Reclaim MLK - Grand Lake Theater Die-In After Screening of Selma, 1/17/15: photos

[Photo: Die-in at the Grand Lake Theater, in the intersection of Grand and Lake Park Avenues in Oakland.]



The die-in after the screening of Selma was pre-planned but not publicly announced. At first, congregants filed out of the Grand Lake theater and discussed the movie, while waiting for a signal to take the intersection. Once the signal was given, church-goers moved into the intersection, locking arms and holding hands across all four pedestrian crossings. Chants of "hand up, don't shoot," rang out before the congregations staged a die-in throughout the intersection. The die-in was timed to last 4 1/2 minutes, symbolically mirroring the 4 1/2 hours Mike Brown's body was left lying in the street by Ferguson police after Darren Wilson shot him down on August 9, 2014.

Those participating in the die-in stood up, the congregations again locked arms and a prayer was said before everyone dispersed of their own accord.

Within minutes of the end of the demonstration, Oakland police rolled by with their army-green 4-wheeler with the loudspeaker on top. Dozens of California Highway Patrol cars and motorcycles also rolled through the area, presumably to defend I-580 from a freeway occupation protest, as has occurred numerous times in the East Bay since Darren Wilson was not indicted by a St. Louis grand jury, but the Grand Avenue congregants had already dispersed by that point.



The idea behind reclaiming MLK's legacy is to rescue it from the sanitized version whereby King has been painted by liberals for decades as a make-nice or passive historical figure rather than the defiant radical fighting for justice that he actually was in his time. MLK was very much controversial and often despised, not at all adored by the majority of whites in America, at the time of his assassination.

APTP actions were organized using a spokescouncil/affinity group model, allowing for a diversity of actions in a wide variety of locations. In all, hundreds of activists organized over two dozen actions which brought out a diverse group of thousands committed to racial and economic equality in the Bay Area and across the United States.



For more more info and coverage of APTP "Reclaiming Martin Luther King Jr's Legacy" actions, see: