. And this agenda was to uncover lies told by mainstream media, to expose plots and methods used to deceive us, to explore new ways to get the truth out to the masses. I thought I was dedicated to this agenda, but I fell far short of the dedication that saw in this young man.
I could go on and on and on and on, but I won't! However, in wrapping this up, I need to uncover a few things. For one, The Davey D issue, was a manhood issue between two grown men. And although I like Davey D very much, and have quite a bit of respect for him, at times he can say the wrong thing to the wrong people, often. And on this particular occassion, J.R. was the wrong person to antagonize/intimidate, and since men will be men, they had an altercation that led to Davey's lip being swollen. The misinformation in your post was that J.R. bragged about this action. The truth is that he begged me not to report it, but it was just too juicy for "The BootyCrack" to pass up. So I wrote and published the article anyway, due to previous my personal disdain for Davey at the time. As for the term "Provacateur," I guess that is one way of seeing things. But, that would also equate to calling Barack a "provacateur" of bilateralism, or Al Gore a provacateur of free global information with his insistence of mainstreaming the internet. To call someone who isn't afraid to lead the way on unchartered or unfavorable issues a "provacateur" is more irresponsible than calling President Obama a socialist for wanting prosperity for all peoples, or Al Gore a fear monger for warning the world about the fate that the dangers of climate impose. However, you always got someone who benefits by turning these necessary truths and those committed to reporting them, into public villains. And somehow in this society those individuals, knowing their reasoning and knowing their true identities as villains, become our voices of reason and humanitariun heroes.
So to you sir, I ask, do you really believe J.R. to be the villain, or do you have reason to ridicule J.R. and make it seem that your true identity as a provacateur (in the negative sense), hate monger, villain, and proponent of false idols, is really his true identity as a fearless leader in the pursuit of freedom and prosperity for all while thirsting for the one truth in all things, including God, Universe, Race, and Equality (or Superiority if that is indeed the truth of the matter)? I have a feeling that you are the former, and all those involved in the attack of J.R. Valray will soon have forgiveness to ask for your judgments and false ridicule. I equate J.R. with a Moses, Abraham, and dare I say even Jesus, becasue we all know that Jesus was a rebel and an advisary of those who oppressed, so I don't think I'm too far fetched in the metaphor. J.R. is only out seeking the truth, and revealing it to all of those interested. If that's not you, then pick up the Wall Street Journal or some other publication, but watch your mouth, because you may have to answer to it one day and be punished accordingly.
Sorry so long, but that's what I was inspired to post.
Jusdre,
BootyCrack 1 Time.
http://www.thebootycrack.com
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