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From the Olympic Resistance Network: "The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place in Vancouver and Whistler, on unceded Indigenous land, February 12–28. We call on all anti-capitalist, Indigenous, housing rights, labour, migrant justice, environmental, anti-war, community-loving, anti-poverty, civil libertarian, and anti-colonial activists to come together to confront this two-week circus and the oppression it represents. We are organizing towards a global anti-capitalist and anti-colonial convergence against the 2010 Olympic Games."
 Read more
Police State Canada 2010 and the Olympic Crackdown | Resist 2010: Eight Reasons to Oppose the 2010 Winter Olympics | McDonald's Attacked by Hooligans
On Friday, January 1st, 2010, two events took place in Oakland to commemorate the murder of Oscar Grant by BART police on New Year's Day 2009. The first was a vigil at the Fruitvale BART station organized by Oscar Grant's family, where a political and multi-faith group spoke in the memory of Oscar and for a future of hope, justice and action. In the evening, the community gathered at the Humanist Hall in Oakland for an artistic and cultural night dedicated to networking and education. Many poets, artists, activists, allies and family gathered. Initially, the Oakland Police tried to stop this event due to lack of a permit. Although it was scheduled on private property, the OPD insisted it was a "special circumstance" event and needed a permit. In the end, the movement-building event went on.
In Los Angeles, community activists are already planning for a strong presence inside and outside of the court house on January 8th. It will be the first hearing for Johannes Mehserle since his murder trial was moved out of Alameda County.
Anniversary Events —
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 Audio:
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Announcement
Report Back: Successful Organizing Meeting for Los Angeles Oscar Grant Justice Coalition
See Also:
Kiilu Nyasha & Emory Douglas: Remember Oscar Grant, Resist Police Brutality and Murder
Previous Related Indybay Feature:
Judge Orders Mehserle to Be Tried in Los Angeles County
The latest National Alliance Membership Bulletin has a detailed cover story about the Sacramento unit’s recruiting activities at local gun shows. In the article the unit leader, Jim Ring, brags about his success at signing up neo-Nazis at these events.
This notorious hate group intends to have several tables at the Cal Expo Center this weekend, January 2nd and 3rd. Jim Ring has claimed to local racists that the show sponsor, McMann Roadrunner, is "sympathetic" to the National Alliance message. McMann ignores complaints from customers and vendors when the NA appears at their shows in California and Arizona, according to Ring, who brags that McMann gives him a discount for his tables and allows him to promote and sell copies of the Turner Diaries at the show.
Antifa write that, "Sacramento has literally become 'ground zero' in our fight against these fascists." Read more
G. Melesaine writes: "When I saw the trailer for the new film 'Precious' I cried. This film made me think a lot about an old life I was too familiar with. It made me think about a lot of women that I am close to. It made me think about my sister in her Tenderloin days, about that loud funny girl in class that smacked her gum too loud, about that girl in West Point who had AIDS and everyone stayed away from her, about that girl walking up and down Folsom pretending she has somewhere to go, about that teacher I use to have a crush on in middle school, about women. 'Precious' women. This was their story."
On Thursday, Novemember 19th, Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson ordered that Johannes Mehserle's trial for the murder of Oscar Grant be moved to Los Angeles County. In the hearing to decide if the venue should be held in San Diego County or Los Angeles County, the determining factors were: pretrial publicity, relative hardship to parties, conservation of judicial resources and public funds, and demographics.
Los Angeles currently claims it is not to be able to take the case for another six to twelve months. While San Diego is able to schedule the trial at an earlier date, Los Angeles already has the facilities to handle high profile cases and would not bill Alameda County taxpayers for the cost of the judge and security enhancements. Mehserle and his defense team, though, had previously waved his right to a speedy trial, so there remains the possibility that the defense will revoke that waiver which would put pressure on Los Angeles to move the trial date forward, and if L.A. was not able to, then the trial could yet be moved to San Diego.
Read More |
Photos |
Southern California: First Cop on Trial for Murder in the History of the State Is Headed Your Way
See Also:
 Rekonize Newsletter v1i1 |
Violence again on BART involving police and passenger |
Oscar Grant Case: Trial of Mehserle to be held in Los Angeles |
LA Indymedia 10-Year Anniversary: "Troublemaking: The Worst and Best of Indybay" |
BART Police Review Committee on Hiring New Police Chief and New Year's Eve Plans, 11/4/09: audio and PDFs |
"Operation Small Axe" Highlights Resistance in Oakland's Occupied Territories: Review & Trailer |
Town Hall on BART Police, DA Failing in Mehserle Change of Venue, and Rape of Women, 10/31/09: audio |
Town Hall on Venue Change, State BART Hearing, and Oakland Merchant Credit, 10/24/09: audio |
Who leaked information about Mehserle's change of venue? Los Angeles or San Diego? Next hearing Nov 19th |
Judge Orders Change of Venue in Oscar Grant Case-Outrageous… and Unjust! |
Town Hall for Justice for Oscar Grant Faces Mehserle Venue Change Order, 10/17/09: audio |
CA Assembly Hearing on BART's Deeply Inept, Reckless, and Corrupt Police Force: audio and PDFs
Previous Related Indybay Features:
Mehserle's Trial to Be Held Outside of Alameda |
Indybay Coverage of the Justice for Oscar Grant Movement
On November 14th, students in the EA Hall Middle School MEChA Club held a free community arts event at the Brown Berets Bike Shack warehouse in Watsonville. The event was initially supposed to be held at the city owned Youth Center, however City Staff were opposed to a fee waiver for this event due to the "political nature" of the bands lined up to perform. This has created a stir with some conservative people in the community who are afraid of anything that promotes Mexican or Xicana/o identity.
