I am Andréa j. Turner, a candidate for the KPFA Local Station Board. Join me and the Concerned Listeners in our struggle to move KPFA and the Pacifica network forward in this period of economical, environmental and cultural-social crises.

These crises, local and global, provide KPFA and the Pacifica network with an array of opportunities to broaden our listener base, strengthen our network relationships and forge new collaborations. We have more in common than what we allow our perceptions to accept. I believe that our listeners, staff (paid and unpaid), apprentices, volunteers, national and local board members and affiliates, can find common ground to resolve disparities that threaten the growth and development of the Pacifica network. The times call for us, more than ever, to utilize the power of our partnership, as a transparent network, to develop and implement sound policies impacting the quality of personnel, fiscal systems and programming.

I believe our creative energies can best serve our listeners through the use of new technologies and that of giving a voice to culturally diverse and disenfranchised communities.

As a cultural activist, I am actively engaged in the struggles for worker’s rights, civil rights and human rights! I am currently the musical director of Vukani Mawethu which grew out of the anti-apartheid movement. I help to organize and perform with the Freedom Song Network. I have worked to produce numerous art exhibits and cultural festivals including Aging in the Arts Exhibit, Peace Art Exhibits, and Western Workers Labor Heritage Festival. I’m a Program Director for senior volunteer services in the City of Oakland. I serve on both the East Bay Peace Action board and A Safe Place (Domestic Violence) board. These positions have given me experience in areas of policy and program development, fundraising and outreach.

I have extensive experience working with grassroots and faith-based programs in Alameda, San Francisco and Contra Costa counties. These experiences have helped to shape my perspective and understanding of the power of collective work and consensus building. Most importantly, I’ve experienced many movements and have come to understand the meaning of the song “freedom is a constant struggle”. From singing with the Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Chorus at a high school in southern Alameda County to recently travelling to South Africa to sing for Nelson Mandela and or, rallying chants of encouragement for the workers in Oakland’s Local 21 demonstrations, the information and access that KPFA has provided continues to be invaluable to all of our struggles.

We are the voices of social change and our ‘air-ways’ via KPFA and the Pacifica network give meaning to our actions. If our voices are stifled, the best counter attack is a united voice of the people. Artists and activists need KPFA to celebrate our diversity, express our dissent and mobilize the progressive community into action! I value and support staff, apprentices and volunteers who work hard to make programs that the left depends on and that can’t be found anywhere on the dial.

As a listener, please vote for me and other Concerned Listeners.

Endorsed by:
Pat Jameson-Amwele, Business Manager,
Vukani Mawethu,
Betty Brown, East Bay Peace Action,
Gerald Lenoir, Black Alliance for Just Immigration,
Pat Wynn, Labor Chorus.
For other endorsements see Concerned Listeners.org