Yolanda Anguiano calls on community to save her seat on the KPFK Local Station Board.
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse at KPFK, the whispered threat of a lawsuit may unseat the only Latina left on KPFK's Local Station Board. LSB member Yolanda Anguiano has joined Los Angeles' Relocation Appeals Board, an ad hoc group that meets twice a year and advises the Community Redevelopment Agency. The chair of the KPFK LSB, to fend off legal action, will demand Anguiano's resignation as the first order of business at the next LSB meeting Tuesday night, January 22, at 7:00 p.m. at the Peace Center, 8124 W. 3rd St., near Crescent Heights in Los Angeles (MTA 316, parking is difficult). Anguiano is asking for community support at that meeting.
The Pacifica Foundation legal counsel, who also serves as interim Executive Director for the Foundation, has urged Anguiano to resign because unnamed parties have threatened to force her resignation under the Pacifica Bylaws requirement that, "A Delegate shall be deemed to have resigned the position of Delegate if s/he becomes a candidate for public office or accepts a political appointment during his or her term as a Delegate." On the other hand, the Ethics Advisor for Los Angeles Mayor's Office, Barbara Freeman, has written that "A member of the Relocation Appeals Board is not considered a 'City Official' because the position is not covered by a the [sic] City's Conflict of Interest Code and does not file Statements of Economic Interests."
On Friday, staff voters for representatives to the LSB confirmed the members' vote for member representatives: no Latino/as, no Chicana/os would be added to the board. With four Latino members retiring, Anguiano is the sole remaining representative for the Spanish-speaking population, on a "progressive" radio station with morning, evening, and weekend programming in Spanish. The Spanish-language programming, now a fixture at the station for almost six years, remains under attack from English-only listeners, staff, and LSB members.
LSB member Sherna Gluck will be presenting a resolution that would refer the question of Anguiano's membership to the Pacifica National Board for its determination. The Mexican-American Political Association has weighed in with a letter supporting Anguiano, which Anguiano will present to the LSB at Tuesday's meeting.
Anguiano is calling on the community to "bring people out to speak on having what the mission of KPFK states: Diversity." A strong showing last fall from the migrant community swayed the LSB to approve broadcasting notices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, but much of the Spanish-speaking community has since felt betrayed by the station's reluctance to implement that policy.
In 2002 and again in 2003, the Pacifica National Board passed a Race and Nationality Policy that has been largely unenforced but calls for "the realization of a nonracist and nonclassist culture of democratic inclusion within Pacifica ." The Policy further requires that "All committees at all levels of the Foundation . . . must strive to incorporate from their inception -- including at the leadership level -- at least 50% people of color and immigrants from varied communities who are committed to Pacifica's mission." The Local Station Board is a committee of the Pacifica National Board. This year's elections, with numerous violations of Pacifica's Bylaws, and now plans to unseat the last Chicana, have put the KPFK LSB in continuing violation of this long-standing Pacifica policy.
Anguiano's best hope for retaining her seat is for people to demand at Tuesday's meeting, to the new, non-Latino members of the LSB, that the Spanish-language community must be heard in the governance of KPFK.