reposted from Racewire.org
As I write this there are no less than 6 helicopters circling overhead in downtown Oakland. On the first day of the 10th year since Amadou Diallo was brutally gunned down by police in New York City, Oscar Grant was fatally shot in the back by a BART police officer, and the event was caught on video.
As I write this, rumors are flying and media is fanning the riot flames - car and trash fires, police in riot gear and tanks, restaurant windows being smashed, tear gas and rubber bullets being used. We won’t know the full picture till the night is over and the smoke clears, but the story of the successful nonviolent protest earlier this evening has been overshadowed by this angry chaos.
What is absolutely clear is that folks are furious about the murder of Oscar Grant, furious that a week has passed with no statement or acknowledgment of what happened. What is clear is that we currently don’t have community accountability over our police here in Oakland. In this bubble of progress we are hampered by the same brutal power dynamics that plague the rest of the nation. Racially driven policing that allows the use of lethal weapons in the pursuit of justice is a failed model.
What we need:
- we need police to be accountable when they participate in brutality against us. In this situation, BART police should have issued a statement acknowledging what we all saw, including an apology from Johannes Mehserle, the officer who pulled his gun and shot Grant in the back. There also needs to be a transparent process for the officers involved to be charged and held accountable for what happened. Otherwise, this is just another brick in the wall between police and the communities they are paid to protect.
- we need community justice processes that allow us to address moments of tension and unrest without the lethal presence of police. In Detroit, Ron Scott and others are working actively on Peace Zones, where the community comes together to assess community crises and mete out restorative steps for the guilty party. They are not the only ones piloting this model.
- In addition, if police hope to gain our respect and trust in their process, they need to commit to disarming themselves of lethal weapons immediately, and learn the skills of negotiation and community engagement. There is a BART board meeting TOMORROW Thursday, Jan. 8, 9 a.m., at the Kaiser Center, Third Floor - they need to hear our voices.
- We need ongoing supported focus on police brutality and accountability, even as we develop our own peace zones. It’s no longer sufficient to get furious when a civilian is killed by police, and maintain that fury until the officers are acquitted or resign. For the past 10 years it has been nearly impossible to get sustained support for this kind of work from the foundation world, so as organizers we have to sustain this work in other more community-based ways. I definitely want to shout out The Gathering , who have picked up this unpopular issue as it relates to juvenile justice, with the commitment of Harry Belafonte - they are joining the Oakland community for actions next week. I have also heard that Uhuru will be hosting a meeting tomorrow evening to discuss accountability and healing.
- we need to express our gratitude to groups like Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY) , who identified the gaping hole that exists in the non-profit and organizing community of Oakland in terms of police accountability work. CJNY stepped up in a major way for today’s nonviolent action, but they can’t maintain this effort on their own. Bay Area groups who focus their work on young people of color, this political moment needs you.
- And I know I am biased by the perspective of working at The Ruckus Society , but we need to engage in the deep training and skill development around pulling off large scale strategic direct actions. There are ways to pull together mass actions in a short time period that gain media, build the power of our positions, and help the community to see and understand the situation and how they can get involved. Over the past few months organizers from directly impacted communities - Bay Area immigrant youth and a multi-racial LGBTQ coalition - have successfully shut down the ICE headquarters building and protested Prop 8 in downtown San Francisco using affinity groups, action teams, brilliant blockading tactics, and police and media liaisons. Those actions were planned and pulled off in VERY short amounts of time, and Ruckus is definitely not the only group that does this sort of skill building. Most importantly, in terms of tonight’s events, there are also ways to de-escalate situations, even when people who aren’t directly impacted by oppression start losing their composure.
We know how to do this, and must apply that knowledge, or risk losing all credibility in terms of our demands for peace.
At this moment, as Mayor Ron Dellums meets with protesters, and the Oakland Police Department hold a long overdue press conference, we must not sink to the reactive and chaotic level of Officer Mehserle. This is our moment to unite behind a nonviolent call for transparency, accountability and justice from Oakland Police Department. We must model the community we wish to be.
