Oakland rebellion: Eyewitness report by POCC Minister of Information JR

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mrdaveyd	Oakland rebellion: Eyewitness report by POCC Minister of Information JR		Lead	[-]
Posts: 735 01/14/09 08:03:50	Tags : None Print This Post Oakland rebellion: Eyewitness report by POCC Minister of Information JR Only when Oakland's rage over the execution of Oscar Grant broke out into a full rebellion on Wednesday, Jan. 7, did authorities, after nearly a week of silence, take this police murder seriously. Still, Oakland youth took the brunt as police used military equipment such as this tank-like hummer to put down the rebellion - while Mayor Ron Dellums promised police restraint. - Photo: Brooke Anderson, IndyBay During the first Wednesday of 2009, downtown Oakland was physically rocked by the justified fury that the rebellions brought out in response to the police killing of 22-year-old unarmed Black male Oscar Grant, who was fatally shot at the Fruitvale BART station while he was face down, being restrained by two officers, in front of dozens of witnesses New Year's morning. For me, that day of protesting started at the Fruitvale BART station with a peaceful rally that was organized by members of the Bay Area's activist community. Speakers included Crea Gomez, a community non-profit advocate, local rappers like Zion of Zion I and Mistah FAB, as well as concerned community members like myself who were appalled at the police murder. I was there as a member of the Black community demanding justice for the police murder of Oscar Grant, as well as I was in attendance as a journalist on assignment. "BART had shut down the station so that it would slow the pace of protesters who could have used the BART to get to the rally but had to rely on Oakland's slow ass bus system to make their voices heard," MOI JR explains. - Photo: Demondre Ward When I arrived a little bit after the protest started, I witnessed at least 200-300 people who were demanding justice for Oscar Grant's family at the BART station. BART had shut down the station so that it would slow the pace of protesters who could have used the BART to get to the rally but had to rely on Oakland's slow ass bus system to make their voices heard. People of all nationalities, ages, classes and religions were chanting angry slogans led by the speakers: "Fuck the police!" "No justice, no peace!" "Justice for Oscar Grant!" One of the things that struck me most about this rally was the fact that it was so many people who were moved to protest in East Oakland, which is rare during a workday. The question that I asked on the microphone when it was my turn to speak was, "Why didn't people come out when Bay Area police officers murdered unarmed Terrence Mearis, unarmed Casper Banjo, unarmed Anita Gaye, unarmed Gary King, unarmed Gus Rugley, unarmed Cammerin Boyd, unarmed Idriss Stelley or when the police terrorized 15-year-old unarmed Laronte Studesville, unarmed Randy Murphy or unarmed Nadra Foster? Is it because these cases were not caught on camera?" These children, a racial cross-section of Oakland, seem determined to stop the police' open season on young men of color before it's their turn. The sign on the left reads, "Sunset 2008-90 RIP Oscar Grant III, Casper Banjo, Jose Luis Buenrostro, Jody Woodfox, Gary King Jr., Andrew Moppin and others at the hands of Oakland police." - Photo: Demondre Ward It seemed to me that people have to see police atrocities on television to believe that they happen in the Black community, when young Black males in the Bay Area and all over the country know from experience that the police have a legal license to kill you, severely beat you or frame you with no repercussions. An example of this is the Oscar Grant case, where he was unarmed and shot point blank, while being restrained by two officers and surrounded by at least three more, yet no one was charged with murder, manslaughter or as an accessory to murder. After a few hours, this demonstration ended peacefully, with the remaining protesters marching to downtown Oakland. I left and went and hung out with some of my friends that were at the Fruitvale BART protest. About an hour later, I got a call telling me that I needed to cover what was going on in the streets of downtown. When I got there, I saw dozens of police in a huge circle on 14th and Broadway, occupying the intersection in front of City Hall. The Oakland hummer, the tank-like armored vehicle that was shown on the news, had just shown up. On one block, the militant activists were shouting slogans face to face with police. Behind them, a few bands broken up into racial groups were smashing car windshields and storefronts on 14th, using their feet and their skateboards. Many of the white protesters, who had their faces covered up, were involved in setting cars on fire. I was photographing this historic time, where the people's patience ran short on city officials, including the mayor, who refused to indict any of the officers involved. Since this day, I have seen many reports talking about white invaders taking over the rebellion, which is b.s. Yes, they played a part, but so did everyone else. They didn't take over anything, and the Black, Brown and Asian youth involved were taking leadership from themselves, not the white people. After the peaceful though spirited rally at the Fruitvale BART station on Wednesday, Jan. 7, protesters marched downtown, where they were met by walls of police in riot gear, sparking a rebellion that forced the powers that be to recognize the rage stirred up by the New Year's execution of Oscar Grant and official Oakland's complicity by silence. - Photo: Demondre Ward I've also heard some criticisms of the rebels, because of the fact that they tore up innocent people's property. But the reality is that the peaceful protest outside of Fruitvale BART as well as the meeting of ministers, reverends and local politicians that took place that morning demanding an explanation from the D.A. did not put the mayor, police and city officials on notice nor did those actions have the energy behind them to make the police execution of Oscar Grant a national story. The rebellion did. As a matter of fact, during the rebellion, Mayor Dellums had a secret meeting with many of these suit-types, then proceeded to walk through the rebellion like Black Jesus, with about 50 primarily Black people in suits following him across Broadway to City Hall, where he held a press conference. Needless to say, the protesters he was talking to demanded that he indict all of the officers involved, but the mayor clouded the issue with words like "respect" and "civility" while the city was burning and being trashed in the backdrop due to his negligence in dealing with a police force that has a notorious history of terrorism in the Black community - as if it had not been police who shot an unarmed Black man, Oscar Grant, a week prior. "This guy was walking with a group of friends about a half block past McDonald's on 14th when police targeted just him and chased him in a circle back around the McDonald's. He then ran across the street and once he saw there were cops running at him from both sides, he just stopped and stood there. Cops pushed him down and immediately began tasering him as he lay there not resisting. They may have tasered him for close to a full minute. Since when did using tasers become a standard part of handcuffing someone?" writes the photographer. - Photo: David Id, IndyBay Once the mayor was booed and run off from his press conference, Round 2 of the rebellion began, claiming Broadway and 17th. This was at about 9 p.m. The Oakland police escalated their attacks on protesters by six or seven of them at one time breaking ranks from the other dozens of officers they were originally standing with to tackle and arrest anyone in the vicinity. Another tactic utilized by the OPD was to roll up to an intersection in a hummer with about 10 pigs hanging off of it, and the cops would jump off, brutally arresting everyone in reach. I was arrested in front of the Ron Dellums Federal Building, after at least two officers broke out running after me for no reason, tackled me to the cement, injuring my left leg, and bouncing my camera off of the ground. I was charged with the trumped up charge of felony arson. Luckily, a few legal observers from the National Lawyers Guild saw the whole episode. After I was arrested and in the paddy wagon, I heard a dispatcher say that the police needed to confiscate all cameras and camera phones from arrestees, which they did, so that they could use this info as evidence in different cases. To add to their reasoning, they also wanted to cover up and slow down the amount of information that could be posted, broadcast and published that was live from the street rebellion in Oakland, where protesters were being routinely roughed up and beaten by the Oakland police, while the mayor, who was on the scene, refused to act in this case, as well as in the case of Oscar Grant. A week later, I still don't have my camera, which I use daily to bring in an income to support myself and feed my family. When I got locked up, the solidarity was amazing. Blacks, Latinos, Asians and whites were in North County being booked on misdemeanor charges like "inciting a riot," "vandalism" and "failure to disperse." I was reportedly one of three or four who were charged with a felony directly related to the case. A guy that I got booked into Santa Rita with, a Black Puerto Rican, was charged with "felony vandalism." The truth expressed by the sign this protester is holding as he is interviewed at the Fruitvale BART station rally on Wednesday, Jan. 7, can be attested to by youth of color in every hood and barrio in the country. - Photo: Demondre Ward Now the truth of the matter is that most people arrested were cited out, but the felony charges were saved for Blacks and Latinos. Me and the brotha were the only ones on our bus to Santa Rita who had to put on the "Yellows," which represent violent inmates, while the rest of the people on the bus with us put on "Blues," which designate a prisoner as general population. Behind enemy lines, the inmates at Santa Rita put their fists in the air, smiled, cheered and gave us dap when we told them that we were being held captive because we were in the streets during the rebellion. Mexicans were congratulating Blacks, Blacks were congratulating whites, Norteños (a Latino street organization) were congratulating Bloods (a Southern Cali street organization), who are their rivals, for their participation in fighting the police and the city for justice against police terrorism. When it is all said and done, I'm proud of Oakland people in general and youngstas specifically for standing up to the occupying army in our community: the police and the city officials that support the system that lets the police kill us wantonly. Like what was being said in the streets of the rebellion, "Oscar Grant is not Sean Bell, and New York is not Oakland." In other words, we are not just taking this police murder sitting down, like other big cities have in recent years. I'm proud of Oakland people in general and youngstas specifically for standing up to the occupying army in our community: the police and the city officials that support the system that lets the police kill us wantonly. The rebellion was just the beginning of a longer political education class in Amerikkkan politics and how it fails to meet the needs of its Black and Brown low income dwellers. I will continue to cover how the cops who were involved in the shooting of Oscar Grant are handled by the city, how the protesters who caught charges in the rebellion are handled, as well as see how the police are handled after they were brutally beating people up, framing people at the rebellion and stealing their cameras and telephones without warrants to build cases against people. Don't miss these upcoming events The arrested protesters' next hearing is this Friday, Jan. 16, 9 a.m., in Department 112 of the Wiley M. Manuel Courthouse, 661 Washington St. in downtown Oakland. Strong support from the community will help win justice for Oscar Grant and for the protesters. You could hear from the family of Oscar Grant and from protesters, community leaders and artists at the "Town Bizness Townhall Meeting - Against Police Terrorism" on Friday, Jan. 23, at the legendary Black Dot Café, 1195 Pine St. in West Oakland at 6 p.m. It is free. All are invited. For more information, you could hit up www.blockreportradio.com and www.sfbayview.com. Thanks to the generous support of Black Repertory Group Theater producer Sean Vaughn Scott, the matinee performance of Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf" on Saturday, Feb. 7, will benefit my legal defense fund and Block Report Radio. Doors will open at noon for a talk by Prisoners of Conscience Committee Chairman Fred Hampton Jr., and the play will follow. Meanwhile, here's what you can do Demand that the police involved in the execution of Oscar Grant be charged and that the trumped up charges against JR Valrey and all the other arrested protesters be dropped immediately. Call, mail, fax or email: • Mayor Ron Dellums, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, 3rd Floor, Oakland, CA 94612, (510) 238-3141, fax (510) 238-4731, officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com • District Attorney Tom Orloff, 1225 Fallon Street, Room 900, Oakland, CA 94612, (510) 272-6222, fax (510) 271-5157, cci@acgov.org • Congresswoman Barbara Lee, 1301 Clay Street, Suite 1000-N, Oakland, CA 94612, (510) 763-0370, fax (510) 763-6538; for email, go to http://lee.house.gov/?sec...28&sectiontree=18,128. Also, all who can are urged to offer your financial support to Minister of Information JR for his legal defense and to replace his camera by donating online at www.SFBayView.com. You can also donate by credit card by calling the Bay View at (415) 671-0789 or you can mail your donation to SF Bay View, 4917 Third St., San Francisco CA 94124. Email POCC Minister of Information JR at blockreportradio@gmail.com and visit www.blockreportradio.com. Last Edited By: mrdaveyd 01/14/09 08:46:10. Edited 1 time.
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knowbuddhau	How Have We Turned the "Land of the Free" into an Inside-Out Prison?	#1	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1 01/15/09 11:41:02	Davey D! I bow in your virtual direction. I was born in Oakland in 1964, but I moved here to Washington state in 67. As a house-painter, they call me Super Dave and Sir Preps-A-Lot. As a Zen poet, I am knowbuddhau. I just saw you on Democracy Now! Both what you said, and the song played during break (mentioning "fear and conrol"), made me jump up and shout. This is how we do it. If you'll bear with me, o brother my Brother. I can describe how the violence of the last few millenia has been perpetuated. I began this as a project for teaching men about violence against women. There's a core pattern to our Western brand of oppression. I call it myth-jacking. Myths shape the cosmos in which we enact the theater of Life. [[[Absolute Elite Supremacy / Our Common Weal///[[[{{{Absolute Demos Subjugation}}}]]]]]] o This expression reads: "An elite minority asserts privileged access to and dominance over our Common Weal, simultaneously and absolutely denying a subjugated group." Substitute any dom/sub pairing you like. Take Oakland and black citizens, for example. Or the US and the Reservations. Or Israel and the Occupied Territories. And so on. The slashes and brackets represent all the divisions we hide behind, including the most intimate: the illusory self/other divide. Not only every brick & mortar wall ever built: every racist epithet and Jim Crow law; every Klansman's hood and our own self-deceptions, etc. For example, where, precisely, do "you" stop and the rest of us begin? Where is the self/other divide? Can you locate it for me? Can you put your finger on it? Of what is it made? How does it function? Since there is obviously stuff going in and out all the time across this "barrier," then isn't any delineation of an absolute boundary an arbitrary imposition by the delineator? If there really was an absolute boundary, one self from it's equal and opposite, then you wouldn't be able to breathe, let alone be aware of this right here: Our shared becoming. How are these words right here working right now? As self-emptying vessels. From out of the inchoate ocean of Being, into these words I pour my heart out to you; I click 'submit,' and pass them over to you (a rather Islamic label for