Otis writes:,"The rally and march against police brutality on Thursday, October 22nd, in Oakland at 14th and Broadway at 12pm, must be a powerful political expression of our anger and determination to stop a system which sets the police on the people, and then defends them from punishment. First the police murder Oscar Grant in Cold Blood! Now, the the judge has agreed with the murderer's attorney, that killer-cop Johannes Mehserle cannot get a fair trial in Oakland. A screaming irony, considering the "fair trial" that Oscar recieved at the hands of judge-jury-executioner Mehserle."

"The system looks like they're fixing to let Killer cop Johannes Mehserle walk free. We've seen this before. The cop/killers of Amadou Diallo were acqitted when the trial was moved from NY City (where Amadou was shot 41 times) to conservative and cop-friendly upstate New York. And we remember the innocent verdict that was given to the cops who mercilessly beat Rodney King, after the venue was changed from L.A. to Ronald Regan-land and cop city, Simi Valley. That one was also on video!....And, incredibly, Rains argued that so many Black people in Oakland have been brutalized by the police, that they would be incapable of rendering a "fair" judgement!

"This has to change, and it can. By building a powerful rally and march on October 22nd, encouraging people from many sections of society to step out that day, crossing the divides that separate us, standing with the people who are the targets of police violence - we can send a loud message that says: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, NO MORE STOLEN LIVES!

Read More | Arcata and Eureka: Days of Action Against Police Brutality! Oct. 22nd & 23rd | October 22nd Action in Santa Rosa

UPDATES: Over 100 March in Santa Rosa on Oct 22nd | Oakland Video: I am unarmed! Don’t shoot! | Oakland Report: I am unarmed! Don’t shoot!

2007 October 22nd Indybay Features: October 22nd Marches and Rallies Around the Country Demand Justice | Santa Rosa March to Stop Police Brutality

On July 17, 2009, People for Animal Liberation demonstrated in front of the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Healdsburg, California, just north of Santa Rosa. Demonstrators held signs and banners with a variety of slogans. Chants included "What do we want?? Animal Liberation!! When do we wwant it?? Now!!!" and "Colonel Sander! SHAME ON YOU! David Novak, SHAME ON YOU!" Activists report there were a lot of positive responses, but also some negative responses. Street theater included one activist climbing into a guinea pig cage, from which they were pulled out of the cage and murdered.

Photos | KentuckyFriedCruelty.com

From Death Row, San Quentin, Donald Ray Young Writes: "We had strange fruit for breakfast today...a death row prisoner committed suicide at San Quentin, in East Block. But, I can’t worry about that guy....Wait; how can I not think of the suicide in this very building - - his family...loved ones? What if he was innocent? Do I know him? How many other people on death row have contemplated killing themselves to escape this madness? I believe that when one dies - - a part of all of us all dies....

"How many innocent men will California execute because of the 1996 Anti-Terrorism & Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA)? The courts Attorney Generals misuse this law (AEDPA) in order to bar newly discovered evidence and/or evidence of actual innocence.

"Donald Ray Young I AM: I am Troy Davis.. .I am Kevin Cooper.. .I am Rodney Reed.. .I am Reginald Clemons ... I am Oscar Grant III.. .I am Stanley Williams.. .I am Emmett Till. . . I am the future – present and past. I am innocent on California’s death row – don’t rush to execute me... I must prove my innocence. When will the justice system rush to justice & fairness? How many have been exonerated from death row? How many innocent people on death mu have been put through a state sponsored, premeditated, torturous murder? State sponsored, taxpayer funded, barbaric, draconian, torturous murder equates to the lethal injection process. We all see how much the system will spend on death.. .how much will the system spend on life? Life is education. Life is shelter. Life is food. Life is clothing. Life is employment. Life is clean water. Life is freedom...." Read more

Method of execution | Poems by Donald Ray Young | Community Alliance Newspaper

On February 13th, about 75 people gathered in Santa Rosa's Courthouse Square to demand that the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department end their use of Tasers, a deadly device which has led to five deaths of unarmed civilians in our community over the last two years. The October 22nd Coalition Against Police Brutality organized the protest as part of a new campaign demanding the end of Taser use in Sonoma County.