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I wish you all the warmest luck obtaining that accountability, transparency and justice. The murder of Oscar Grant was a tragedy.
Oh man, I'm so glad this isn't disappearing into the ether. They're paying attention. Yes. Yes yes yes.
Great post. Definately more noise needs to be made about this.
I wonder though, if such a stink would have been kicked up without the video evidence...
*sigh*
The unfortunate thing is that rather than see this as a community that has grown tired of being victimized by the very people they pay to protect them, those who want to defend the officer's actions will use the riots as an excuse to say "See, those people are aggressive and violent so no wonder the officer had to do what he did." Whether the racism is implied or explicitly stated varies of course.
And the media will continue to latch onto the most outrageous things happening surrounding the protest rather than examining why most protesters are there and what they are doing. Instead, they will represent the most violent/criminal acts as central to the protest when in reality those actions are often committed by people who care little for the cause itself but will use any gathering of people to raise hell. That's not to say that some of the destructive protests aren't understandable given the fact that authorities clearly murdered someone and has yet to answer for it, but the way the media will play the story will just make everyone there seem like violent troublemakers.
This is is so typical of the media - they begin the fearmongering about a riot long before a riot actually begins. Then protesters, violent or otherwise, are portrayed as violent, overemotional people with no morals or concern for the damage they may cause. This serves to undercut the solid reasons people have for being outraged in the first place. And how else are you supposed to get their attention?
I hate to break this to everyone, but it is your beloved Democratic Party elected officials who have been blocking police accountability. Even female Democrats, like Asslemblywoman Fiona Ma, have intentionally blocked accountability. There was a bill in the legislature in 1007, AB1648, to increase transparency for law enforcement. Ma helped kill it in committee. Others like Dianne Feinstein and even Nancy Pelosi have blocked accountability. Nice to know that Emily's list money is being well-spent on "progressive" women candidates who don't give a damn. In fact, in California, due to a recent court decision, "law enforcement" officials are basically a protected class. The public is barred from seeing their police records of abuse. And now, another young man of color is dead. The supposedly "progressive" Democrat Mayor Ron Dellums hasn't done anything about this killing, and his Democrat DA refuses to file charges or even listen to the community.
So much for change we can believe in.
So much for change we can believe in.
I'm sorry, but I missed the part where Obama was implicated in this. Has he ever proposed or endorsed legislation blocking police accountability?
This is the kind of thing that just shakes you. And I have to say I never really expected to see this issue here so kudos for that.
Thanks for posting about this.
I never mentioned Obama. "Change we can believe in" is a phrase that was used by Obama's supporters in the Democratic Party.
I have been following police accountability issues for years, and the Democrats' record on this is mixed at best. Democrats like Fiona Ma have blocked legislation to make law enforcement agencies more transparent.
I made my previous comment as a wake up call to those who think that Obama and the new Democratic Party majority will save us.
Oscar Grant was shot to death in the city of Oakland, which has been a Democratic Party stronghold for decades. And Grant's death was far from an isolated incident. These shootings go on all the time. Police brutality is so bad in many cities that young people of color feel like no one cares about them.
i think reliance only on elected officials is, at best, a naive way of hoping for political change. and i can see where you would be feeling disillusioned. and angry. i think many of us are. adrienne isn't suggesting in her post that we rely on the politicians, but rather join our voices with community programs. those are the best hopes for change most of the time, in most issues. i don't know as much about police brutality issues as you do, it hasn't been my issue of passion, but you might want to back off of us and our "beloved Democratic Party elected official." not everyone here is a) in the bay area and b) a democrat. plus, that kind of wording is pretty accusitory.
Democratic Party stronghold for decades. And Grant's death was far from an isolated incident.Website logo design These shootings go on all the time.Stationary Design Police brutality is so bad in many cities that young people of color feel like no one cares about them.
The public is barred from seeing their police records of abuse. And now, another young man of color is dead.Animated Logo The supposedly "progressive" Democrat Mayor Ron Dellums hasn't done anything about this killing, and his Democrat DA refuses to file charges or even listen to the community.Logo Design