Radio Episode Honors Pasadena-Raised Activist Michael Zinzun on His Birthday

Michael Zinzun, who was raised in Pasadena, ran an auto repair shop in Altadena and co-founded a policing accountability organization that challenged law enforcement practices across Los Angeles, will be the subject of a special radio episode first airing Saturday on what would have been his 77th birthday.

“Conversation Live: Altadena Rising,” the weekly program hosted by James Farr on KBLA Talk 1580 AM, will broadcast an episode titled “Love as Resistance: Michael Zinzun’s Message to the Grassroots – Agape” on February 14 at 10 a.m. PT, with a rebroadcast on February 15 at 11 a.m. PT, according to a statement issued by the show.

The episode will feature Dr. Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, and co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and Black Lives Matter Grassroots, where she serves as director. Listeners will also hear archival audio of Zinzun, the press release said.

Zinzun was born in Chicago on February 14, 1949. After his father’s death, he was sent at age eight to live with an aunt in Pasadena, where he graduated from high school. He later operated an automobile repair shop in Altadena.

In the mid-1970s, Zinzun co-founded the Coalition Against Police Abuse with activists B. Kwaku Duren and Anthony Thigpenn. The organization advocated for civilian oversight of police and aided victims of police misconduct.

In 1986, Zinzun was permanently blinded in one eye during an encounter with Pasadena police officers. He received a $1.2 million settlement from the department. In 1989, he ran for a seat on the Pasadena City Council.

From 1988 to 1998, Zinzun co-produced approximately 100 episodes of “Message to the Grassroots,” an hour-long monthly public access television program that aired on what was then the Pasadena Community Access Corporation, now Pasadena Media. The show, which he co-produced with artist and activist Nancy Buchanan, covered policing, gang violence and international affairs, and featured what multiple accounts describe as one of the first televised face-to-face meetings between members of rival Los Angeles gangs.

Zinzun died on July 9, 2006, at age 57.

The show’s statement describes the episode as positioning Zinzun’s work as “a living framework for understanding organizing, accountability, and political responsibility today.” Abdullah will discuss Zinzun’s influence as an organizer and media figure, according to the release.

Farr, the show’s host, also co-produced the 2022 documentary “Zinzun: A Revolutionary Activist,” which screened at the San Francisco Black Film Festival and the Durban International Film Festival.

“Conversation Live: Altadena Rising” airs weekly on KBLA Talk 1580 AM. The station broadcasts at 50,000 watts and can be heard across Southern California. Listeners can also access the broadcast at KBLA1580.com or through the KBLA Talk 1580 app.

The episode airs on Valentine’s Day, a date the show’s producers chose because it falls on Zinzun’s birthday. Zinzun is buried at Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum in Altadena.