08 January, 2009

A Benefit for Nadra Foster:
A Party and Celebration
to Raise Legal Defense Funds


For Immediate Release                Contact: Tracy Rosenberg  (510) 684-6853

January 8, 2009                                  E-mail: tracy@media-alliance.org

 

A Benefit for Nadra Foster: A Party and Celebration to Raise Legal Defense Funds             

Event Announcement:

La Pena Cultural Center

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Berkeley, CA

January 22, 2009       7:00 – 9:30pm

 

Berkeley, CA – The KPFA Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO), First Voice Media Action, Media Alliance, The San Francisco Bay View, Poor Magazine and Critical Resistance are joining together to sponsor a benefit and fundraising event for KPFA programmer Nadra Foster.

Notable authors, poets, and performers scheduled to perform at the benefit include

devorah major, former poet laureate of San Francisco, PEN-Award winning author Cecil Brown (Dude, Where’s My Black Studies Department?), Attorney, activist and artist Osha Neumann (Up Against the Wall ) and artist, cartoonist and satirist Khalil Bendib. 

Foster, a KPFA volunteer producer and host of 12 years duration, was roughly arrested by the Berkeley Police Department on August 20th, 2008, after KPFA management called the police to enforce a nebulous “banning” imposed on the long-time volunteer in a dispute over copy machine usage.

During the arrest, Foster was restrained, and suffered a severe wrist sprain and bruising. The Alameda County DA filed multiple charges and she is still facing 5 charges including trespassing, resisting arrest and multiple charges of assault on a law officer. Proceeds from the benefit will be used to pay attorney’s fees for the young single mother.

On an August 21st edition of Flashpoints that discussed the incident, Hard Knock Radio producer Weyland Southon, who witnessed the latter part of the arrest stated: “This is a place where we report on police brutality. This is a place where we hold the police accountable for wrongdoing. To bring the cops willingly into KPFA to deal with a situation like this was shortsighted. Situations like this get us killed”. Today’s headlines only confirm the truth of that statement.

Come celebrate independent media, mourn for those who pay too high a price for the divides in our society, help out a woman in need and honor the spirit of resistance to police brutality whenever and wherever it occurs.

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