[Wpfw-lsb] RE: DC Co-op

[Thomas Gomez]

To the WPFW Local Station Board,

For all of you who do not know me, my name is Selina 

Musuta. I have been

part of the dc radio co-op and WPFW for more than a 

year and a half. On

Wednesday night, I left the local station board 

saddened, frustrated, and

determined. I felt in many ways the things that I and 

countless others

have done at the station through the radio co-op were 

dismissed,

undervalued, and attacked. In his report from the 

financial committee,

Rob Robinson, spoke of a recommendation to allocate 

funds to create a news

department. While doing that, he stated that that 

would entail taking

away funds from free speech radio news hence getting 

rid of free speech

radio news. I do want to share my thoughts about that 

later. What I want

to comment on now was the utter dismissal of the work 

the radio co-op has

done in putting out local news coverage and also of 

highlighting the lives

of the people in DC nationally. Do I not believe that 

we should increase

our local news programming ten fold and allocate funds 

for such an

endeavor? Of course, I believe that. We critically 

need that. The DC

Radio Co-op has been one of the major voices in 

pushing that in the last

few years. And our creation was a response to that.

Do I believe that we should have a cohesive news 

department that includes

all parties having equal say in how they want to 

develop that? Yes. What

irks me is that we have very limited resources for 

what we do and we've

been doing that while facing increased hostility. We 

have put hundreds

and hundreds of people's voices on air. People who 

have never had the

opportunity to be on air not pundits, not just non 

profiteers, but South

East DC youth who are fighting against state violence 

and gang violence in

their communities, transgender men and women who 

organize to stop the

violence that is committed upon their personhood, 

Indians who call DC

their home but also organize to stop the US and Indian 

government from

destroying their homes in India, Virginian Muslim 

communities under attack

by this government. These are just a few of the 

kinds of voices that we

have put on the air. And not only have we put them on 

the air but we've

actually trained them to produce radio and I think 

there is something

terribly wrong when our elected leaders do not 

acknowledge that. Instead

we hear no mention of the co-op, no mention of 

allocating funds to us so

that we can train more people, empower each other and 

the communities we

come from. What I hear is creating a news department 

that is going to be

under the same hierarchical process as so many other 

news programs and I

find that to be a problem.

We do not get paid the industry standard for work that 

many say is up to

par with long running news outlets. Alot of us every 

week spend up to 30

to 50 hours of our lives dedicated to the station 

while working part time

jobs to survive. We are dedicated to building a 

movement. This is not

just about keeping our existance going. My loyalties 

lie with the

movement, not to WPFW, not to Pacifica, not to the 

radio co-op. The radio

co-op is a tool in that movement building.

Concerning getting rid of free speech radio news. 

Well I think that is a

mistake. Free Speech Radio News is one of best 

international and national

news programs that I have ever heard. And what I 

appreciate about FSRN is

the committment to be better and to actually embody 

what we have in our

mission statement. Yes, I'm a correspondant for Free 

Speech Radio News. 

There are not many news outlets that would have 

allowed national attention

to be focused on a transgender latina murdered on the 

streets of NW DC or

DC youth fighting dranconian anti-youth laws or 

gentrification. We need

national and international programming especially 

decentralized national

and international programming. We can not expect that 

from just having a

washington bureau. Too much power is given towards 

washington news

programming and once again I hate the idea of 

essentializing news. And to

put money into the AP instead of FSRN and programs 

like FSRN, I think is

irresponsible. The AP is a corporate entity. Why 

would we be okay with

regurgitating that type of news that does not offer a 

range of voices that

create space for the most marginalized to air their 

voice.

Finally, I'm not a politician. I will not play games 

with anyone. I will

be direct and open and be willing to answer all of 

your questions. I do

want you to know that I refuse to let others 

disrespect what we do on the

daily. That has inhibited the work that I and 

countless of others have

done. That has led to many moments of burnout, 

depression, and anxiety. 

We fight for our survival because many of us who are 

part of the co-op

fight everday against a physical, mental, and 

spiritual death that is

always luming wherever we go. Our lives are in 

constant danger and this

is not a game to us. For some of us, the radio co-op 

has saved us. I am

22 years old. I'm a Kenyan who was raised in the 

United States. I'm a

woman. I'm gay. I'm a target. And my microphone is 

my weapon. And I

will continue to arm other targets with it.

Peace

Selina Musuta of the DC Radio Co-op

 


		
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