Feature Archives

After print-runs for the SF and NY Anarchist Book Fairs, a magazine entitled Unfinished Acts: January Rebellions is now available on Indybay in digital format. The magazine is a collective recounting and analysis of events surrounding the shooting of the unarmed, 22-year-old Oscar Grant III by BART police officers in the early hours of 2009 on the Fruitvale station platform.

On June 17th, community members, organized by the newly formed Alliance Against Gang Enhancements, rallied and handed out flyers on the steps of the Santa Cruz County Courthouse and the corner of Ocean and Water to educate the public about the realities of gang enhanced sentences. Organizers say that the sentencing "enhancements" [sic] broadly criminalize youth and do not deter future gang crimes. Rather, they result in huge costs passed on to taxpayers and overcriminalize youth in marginalized communities.

Early this month officers of the San José police union unleashed a new website with video mocking public testimony by a critic of police practices. Two City Council members, Sam Liccardo and Ash Kalra, quickly denounced inflammatory statements as well as the video on the police union website. The Council members noted that activist Raj Jayadev's testimony was incorrectly characterized as a threat, and signed a letter stating that, "First Amendment freedoms may be chilled when dissent is characterized as threats".

The Fresno police department has finally identified the officers who were captured on videotape in the February beating of a homeless man. But the department has been slow in proceeding with its promised investigation of the police beating. Their names were released in response to a lawsuit by the ACLU. Glen Beaty, meanwhile, remains in jail. He's been in jail for over three months on charges of allegedly violating parole.

On June 6th, a candlelight vigil and march for Luis Gutierrez Navarro, a farm worker killed by undercover Yolo County Sheriff's deputies, was held at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Woodland, CA. On April 30th, twenty-six-year old Luis Gutierrez was walking home from the Woodland DMV after taking a Driver's License test when he was approached by three undercover gang suppression officers who shot six bullets, killing him in broad daylight.

The San José Police Department is coming under increased public scrutiny after killing 27-year-old Daniel Pham in his own backyard last month. City officials are also being criticized for trying to hire the brother of a city police officer for the position of Independent Police Auditor for the city, and the community is demanding more input into the process of identifying a new top cop watcher.

The preliminary hearing in the trial of Johannes Mehserle for the murder of Oscar Grant III began on May 18th. Indybay has reports from inside the court room during the entire hearing. Outside the court house, demonstrators have gathered to press for an effective prosecution of Johannes Mehserle. The hearing concluded on June 4th when Judge Clay declared that Mehserle will stand trial for murder. The family of Oscar Grant gratefully acknowledged community activists and supporters who rallied at the court house.