After a brief rally, people took over both lanes of Mendocino Avenue during rush hour. Marchers ranged from high school students to grandmothers of the local victims of police brutality. A marching band followed the protest, lifting the spirits of the participants and helping everybody to brave the freezing, wet weather. Many people joined the march as it went along. One student from the local junior college remarked, "I was pissed off because i had to sit in traffic behind the march, then i heard what you were chanting and i was like 'fuck yeah,' so i parked my car and joined the march!" Read more

See also: Gathering of Community Organizations and Activists on March 1st || Richard Lua Tasered to Death by San Jose Police

Copwatcher and member of the Free Mind Media Center (a Santa Rosa based radical infoshop and bookstore) Ben Saari, was arrested on May Day while doing Copwatch and has charges pending against him.

On May 1st, as thousands were entering Santa Rosa’s Juliard Park from the east side, Santa Rosa police officers began trying to corral youth, mostly young Latinos, on the west side of the park. SRPD had extended metal batons at ready and a very agitated police dog. Different squads of police were yelling conflicting orders at the nebulous group of youth they’d defined as a gang. As police advanced on the crowd, which Mr. Saari was pushed into, Mr. Saari made a point of communicating with the advancing officers and keeping a safe distance between himself and the officers. At one point an officer being most directly observed stepped up his pace and shoulder-checked Mr. Saari, claiming the contact as Mr. Saari’s interference with police activities and arresting him for such. Mr. Saari was never told by the police or the police department what he was being arrested for. He was only informed of his charges when released on bail by the person who posted the bail.

Elements of Sonoma County Law Enforcement, particularly among the Santa Rosa Police and Sonoma County Sheriff, have been resistant to public observation of their activities from a safe distance, in some cases not identifying themselves, obscuring the visibility of interactions or even threatening the observers with arrest.

Read More | "Watch The Cops" : copwatching and Sonoma County law enforcement | Copwatcher Arrested May 1st Santa Rosa | Ben Saari’s Arrest | Tell Santa Rosa DA To Drop Charges Against Copwatcher

On May 31st, nearly a thousand protesters marched across the Golden Gate Bridge to protest the proposed spraying of the Bay Area for light brown apple moths. Groups gathered on both sides of the bridge and marched to the middle carrying signs protesting the proposed aerial spraying of a moth pheromone over the parts of the Bay Area in the state sponsored campaign to wipe out the moth.

Last fall, the State of California sprayed pesticides over Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties to control the potentially invasive Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). In the following weeks, over 600 people reported adverse health effects, ranging from breathing problems to rashes. Since then, tens of thousands of Californians have called on Governor Schwarzenegger to investigate the health complaints and place a moratorium on future aerial pesticide spraying.

Video: 1 | 2 | 3 | Protest Announcements 1 | 2 | 3 | UC Davis Scientists Ask USDA To Halt Eradication Program | Bush Administration's Ongoing Assault on Blue-State California | LBAM Spray .com | Stop The Spray Marin

Previous Indybay Coverage: CASS Releases Economic Impact Report on LBAM Pesticide Spray Program | Aerial Spray Program Imposed by CDFA May Violate Human Rights and Incur Liabilities | Plan Announced To Spray Toxic Biological Chemicals Over San Francisco

Santa Rosa October 22nd Coalition March and Rally to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, & the Criminalization of a Generation Santa Rosa has called for a protest to represent the North Bay in this year's 12th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, "to give collective voice to People's grave concerns about law enforcement, both locally and globally."

On Monday, Oct. 22nd, the People of Sonoma County will wear black and march through Santa Rosa neighborhoods to protest the 9 deaths of people killed in the past year by local law enforcement. The march begins at 4pm in Southwest Community Park (Hearn & Burbank Aves; with a 5pm feeder march from Sebastopol Rd and West Ave), followed by a 6pm rally in Old Courthouse Square (4th St and Mendocino Ave). There will be an open microphone at the rally. Speakers expected include surviving loved ones of victims, people who suffer from past and present police abuses.

The Santa Rosa coalition says that this "epidemic of deadly force is long established: From Apr. 1, 1995 to March 10, 1998, at least 15 people were killed by local police or died in-custody. From Jan. 7, 2000 to Sept. 24, 2007, at least 35 people were killed by local police or died in-custody. In a recent 9 week period, local police shot and killed 5." Deaths have resulted from situations such as 911 calls for help in mental health crises; from the lack of health care in the County Jail for health conditions such as sickle cell anemia and withdrawal. The coalition continues, "We believe that resisting these abuses of power is both necessary and possible."

Opposition to these deaths in Sonoma County has come from the US Commission on Civil Rights, Committee for Civil Rights, Committee for Immigrant Rights, NAACP, ACLU, County of Refuge, AIM, MEChA, Copwatch, Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County, & NAMI-- as well as a cross-section of the community, which is calling for systemic change. People of color, especially youth, are racially profiled by police through schemes such as anti-gang violence efforts. The Sheriff has requested that ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) collaborate with MAGNET to deport people not proven guilty of crimes.

