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When the Mehserle verdict comes down - Gather at 6PM - 14th & Broadway

by Justice for Oscar
MEHSERLE VERDICT DUE SOON. When it comes, bay area response is planned for 6 pm, 14th and Broadway!
oscargrant.jpg
FORWARD THIS WIDELY!

A verdict is expected SOON in the case of the Police Officer who
murdered Oscar Grant on a Friutvale BART platform 18 months ago! If you are in the Bay Area:

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WHEN THE VERDICT COMES, GATHER AT 6PM AT 14th AND BROADWAY
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**WHY SHOULD YOU COME?**
1. Because WE WILL NOT BE DIVIDED. Massive street protests were the only thing that forced Mehserle's arrest. Lets remind ourselves that the streets are where people are strong together, where real change is won.
2. Because WE WILL NOT BE PACIFIED. Our anger is justified. It does not need to be “vented” or “cooled-down”. If anything, we need more resistance, more action, more mobilization.
3. Because WE ARE THE VICTIMS OF POLICE VIOLENCE, not the cause of it. Police are the only “outside agitators” in Oakland, and their violent behavior is what concerns us. We all know that police will blame the victim to try and justify their violence, by calling us violent. We won’t be manipulated.
4. Because THIS FIGHT IS NOT OVER. Whatever the verdict, our struggle continues. There is a long way to go to get justice for Oscar Grant, and for all victims of police violence. We need to stay united and active, to end police violence in our communities.

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**HELP US MAINTAIN A SAFE SPACE!**
While the gathering does not have an official “permit”, organizers still intend to maintain a safe space for everyone, and need your help to respect the tone of this rally. The rally will be in the intersection of 14th and Broadway. Organizers are also not planning a march and want to avoid arrests or police activity within this space. Please do not invite police to enter this space or provoke the police from anywhere within or close by to this space. Please do tell everyone you know about this gathering – the best safety is in numbers.

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**HOW TO PREPARE!**
1. Text "follow justiceforoscar" to 40404. You’ll get a text when the verdict comes down and updates about what happens at the protest.
2. Write the legal hotline number (415-285-1011) on your arm or body. Call this number to report arrests or to get legal support if you are arrested..
3. Bring earplugs for you (and some to share). OPD has recently purchased a LRAD sonic "crowd control" device.

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**DON’T BE FOOLED!**
The downtown gathering 14th and Broadway is being put on by legit community organizers who have been working for Justice for Oscar Grant for the last 18 months. Sadly, in recent days there has been a concerted effort by the mayor of Oakland, the OPD, and certain non-profits to disrupt our rally and keep people from gathering together. Please inform yourself and others! Many of those counter-organizing against our 14th and Broadway gathering have done nothing to fight for justice for Oscar Grant, and are more concerned with preventing property damage (helping the police) than they are with getting justice for Oscar Grant.

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NEXT STEPS:
This is not over! There is much new information that has become available during the trial, including the fact that Oscar Grant’s autopsy showed that Officer Tony Pirone’s beating caused serious head injury to Oscar Grant before he was shot by Johannes Mehserle. Our organizing is not over, not even close! Look for information about actions demanding charges for Tony Pirone and Marisol Domenici, the firing of all the other police on the platform, charging the BART police with federal civil rights violations, and the disbanding of the BART police department.


Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by CS
I have been in the courtroom and must state that the blog stating that the dickhead Peroni caused brain damage to Oscar Grant never occured. This is fabricated and not true. This was never presented into evidence. Please consider the source before you read it and take it as factual.
by Tim
What you are asking is to go ahead and destroy someone else's property in the name of "protest". How's that justified? Our city is already going through lots of problems. You want to add more by violent protests? Most people in the bay area (and outside) already think of Oakland as a scary place. You are doing a good job in keeping it up.
by schwa
don't f-ing come to oakland if you "think it's a scary place".. the hundreds of thousands of us that live here and our families and friends know different.. no one's talking about destroying anything.. we are the businesses.. we are the merchants..
we're talking about coming together in the streets as a City to defend ourselves against agro, violent cops like Pirone and Mehserle, who come to our city from their lil homes in Martinez or Stockton and act out their violent emotional issues on our city's youth..
Oscar was clearly being mistreated by the police and was killed in the middle of this mistreatment.. if that is not murder, than the system sucks and the only recourse is to take our legitimate anger to the streets and to the doorstep of those who perpetuate and profit from this type of abuse..
by Al
Who are the "legit community organizers who have been working for Justice for Oscar Grant for the last 18 months"? It would be good to know who is calling for this protest. If people want to hold the system accountable, they too are going to have to present themselves as accountable. It's not fair, it's right.
by >
"Justice for Oscar Grant" is the name of the organizing body. Thus the word "Justice" is capitalized. They've been meeting, organizing and demonstrating since this all started. They advertise things on the indybay calendar, amongst other outlets. What, are you asking for heir individual names, addresses and phone numbers? Go to a meeting, sheesh!
by >
http://www.justiceforoscargrant.org/
by Al
It would be easy to brush off an simple request with a gate-closing statement like 'come to a meeting' but I am asking who's meeting I am coming to. Is it that hard to list the names of the major players? The JFOG website does not list anyone as organizers so it is hard to tell who is associated with it. I know the Nation of Islam (which is a private corporation held by Louis Farrakhan that has a history of exploitation and violence in the black community) is involved, but little else about the background of the organizers. Also, it has not been updated since March 14th making it suspect as to its commitment to a fair and open trial.

