Letters
Religious Bodies
God forsaken: Regarding Allie Johnson’s “Divine Debauchery” (June 7): Once again, the black community and I have been given proof of hell in the black church. What Saundra McFadden-Weaver had to endure at the hands of so-called men of God was deplorable. That those in charge of these men knew what was happening and really did nothing is shameful, and to know that this sort of thing goes on TO THIS DAY is the main reason I don’t go to church.
Our youth are messed up, our community is in shambles and other fancy-car-driving, cross- and Bible-wielding shams of God still operate. If you want to clean up the black community, start in the pulpit.
Thomas McCormick
Kansas City, Missouri
Knowledge in the biblical sense: Allie Johnson’s story is so outrageous that it is borderline hysterical. While reading it, I had to remember that this was not a script written for the Jerry Springer show but reality for someone.
Sexual harassment is very real and should be dealt with accordingly. There should never be a moment where we blame the victim, as is the case with rape.
Saundra was a mature woman who was married and had ample knowledge of the Bible. She knew the definition of adultery. When Saundra’s pastor tried to sleep with her in the beginning, she refused his advances. The moment that Saundra accepted, she became a willing participant in the act of adultery and refused her privilege to lay claim to the status of victim.
God does not tell people to “endure” situations that promote what the Bible clearly defines as sin. Saundra, for as much as she was studying to become the “pastor, wife and mother” she always dreamed of becoming, was very well aware of this definition and should have trusted that God would not ask her to do or be a part of something that he already had said was wrong.
The Jesus Christ and God that I serve would never offer me such a wonderful blessing (such as a ministry) and then ask me to do something wrong in order to get it.
Name Withheld Upon Request
Kansas City, Missouri
Radio Waves
Frequency fliers: Nice, well-balanced article on the problems at KKFI 90.1 (Deb Hipp’s “Fly in the Soup,” May 30). I was hoping for something more along the lines of pitchforks and torches while the current cancerous leadership was pursued out of town, but I’m a bit too inflammatory for regular journalism.
I’m one of those programmers who are said to be part of the problem at KKFI. They said we cared only for our shows and not the well-being of the station. But we are the same people who have quit to make a point about the imminent danger KKFI is in. I was there for almost twelve years; I volunteered hundreds of hours, served on the board of directors and was pretty proud of Kansas City’s community radio station.
Now our identity has been taken from us. After we struggled for years to establish the station’s identity as community radio, it’s been changed to “public radio” — changed by the same man who came into power by suspending a board election, threatened to sue KKFI when anything or anyone opposed him (and in fact sued KCUR 89.3 for hiring a woman to replace him when he was forced out — what kind of misogynistic claptrap is that?), bullied programmers who questioned him and rigged the volunteer-hours requirements to basically make it impossible to be at KKFI unless you were one of Robert Barrientos’ handpicked cadre of parrots.
Bullies and cheats are what KKFI was created to oppose with its noncommercial, diverse voices. KKFI was not brought into being to give them jobs and a means to destroy it. This fight is not finished.
Bill Hilburn
Kansas City, Missouri
Off the air: It saddens me to read how those who have taken over KKFI embarrassed themselves in print. I’ve had misgivings about what’s been going on at KKFI for a year now and was reluctant to be interviewed. I didn’t want to hurt community radio.
After serving in the Peace Corps, I produced the World Music Show for thirteen years to help people understand other cultures. I did the show as a volunteer and have been with KKFI since it began 24 years ago. I put in hundreds (if not thousands) of unpaid hours.
Days after the story ran, I got two letters from station management. One denied my volunteer hours at the station; the other stated I would be terminated on June 5 if I lacked “volunteer fulfillment.” It ended, “Furthermore, I will not give you any more opportunities to return as an on-air programmer or to volunteer for this station.”
KKFI meetings often sparked passion. But criticism was tolerated and there was a democratic way to air it. Even those critical in print were allowed to remain as volunteers and on-air programmers. Now it seems that differing voices are shouted down, denied the right to speak, bullied or threatened with lawsuits. Some of KKFI’s most creative, freethinking and ethical people are being forced out of the station.
It is ironic that in the same year, I received a “Proud Parent of a Radio Station” award, at Communiversity’s thirtieth anniversary, for work to help found KKFI.
I still believe in community radio, a recognized movement in the United States and the world for more than forty years. It provides a harbor for local musicians, groups that have no access to media and alternative world views. It also gives a chance to minorities and women for training to find media jobs.
Tom Crane
Kansas City, Missouri
Correction: The artwork accompanying last week’s story “Sissy Hit” should have been credited to Tomie DePaola.