DUI checkpoints sweep working class neighborhoods for minor infractions, impounding cars of those who can least afford it. Local police agencies benefit financially from impounds and tickets while also benefiting through increased social control and decreased community empowerment. Read more

Press Release | Announcement with Leaflets | 7/9/07 Report from Santa Rosa Copwatch | Santa Rosa Copwatch | October 22nd Coalition

On July 28, the Minutemen border vigilantes held a meeting in Larkspur, California, to organize a new chapter in Marin County. Local immigrant rights activists greeted them with the message that, "racists are unwelcome in our county." Watch a Video

@ comments: Well done. We in the south bay are making sure that the minutomen are drowned out by voices for human rights and respect for all workers. Immigrants have always been a convenient scapegoat for working class angst in this country. The struggles of the Chinese and Filipino and Japanese and Mexican workers against racism in California are an inspiration and white folks should remember that someday they and their kids may be economic refugees. Read More

In the wake of two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) of 5:00am raids by I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) teams in San Rafael and Novato, numerous Marin County groups felt called to respond. The Marin Interfaith Council, in cooperation with numerous local civic and community groups, announced that vigils will be held each morning from 5:00am to 8:30am in solidarity with immigrant neighbors in the Canal District of San Rafael. The first vigil of witness and solidarity took place on Friday, March 9th, at Medway and Canal Streets in the San Rafael Canal District ( Photos: 1 | 2), and these actions will reportedly continue "until no longer necessary." Some 50 religious leaders and activists were stationed around the area to tell neighbors and Federal officials "'we are here, we are watching, we are in solidarity.' We wish to voice our strongest opposition to these raids which are tearing families apart in our community and terrorizing our neighborhood. We especially want the children of the Canal district to know that they are safe and supported as they go to school."

The Marin Interfaith Council and a number of civic and non-profit organizations are calling for I.C.E. to immediately cease all enforcement activities until proper protocols and adequate constitutional safeguards can be put into place to protect the innocent and those not directly targeted with arrest warrants. When the ICE knocked on doors before dawn, agents identified themselves as "Police," pushed their way into living rooms-- rousting people from their beds-- and questioned everyone in the house. They arrested people en masse, (including children) and took some away without apparent legal cause. In at least one case a U.S citizen child was taken along with his father. As has happened in other raids around the US, “old” or invalid addresses, were used along with warrants as a front to invade unnamed houses and apartments. Many Canal and Novato children were afraid to go to school and many families remain afraid to go out of their homes even to shop for food.

The Marin Interfaith Council says, "Lay participants are encouraged to wear white and bring candles and flashlights. Clergy are urged to identify themselves by wearing the symbols of their faith community. We will stand vigil from 5:00am-8:30am to be present in anticipation of any potential raids, as well as provide safe passage for children to leave their homes to attend school. Participants are also urged to bring cameras and video recording equipment to document the activities of the I.C.E. teams." On Monday March 12th, Canal Alliance, Canal Welcome Center, and Parent Services Project will hold a community meeting in response to the raids, at 6:00pm at the Pickleweed Center, at 50 Canal St in San Rafael. The ICE raids will be an agenda item at the Marin County Board of Supervisors Meeting on Tuesday, March 13th at 9:30am, in the Board of Supervisors Chambers, Room 330, Civic Center, San Rafael, CA 94903.

ICE Raids Monitoring Report Form | Announcement from Marin Interfaith Council | Canal Alliance | Marin Peace and Justice Coalition | ACLU Seeks Records on Immigration Enforcement Actions in Northern California

For several years, developer Russell Shaw has been trying to build about 26 luxury homes on Oxford Valley in San Rafael, a fragile watershed that contains Miwok archeological sites. He recently withdrew his initial plan and submitted a single home construction plan for the site that many in the neighborhood viewed as an attempt at skirting California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements.

On February 23, the Marin Community Development Agency sent a notice to Shaw that his plan to build one house on the valley required environmental review. This was a temporary victory for activists trying to protect the land. Shaw had driven a bulldozer around the property a few weeks ago and continues to park it at the entry to the site. In Friday's Marin Independent Journal, Shaw published a giant ad warning that property rights were being threatened by Marin's proposed countywide plan for creek setbacks. Two seasonal creeks run through Oxford Valley that convey water to nearby Gallinas Creek, a known habitat for endangered species. Video