The issue here is that a host of activist groups could come out only to have their names and cause sullied by the child-like mind that thinks violence is a means and an end to the problems they see around us. Why should anyone invest resources when a great deal of chatter is avoiding renouncing violence at the protest (except by the state, clearly) and the anti-democratic process (again, except by the state) where things will just happen based on what the 'people' feel is justified.
by x
Every time I come to this website there is another article or at least a few comments, preemptively denouncing property destruction and violence. I don't think I've seen a single article advocating property destruction OR violence.
+All this talk of "outside agitators"...smoke yourself fool, Oakland has one of the highest anarchist populations (per capita) in America.
=Reformists and liberals, bourgeoisie and capitalist collaborationists... GTFO indybay
by Muffin
Calling for the disbanding of the BART cops is also equally shameful and r*tarded, given that they are the only ones that will be there if you call for help. The big reason why BART never released real video surveillance is because the cams on the trains DO NOT WORK. They are dummy cameras/for show. How do I know this? Because a friend of mine was sexually assaulted/attacked on a BART train and begged for help from the operator, but the operator couldn't see her until it was too late. After they stopped the train, the perp ran out/never got caught. She THOUGHT there was some comfort/relief to know that there are cameras on the BART train to catch a pic of the guy, but that's what she was told--the cams don't work/are dummies. That's why you will periodically hear the PA system in BART tell you that "cameras are not a guarantee of safety..."
by a
just curious, what are ya'll gonna do if the verdict is manslaughter? not straight up acquittal and not murder...people won't be happy, but i wouldn't expect the same level of rage as an acquittal. one thing that's amazing about the anxiety leading up to the verdict is the fact that people wait for the justice system to speak for justice. in greece, when a youth was shot by the police, they didn't wait until a trial's verdict to express their rage.

Why don't you grow up and stop repeating lines from the government mouth piece. You sound pathetic if you haven't noticed. By defending business as usual you give your stamp of approval in murdering Oscar Grant III and murdering the rest of us with total impunity. Your selfish sympathy for the business class and authority is utterly disgusting. Hoping we won't inconvenience them on the day of the verdict is hoping for justice to never be served not only for Oscar Grant but wage slaves who work for the system of death and enslavement. By hoping nobody challenges da system you are hoping that Mehserle gets out early. You are not even interested in true justice if all you can talk about is "oh know don't destroy property" again over the lives being destroyed by property and the people who own it.

The right for property to reign supreme over all life it self is killing life all around you. Accumulation of wealth and materialism is killing the planet and killing humans and killing peoples hope for change and destroying the well being of people minds. You don't want us to interrupt your fascist empire. Waaaaa! We all know you'd rather let people die in wars and live as slaves just so you can live your filthy luxurious life uninterrupted. You and your property rights always trumping democratic rights. It's the same reason we have no rights in the work place which is the cause for mass poverty in the U.S. to begin with and then we are force to commit crime just to live and you sick your police on us because we won't play by the rules of your twisted fuckt up system.

Your system turns people against one another to survive. Your system turns people into evil people.
ANYBODY WHO SUPPORTS CAPITALISM IS A PIECE OF SHIT!

You and your lust for inanimate objects over life is the only violence that exists to us. Property does not feel pain. When the bullet passed from Meserle's gun through Oscar Grants back and struck the pavement the pavement didn't feel a thing just like the windows that got broken and cop car that got destroyed and dumpster that went ablaze didn't feel a fucking thing. THERE JUST STUFF!!! The only thing that matters is life and when police and business relations and the entire government work together to destroy lives for profit we are coming for you and you can say all you want but as long as the system wont stop we wont stop.

The only thing that felt real pain and senseless suffering was Oscar Grant and his family and as his pain came and went his family still suffers trying to figure it out. You cannot find a reasonable explanation for it. It's just the violent militaristic culture of the police state we live in meant to serve and protect the rich and wealthy. Whats the name of that system we have again?

CAPITALISM!

Your police force wouldn't be needed if we didn't live under a system that revolved around debt, exploitation, over consumption etc. Your police only serve the rich and the rest of us are essentially forced into being lifetime carrot chasers meant to never catch the carrot of course but the possibility of catching it even though common sense tells you you won't catch it is what keeps the system going. If that's the system you protect and serve. I'd rather see it go up in flames. Because this property bullshit has gone too far and started too many wars to count and has taken too many lives. IT CAN BE STOPPED WHEN WE USE OUR NUMBERS TO STOP IT.

When you destroy property, you are breaking the spell of capitalism. Private property creates a base for the capitalist to operate from. They are there to capitalize off of you as a wage slave and by cooperating and not refusing to work and not destroying the business mans property and supporting the laws put in place to protect them and criminalize your rage, you perpetuate their slave system. By not resisting the police you agree to slavery.

Are we here to make deals with our oppressors or to bring them down by force? We could live in a world with out police since we know police only exist to keep order in a society that's all fucked up. If we changed society to serve all people equally why would we need police? Crime would be so small that who ever commits crime would be caught by the community-commune that is. Small crime is nothing the community wouldn't be able to take care of since their new society is controlled by nobody but them selves. This is common sense shit that everybody should know.

Fuck the system and it's irrational police force

Predatory corporate capitalism is the only reason we need police in our streets

Predatory corporate capitalism is the only reason we went to war in Iraq

Predatory corporate capitalism is the only reason most people in prison are black

Predatory corporate capitalism is the only reason an unarmed man was shot in the back.

& Predatory corporate capitalism is the reason why vandalism and chaos is inevitable because there is no way the justice system is going to give this man a fair trial that would be murder in the second degree. The police are above the law it self and there for so are we!

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