October 22nd March To Stop Police Brutality report

I just wanted to let you know that we had a very lively march and rally in Santa Rosa on Monday, Oct. 22, from 4 PM to 7 PM.

I would say 200 to 300 people went on the un-permitted march. This meant there were no cops with us. We had many legal observers - several civil rights attorneys - with us. And the director of the local Peace & Justice Center acted as a liason between the march and the police. The Peace & Justice Center feels it is wrong to require that political marches be permitted - they will not do it saying that we have the right to free assembly. They were a march sponsor, so we had to go along with that.

We had so many people that we could easily take the streets and we did. We went through Roseland, the Latino neighborhood. We stopped for a few minutes of silence at the home of Richard DeSantis who was shot and killed last April in front of his home. His neighbors came out and joined us with tears streaming down their faces.

The march moved on. Many people came out of their homes to watch us. Cars stopped and honked their horns in support. It was spirited and loud - it was great!

We rallied at Old Courthouse Square in downtown Santa Rosa. There were a hundred or more people there when the marchers arrived. This was a permitted assembly but I did not see any uniformed cops. I forgot to look for snipers on the roofs of surrounding buildings which is what usually happens with permitted rallies. . . .

When we were all assembled, a black female preacher read the Stolen Lives names for our county. After each name, the crowd shouted, "We remember!"

Then the mother of Richard DeSantis read a prepared speech. It was about how hard it must have been for her son, who was having a psychotic break, in the last hour of his life. She took us through that final hour step by step. It was very moving.

Some organizers spoke.

Later I gathered the many family members who had come out to the rally up onto the stage. I introduced them by the name of the family member who had been killed. The crowd applauded and cheered at each name. Then, without any planning, each family member went up to the mic and said something.

It was a very successful event.