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DESCRIPTION:FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – JUNE 30TH, 2010 \nContact:  Tony Coleman, Rachel 
 Jackson\n  info@oaklandforjustice.org\nOAKLAND ORGANIZERS DEFEND RIGHT TO 
 ASSEMBLE AFTER MEHSERLE  VERDICT\nWHO:  Oakland General Assembly for 
 Justice for Oscar GrantWHAT:  Press ConferenceWHEN:  Thursday, July 1st, 
 11:00 AMWHERE:  14th & Broadway, Oakland  (at the flag poles in Frank   
 Ogawa Plaza)\nAs  the Mehserle murder trial verdict draws near, Oakland 
 community organizers fear that the  Mayor and Oakland Police Department’s 
 contradictory actions will hinder the  exercise of First Amendment rights. 
 Officials claim to support free speech,  while video of heavily armed 
 officers – marching in military formation,  swinging batons on peaceful 
 mock-protesters, and preparing pepper spray, tear  gas, and tanks – sends 
 the opposite message: that protestors will be brutalized,  for the 
 “crime” of protesting police brutality.\nDespite  this intimidation, 
 the Oakland Assembly for Justice for Oscar Grant and all  victims of police 
 abuse, supports the call for a community gathering at the  intersection of 
 14th Street  and Broadway in Oakland,  6pm, the day the verdict is 
 announced.\nTony  Coleman of OneFam raises key questions, “After years of 
 cuts to youth services,  now the City can pay for PSA’s and pay outreach 
 workers to say that Oakland officials love  young people? Where was funding 
 or action against police abuse last year, when  Dellums told protesters he 
 ‘was too busy,’ to comment on the shooting of Oscar  Grant? And why are 
 gang-prevention officers high on the list of officers to be  cut from the 
 OPD? This is hypocrisy, and it’s way too little, way too late.”\n“The 
  police are out of control in California and  beyond, from Seattle to 
 Detroit  to New York,  and it’s past time for Obama to step up,” says 
 Rachel Jackson of the New Years  Movement for Justice. “Despite the hype, 
 there are no ‘outside agitators’ when  a problem is nationwide. The 
 ‘outsiders’ are officers who don’t live in cities  they patrol, would 
 never send their children to Oakland schools, and believe  the solution to 
 crime is to pack prisons with non-violent offenders.”\nHannibal  Shakur 
 from the Laney Black Student Union drives the point home: “I get  
 targeted by the police regularly, including for the ‘crime’ of 
 documenting  police abuse on video. It’s offensive and condescending to 
 imply that young  black men need ‘outsiders’ to tell us how to respond 
 to racism.”\nRegardless  of the Mehserle verdict, police violence must 
 stop. At this historical moment,  the Oakland Assembly urges us to look to 
 each other for healing and solutions  to community problems. The Oakland 
 Assembly for Justice will facilitate a  youth-focused program to express 
 and process emotions our on the day of the  verdict, in a space where our 
 voices will be heard.\nRALLY * OPEN MIC *  SPOKEN WORD * YOUTH SPEAK 
 OUT!Day of the Verdict  – Community Gathering – 14th & Broadway, 6pm 
 \nThe Oakland General Assembly for Justice for Oscar Grant is a grassroots  
 coalition of concerned citizens working with statewide partners to stop the 
  epidemic of police abuse. For more information, see 
 www.oaklandforjustice.org.\n###\n\n 
 http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/06/30/18652298.php
SUMMARY:Oakland Organizers Defend Right To Assemble After Mehserle Verdict
LOCATION:14th & Broadway \n(at the flag poles in Frank Ogawa Plaza)\nOakland  
URL:http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/06/30/18652298.php
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DTEND:20100701T184500Z
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