Feature Archives

Cinco de Mayo is traditionally a time of celebration on the streets of San José, but the early days of May brought more protest than ceremony to the city center this year. City Hall Plaza was the scene of two demonstrations, both of which were monitored by mounted city police. The protests called for meaningful immigration reform and an end to police brutality.

After months of pressure for greater transparency in BART policy making by Oscar Grant's family, community members, and activists, BART has scheduled its first public meeting on police oversight for Saturday, May 2nd in Oakland. Activists intend to remind BART that they still question if BART even needs its own police force, as well as to continue to demand that General Manager Dorothy Dugger and BART Police Chief Gary Gee be held accountable.

Jesse James Forrey, 27, was arrested at the RNC protests of last September in the Twin Cities. He is fighting a felony charge of damage to property in the first degree and faces up to five years in jail. Jesse is from Santa Cruz and eagerly waits to return to his home and family. He has hired a private attorney to help him through trial and is asking for support.

On Tuesday, April 28th, the Oakland City Council Public Safety Committee heard a proposal to "civilianize" the Oakland police department's Internal Affairs. The proposal requests that all citizen complaints against OPD go to the Citizen's Police Review Board (CPRB) and that the CPRB hire ten new civilian investigators. A large community turn-out appears to have convinced the committee to issue a directive to make the proposal happen.

On April 8th, buses and carpools from across Northern California headed to Sacramento for the Caravan for Justice II. They came to demand changes in laws and policies such as three strikes, gang injunctions, parole/probation, voter disenfranchisement, the power of police and prison guard unions, the police bill of rights, and other aspects of the California prison industrial complex which continues to grow while budgets for education and community services shrink.

On Saturday, April 11th, family, friends, and former Black Panthers celebrated Lil' Bobby Hutton Day in honor of the 17-year-old Black Panther murdered by Oakland police in 1968. Bobby Hutton was the first member to join the Black Panther Party after its founding by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland in the Fall of 1966. The group Family and Friends of Lil' Bobby Hutton are working on a erecting a statue in DeFremery Park in West Oakland.

David Santos is being charged with felonies after having been arrested during the January 7th demonstrations in downtown Oakland that followed the murder of Oscar Grant. On Friday, April 10th, friends and supporters came to his pretrial hearing to demand that the charges be dropped. JR Valrey, of the Prisoners of Conscience Committee and Block Report Radio, was also arrested and charged with a felony on the night of January 7th. Drew Louis was also arrested on felony charges that night. All three are asking for public support to fight their charges.