an action, eh?); as you pass your eyes over them, they self-empty into your inchoate ocean of being aware of your own becoming, like rain falling into the body of water from which it first arose. Where was the checkpoint, the border guard, the "no man's zone?" If there exists an absolute divide between us, how are we now experiencing this union of being? beloved/UNION/Beloved This is our more perfect Union. GLENN GREENWALD: The core assumption is that if it can be established that this is the right thing for Israel to do, then it must be the right thing for the U.S. to support it. The notion that the two countries may have separate interests -- that this may be good for Israel to do but not for the U.S. to support -- is the one issue that, above all else, may never be examined. "Myth" is the word! The power of myth is that it shapes the world in which we enact the theater of life. JOSEPH CAMPBELL: A perfectly good definition of mythology is: other people's religions. [Laughter] The definition of religion isn't much more difficult; it is: misunderstood mythology. [Laughter] This misunderstanding consists, typically, in interpreting mythological symbols as if they were historical facts. And this is a particularly crucial problem in our tradition, in the West, where the whole emphasis has been on historicity of the events on which our churches are founded. The um fact that one finds the basic mythological themes in all the great religions of the world, and one way or another, also, in practically all of the more primitive religions, would lead one to conclude, I should think, that the primary referent of these symbols, such a symbolic image as the Virgin Birth, cannot possibly have been to an historical event. The historical event, if it was an event, would have significance spiritually because it was an historitization of a symbol that had some kind of sense of its own, before the historical event. Joseph Campbell Audio Collection4 Man and Myth4 Necessity of Rites Our authority rests on a false narrative, not in nature. ALAN WATTS: "[T]he imagery affects us because the image of the monotheistic god of the West is political--the political governor and lord of the universe, who keeps order and who rules it, metaphorically speaking, from above.... "See our image... is that the world is a construct... So there is the fundamental supposition that even underlies the development of Western science: that everything has been made and then someone knows how it was made. And you can find out, because behind the universe there is an architect. This could be called, The Ceramic Model of the Universe. "Because there's a basic feeling that there are two things in existence: one is stuff, material, and the other is form. Now material, like clay, by itself, is stupid, it has no life in it--has no intelligence, and therefore for matter to assume orderly forms it requires that an external intelligence be introduced to shape it..." [Alan Watts: "The Relevance of Oriental Philosophy," podcast downloaded 12/26/2007 from http://www.alanwatts.com] We believe in a cosmic surgeon who is also a Thunder Hurler: Yahweh, Zeus, and Indra are typical of the type. To us, everything outside our own skins is just god-forsaken stuff to be forced into order "from above." Especially other people. We're playing God the Cosmic Surgeon. Shock and Awe, Klein's epochal Shock Doctrine, powered by myths, is how we machine the world to our liking. JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Now in that mythology of the cosmic order, the whole sphere of the universe is the womb of the goddess mother whose children we are. She is the primary divinity. She is the one that is represented: the Great Goddess World, and the deities by whom she is fecundated are represented usually in animal form. They are secondary to Her. And the early deities were Her consorts. But with these warrior people, you have a masculine god as the dominant figure, not one who prays to the Goddess to bring forth the fruits of the earth, but one who comes in and takes them, the Thunder Hurler, whether his name is Zeus or Yahvay (ph) or Indra, they are all of the same order. And they despise the other people. So you now have a very interesting conflict between a culturally inferior but physically more powerful people of patriarchal orientation coming into an area of much higher sophistication and assimilating their mythologies. . . . . [A]ll the Old Testament themes come right from the Sumero-Babylonian complex and can be equated there and shown to be there. And now look what happens as a result: the myths that originally pointed to the Goddess as the source of All point to the God. This is a curious transformation. And it's one of the baffling things in our tradition. Joseph Campbell Audio Collection Volume 4 Man and Myth Disc 1 Man and Myth To me, what we are doing right here and now is the most exciting potential of the Web: busting their perverse myths even as they deploy them. The Pentagon's Message Force Multipliers, I'm saying, are snipers with microphones; Israel and US are terrorizing Gaza; the police, across the country, are terrorizing black citizens; men terrorize women; and straights terrorize gays, and so on, turning the "land of the free" into an inside-out prison for the vast majority. It's the mythology! And I'm calling out all artists. "We need poets, seers, who will render to us the experience of the transcendent in terms of the world in which we're living." --Joseph Campbell
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