Oakland: April 8-9 Days of Action against State Violence

[Grunco]

http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20100402073650261

Early on New Year's morning, 2009, BART police in Oakland, California, shot and killed Oscar Grant as he lay unarmed on a subway platform. Only after community members rioted did the cop get charged with the shooting.

From the Bay to the Sound: No More Police Killings!
West Coast Days of Action April 8-9
Oscar Grant, Aaron Campbell, and all the others: We Won't Forget!
Freedom for Joel Dow and Holly Works!

Organize protests and autonomous actions in your own city!

Early on New Year's morning, 2009, BART police in Oakland, California, shot and killed Oscar Grant as he lay unarmed on a subway platform. Only after community members rioted did the cop get charged with the shooting.

On March 22, 2010, Portland police shot and killed a homeless man, Jack Dale Collins, just two months after they shot to death Aaron Campbell, an unarmed black man. Anarchist and other community members responded immediately, taking to the streets in a riotous protest that marched on the police station, expressing anger at cops for the systemic killings, and at the media for covering up the prevalence of police violence. On March 23 there was another protest, at which police on motorbikes attacked the crowd. In a typical move, they charged one protester with attacking them. Joel Dow is currently sitting in jail, facing a felony charge and two misdemeanors.

The only times the police have ever been held responsible for their murders is when we take to the streets and halt business as usual. Following the law, being peaceful, being quiet, has never discouraged police violence, because it is the function of the police to use violence against the exploited, against the oppressed, against those who fight back.

Police violence is systemic. It is not a matter of isolated cases, or bad apples. For that reason, we are calling for two Days of Action, up and down the West Coast. The trial for Oscar Grant's killer has been moved all the way to Los Angeles, where the government hopes it can get an acquittal. The problem of state violence stretches across borders. Only by extending our solidarity from city to city can we gain the strength to fight back and show that this is not an isolated problem.

People have already started using a diversity of tactics to resist the police. After the killings of Oscar Grant and Jack Dale Collins, people rioted. After the most recent killing in Portland, anonymous anarchists smashed up the police union office. In the Bay Area, Oakland Peace and Justice is organizing a blockade of the Embarcadero BART station for April 8. In Seattle, people are organizing flyering and protests in the city center. All the tactics are needed!

When we recognize the need to stand up against state violence, we have to remember to support those who have been arrested in the struggle. Joel Dow is in jail for two felony charges and two misdemeanors for a counterattack against police at the March 23 protest in Portland. On April 5, Holly Works goes to trial for felony charges from the Oscar Grant riots. They need to be freed, not on the basis of their guilt or innocence, but because the actions that took place were a necessary response to the police murders. Without those riots, the killings would have been swept under the rug, like so many times in the past. The struggle is not over until everyone is free!

Solidarity protests, flyering, blockades, and other actions will take place in the Bay Area, Portland, Olympia, Seattle, and elsewhere. Take initiative! Organize your own action and publicize it on the internet!

Freedom for Joel Dow and Holly Works!
Oscar Grant, Aaron Campbell, and all the others: We Won't Forget!

Portland riots
http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/10921

Support Joel Dow
http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/10944

Support the Oakland 100
http://supporttheoakland100.wordpress.com/

Bay Area April 8th action
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/03/29/18643281.php

Seattle April 9th protest
http://www.seattlediy.com/?p=822

[Friday]

so glad I don't have to worry about taking BART home from work today 

I remember on the day of the Rodney King riots, I was wearing big hoop earrings, and the mood around the entrance to the BART station was so electric, I took my earrings out... just in case they got ripped through my lobes in the ensuing melee.

[MTPorcupine3]

so glad I don't have to worry about taking BART home from work today 

I remember on the day of the Rodney King riots, I was wearing big hoop earrings, and the mood around the entrance to the BART station was so electric, I took my earrings out... just in case they got ripped through my lobes in the ensuing melee.

Good thinking. As for me, I saw the riots on TV in a restaurant in Yonago, Japan with friends after a day of teaching English.

[EthanLeeVita]

Oh dear. I'm hitchhiking to San Francisco tomorrow. :s

[Pat K]

Sandy was smart enough to take her earrings out.
But Reginald stopped his truck, go figure.