On November 5th, Adisa Banjoko of the Hip Hop Chess Federation hosted a panel at O'Connell High School in San Francisco's Mission District that included Immortal Technique, Cesar A. Cruz and the Watsonville Brown Berets. The panel addressed issues on US imperialism, police abuse and murder, black & brown youth repression, indigenous resistance and hood liberation.
Read more and listen to audio
On Sunday, November 8th, the SF Bay Area Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal organized an event at Centro Del Pueblo in San Francisco. The event focused on three innocent men who may soon be executed soon, depending on upcoming court rulings: Troy Davis, Kevin Cooper, and Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Laura Moye, the Director of Amnesty International's Death Penalty Abolition Campaign spoke about Troy Davis. Activist Rebecca Doran spoke about Kevin Cooper.
Speaking about Mumia Abu-Jamal was Hans Bennett, co-founder of Journalists for Mumia and author of the new pamphlet published by the Mobilization to Free Mumia, entitled “The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal: Innocent Man on Death Row.” The pamphlet features the June 16, 2009 SF Bay View Newspaper article by Bennett, that cites several instances of withheld evidence and argues for a federal civil rights investigation into Mumia’s case. The pamphlet also features the diagrams and ballistics analysis presented in the new Journalists for Mumia flyer explaining why the prosecution scenario used to convict Mumia is ballistically impossible.
Read more | VIDEO: Rebecca Doran speaks about Kevin Copper
Kevin Cooper: Will California Execute An Innocent Man? | Troy Davis' Innocence To Be Considered At Long Last
A memorial mural of Gary King Jr was painted on a support column underneath the BART tracks on Martin Luther King Boulevard after Oakland police officer Patrick Gonzales shot and killed Gary King Jr at the spot in 2007. Gary passed away in handcuffs next to the pillar, while his young cousin had to watch. Just days after the two-year anniversary of Gary King Jr's murder, on September 24th, 2009, the mural was removed by BART employees.
The creators of the new memorial write: This mural also includes images of Anita Gay, Andrew Moppin, Casper Banjo, and Oscar Grant — all murdered by police. We include the Spanish word ¡PRESENTE! — meaning that these community members are with us in memory and that we will not forget their lives or how they died. This mural represents only a fraction of the people gunned down by police here in the Bay Area. This act of commemorating Gary King Jr., Anita Gay, Andrew Moppin, Casper Banjo, and Oscar Grant should be viewed as a small part of a necessary and growing movement to rid our cities of the violence of policing while building up our capacity for community self-determination.
Photos and Video |
Gary King Jr Memorial Removed by BART |
Oakland settles with family of Gary King
Related Indybay Features:
Thursday Protests Demand Justice for Gary King, Jr. |
Justice for Gary King Jr. |
Ongoing Protests Against Oakland Police for Killing of Gary King, Jr. |
Gary King Killed by OPD
Rainbow Theatre, the only multicultural theatre arts troupe in the UC system, will be kicking off their 16th season on November 5th and continuing through November 15th. In the tradition of Teatro Campesino, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, and Theatre of the Opressed, Rainbow strives to bring the untold stories of people of color to light.
On November 1st, the 16th annual Peace & Unity March took place in Watsonville with over 100 people in attendance, including many families of victims who have died from violence. The march was started in 1994 after the tragic deaths of two local youth; Jessica (age 9) and Jorge (age 16) Cortez. The march was started by youth who wanted to send a message of barrio unity throughout Watsonville. Photos
Raj Jayadev writes: "On Oct. 24, the San Jose Mercury News released the video of a San Jose State math major getting beaten and tased by the San Jose Police Department in his home on Sept. 3, 2009. Police were called to the scene after 20-year-old Phuong Ho allegedly wielded a knife during an altercation with his roommate. All the viewer can hear, in between groaning cries of pain and calls for mercy, are the cracking sounds of the batons as they meet 20-year-old Phuong Ho’s head and body, and the torturous zapping of a Taser gun. It is, in a word, disturbing."
"Ho, who through his attorney has filed a civil rights complaint with the FBI, is also facing misdemeanor charges of exhibiting a weapon and resisting arrest. He was not armed when police arrived, and became the recipient of the beat down when he bent down to get the glasses that fell off of his head.
"As a member of a local community group that has been calling on police accountability in San Jose for years now, I have been receiving multiple emails with the subject line, “San Jose’s Rodney King.” They don’t mean the person. They mean the moment. The comparison is natural since both incidents contain the same basic patterns: unarmed men of color excessively beaten without cause by numerous police officers -- and it is all caught on video.
Read More
Silicon Valley Debug: Vietnamese Community Association Responds to Police Beating of San Jose State Student |
Raj Jayadev: "What Would Have Happened If Dr. Gates Was Arrested in San Jose?" |
SiLiCoN vAlLeY dE-bUg
On October 19th, in a federal court house in Los Angeles, Alex Sanchez was once again denied bail. Sanchez, a nationally recognized activist and peacemaker, is accused of maintaining ties to his former gang and participating in a conspiracy to murder. Bail was denied after Judge Real suppressed testimony from father Greg Boyle, an expert in Los Angeles gangs.
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
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