Rochester's Anti-Racist Movement Visits WHAM

The Rochester Anti-Racist Movement (ARM) went to the offices of WHAM radio today to talk with the station management about Bob Lonsberry's recent racist, sexist and classist remarks. After the meeting ARM gave a press conference, calling for him to be removed from the air.

ARM released a position statement stating their beliefs on Lonsberry. Below is a summary of ARM's position, although I would encourage everyone to read the entire document.

The recent (June 10, 2008) comments made by Bob Lonsberry on WHAM 1180 were an unacceptable continuation of Mr. Lonsberry’s history of on- air racism, sexism and classism. For far too long Mr. Lonsberry has been permitted to cross the boundaries of decent discourse. It is apparent that he feels entirely comfortable, to say nothing of completely justified, in making hateful, hurtful, and erroneous statements about people of color, women, and people who are poor. His expressed views both tap and reinforce an undercurrent of hostility, which serves to perpetuate the social divisions of our community and calls to question our community’s resolve to eradicate those divisions.

Therefore, it is with a high degree of resolve that ARM calls for the removal of Bob Lonsberry from the public airwaves. The offensive content of Mr. Lonsberry’s remarks will not be allowed to hang, unchallenged, in our communal air. No individual should have the sense of entitlement that permits them to continually pollute that communal air.

Specifically, we are outraged that Mr. Lonsberry believes he can, with impunity:

• Disrespect young women who have overcome obstacles by stereotyping them as immoral, while choosing to ignore the varied circumstances, both social and individual, that created those obstacles in the first place.
• Demean these young women by the use of blatantly sexist language.
• Disparage the hard work of African American students by arbitrarily de-valuing the considerable achievement of attaining a grade B average.

Both at the meeting and at the press conference ARM called for a community boycott of WHAM and the sponsors of Lonsberry's show. In addition, there are several ways that people can get involved:

• If you are a member of a group, arrange a meeting with WHAM.
• File an FCC complaint
• Help us get a list of the Lonsberry's sponsors. If you know a business that advertises on Lonsberry's show, please post it as a comment to this article.

The meeting was attended by four representatives from WHAM. Almost all of the talking was done by Karen Carey, who is the vice president for Clear Channel. Clear Channel owns WHAM along with 6(!) other stations in the Rochester market.

Karen began the meeting by inviting ARM to take part in a dialogue about Lonsberry's remarks. However it quickly became clear that they were not interested in a dialog at all. They were willing to hear what ARM members had to say but the WHAM management consistently attempted to avoid saying anything in response. This ensured the conversation never got off the ground.

However, ARM members were insistent on getting WHAM to take a position. After considerable pressure, the WHAM representatives eventually explained where they stand:

• They do not believe that Lonsberry's remarks were racist, sexist or classist.
• They do not even believe that any of Lonsberry's remarks reinforce racial stereotypes

One interesting part of the conversation is that the WHAM managers gave a certain amount of lip service towards anti-racism and racial justice. At one point of the meeting Karen Carey said that she's involved in groups working on the issues that ARM was bringing to the table. ARM members explained how this is one of the big problems when dealing with racism. White people will often try to work against racism in their personal lives, but simultaneously will work for institutions that promote racism. ARM members pointed out that part of white privilege is being able to pick and choose when they support people of color. ARM members invited the WHAM representatives at the table to truly and fully join the fight for racial justice.