Father Lawrence Lucas – Candidate Statement and Questionnaire Answers

Father Lawrence Lucas – Candidate Statement

fatherlucas@justiceunity.org * (212) 591-2111

I seek your support for election to another term on the WBAI Local Station Board, which I served on from 2004 to 2009. As before, I’m on the Justice and Unity Campaign slate (www.justiceunity.org): It’s more important than ever that you help us reverse the terrible state the station has fallen into over the past year.

Last year, the board’s majority – without a shred of due process or proper evaluation – demanded the removal of Program Director Bernard White and General Manager Anthony Riddle, which the Pacifica National Office quickly executed. In Bernard’s case, this 29-year station veteran was fired and barred from the station, and his voice and name were banned from the air. Pacifica brought in replacements from California who removed dissenting staff (again without due process), overrode the unpaid staff’s union contract, slashed Wakeup Call by five hours a week, and put on pledge drives filled with commercial-sounding premiums. Most important, the station shifted from its historic role as voice of the voiceless to an intense search for more listeners with money. I am running again in order to help Justice and Unity win back the majority and reverse these injustices.

I’m an African “American” male, 77 years old, a longtime activist in the city, the state, and especially the Harlem community, where I was born and reared. I am currently a member of DC 37. I am an author, lecturer, and educator, and former first vice president of Community Planning Board 10. I currently work for the NYC Department of Correction as Deputy Director of Ministerial and Volunteer Services, with an office on Rikers Island. I’m also a Roman Catholic priest, having pastored for over 50 years in the Harlem community.

I learned activism very early from my mother, who was a one-woman army fighting greedy and uncaring landlords in our Harlem tenement. In the 1960s, I wrote a syndicated column, produced a TV program, authored the book Black Priest/White Church: Catholics and Racism, and cofounded the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus. In the 1980s, I was a founder of the December 12th Movement, which protested racist murders and police brutality, and I’ve worked with other social justice movements. I am currently co-producer and host of Community Cop, a program about social, political, and economic issues, airing on three public-access cable TV stations.

For many years, I’ve been a financial supporter of the station, and was often an on-air guest. While on the board, I served on the search committee that helped select Anthony Riddle as General Manager. I believe that my skills and principles can help get the station back on the right path.

I ask you to vote for all the Justice and Unity candidates in this rank order:

1. Bernard White

2. Suzanne Adely

3. John Brinkley

4. Father Lawrence Lucas

5. Ray Laforest

6. Wellington Echegaray

7. Sharonne Salaam

8. Linda Bergnes

9. Myriam Decime

10. Carlos Canales

11. Sarah Klepner

12. Henry Hagins

13. Eugene Hamond

Father Lawrence Lucas – Candidate Questionnaire

fatherlucas@justiceunity.org * (212) 591-2111

1. Why do you want to be on the Local Station Board (LSB)?

I have a history of over 50 years of activism and dedication to advancing the causes I believe in, and have extensive ties with the community and a well-known involvement with progressive issues. I am totally committed to reversing the disastrous changes that have been imposed on our station over the past year. At the same time, I want to advance the Justice and Unity program of community outreach and organizing, affirmative action and anti-racism, workers’ rights, sound finances, new forms of fundraising, and exciting new initiatives to broaden WBAI’s effectiveness, reach, and influence.

2. How do you envision the LSB working with Pacifica Foundation, WBAI staff, and listener members?

The LSB can serve as an essential link and provide cohesion between the community, WBAI, and Pacifica, while mediating the inevitable conflicts that arise in our collective struggle. I believe the LSB needs to work closely with the many staff and listeners who are demanding that WBAI’s autonomy be restored, and that the station return to its community roots.

3. How could the station better serve the community? Please define community.

I would define community as the poor, the working class, the most oppressed, and the voiceless. A few ways the station can better serve the community are by:

a) restoring local, issue-based programming during the morning prime-time slot;

b) making a concerted effort to improve equipment so listeners get better sound quality; and

c) acquiring its own facility via a capital campaign, which would save thousands of dollars in rent each month.

4. Describe some actions you would take to increase the influence of the station in underrepresented communities and to increase the diversity of the listening audience.

Redoubling our efforts to form alliances with a wide range of grassroots groups throughout our listening area, with a particular focus on oppressed and working-class communities, including promoting the station in print publications and on various radio, TV, and Internet outlets that serve a wide range of communities and movements.

5. What sources of funding, other than listener donations, do you feel WBAI should solicit? Do you have any ideas with respect to improving the current funding mechanisms?

We need a coordinated development campaign that includes everything from funding from larger progressive institutions and wealthy individuals (as long as they come with no corporate or government strings attached) to benefit concerts and shows, to such modest efforts as raffles and other contests. In addition, as mentioned in #3 above, the LSB and the manager should jointly launch an aggressive capital campaign for WBAI to purchase its own facility, which would save hundreds of thousands of dollars on rent in the long term.

6. Please state briefly the skills, experience, educational background, work history, organizational affiliations, areas of community service, areas of interest and expertise that you would bring to the Pacifica network as a member of the Local Station Board.

I have a degree in TV broadcasting and have produced two TV programs, and have spent six years in further studies beyond my B.A. I’ve been involved in activism with various organizations, such as the December 12th Movement, the Correction Guardians Association, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), the Correctional Association, and others. Such experiences can help the LSB form meaningful connections with the communities that support the station.

7. On which Local Station Board committees are you interested in actively serving? If you are a current Local Station Board member, on which committees do you currently serve?

While on the board previously, I served on the search committee that helped select Anthony Riddle as (short-lived) General Manager. Although I opposed the illegitimate removals of Mr. Riddle and Mr. White (as Program Director), I would like to join the current search committee to recommend candidates for those two positions.

8. If you are currently on the Board and wish to be re-elected please describe your 3 year experience on the LSB. What did you accomplish? What were the obstacles you faced? Do you envision any change in the next three years if you are re-elected?

For my first several years on the board, I believe that my input and ideas helped to formulate direction for policy and to prevent damage from being done by the forces that were in the minority. However, once they gained the majority – through abuses of the election process – they constituted a large obstacle because of their constant demonization and untruths about the former managers, setting the propaganda stage for their removal. In addition, this group’s frequent violations of the Pacifica by-laws and general unfairness in running meetings prevented a truly democratic process of setting policy. If Justice and Unity can regain its majority, the board will return to fairness and adherence to the by-laws, and I hope the station will reverse the gag rule, bans, and union-busting perpetrated by the current regime.