Feature Archives

The Bay Area is now the first place in the United States to have had its electronic communications deliberately disabled to preempt a political protest. On August 11th, BART cut power to the underground mobile phone antennas within their system for several hours, denying tens of thousands of evening commuters access to the Internet, telephone service, and even 911 calls. The protest BART claimed as the reason for disrupting mobile service never happened, but Anonymous called for online and offline protests in "remembrance [of] the blood that is on the hands of the BART police" and to "stand up for your rights and those of your fellow citizens." Both the myBART.org and BART Police Officers' Association websites have been hacked. On August 15th and 22nd, protests were held in San Francisco that shut down downtown BART stations during the evening commutes. Over 40 people were arrested on August 22nd. A third demonstration was called for August 29th and two were arrested. No stations were closed by BART but two people were arrested for speaking out inside of Embarcadero station.

On Wednesday, August 10th, family and supporters rallied at the Lake Merritt BART station before marching to Oakland Unified School District's headquarters to call for justice in the police murder of Raheim Brown Jr. Demonstrators packed the monthly board meeting to demand the immediate disbandment of the school police and the firing of officers Barhin Bhatt and Jonathan Bellusa, who shot Brown multiple times on January 22nd, later claiming he brandished a screw driver. The only civilian witness on the scene, Tamisha Stewart, says Bellusa and Bhatt murdered Brown after calling him racist epithets, that Brown was unarmed and not a threat to the police.

Surf City Revolt writes: "There is something deeply troubling about the events in Seattle over the past couple of days. 26 comrades, anarchists of all kinds, were arrested. The first night was in what seems to be a coordinated attack by the police during a social gathering at a private residence. The second in a solidarity noise demonstration in which friends and comrades of those arrested the night before stood strong outside of the jail their friends were stuck in, making noise to show that those locked behind bars were not alone."

On July 23rd, about twenty people rallied and marched in downtown Santa Cruz in solidarity with prisoners at Pelican Bay who have ended their hunger strike and declared it a success. Their act of refusing to eat for four weeks has put the issues of torturous isolation units and California's debriefing program in the international and national media, boosted a growing movement for the rights of prisoners, and is unifying prisoners of different racial groups for a struggle against their real and shared enemies: the unfair policies and practices of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).

Protests took place over week in Manteca, Sacramento, and Stockton around incidents of police brutality and murder. On July 19th, family, friends, and community members marched on the Manteca City Council, demanding answers concerning the shooting death of Ernesto Duenez Jr. In Sacramento on July 20th, people rallied against Sacramento police who brutality beat one man while responding to a fight. On July 22nd in Stockton, family members, friends, and supporters demonstrated against the brutal shooting death of James Rivera in 2010. Protesters rallied outside of the Stockton Police Department HQ and then proceeded to march through downtown to the DA's office.

Nineteen year-old Kenneth Harding was approached by San Francisco police officers doing fare inspections on the Muni platform at Third and Palou on Saturday, July 16th, 2011. Within a half block of running from police through a plaza, he was shot down on Oakdale Street and left to bleed to death as police offered no medical assistance and crowd-control police arrived to hold back a growing mass of angry residents well before any emergency paramedics reached the area. Numerous gatherings, marches, rallies, and vigils have challenged SFPDs evolving version of events and protested police who continue to kill with impunity. Bayview activist Debray Carpenter was arrested by SFPD late last week and he was finally released on July 26th with no charges.

Oscar Grant’s best friend, Johntue Caldwell, 25, was shot dead on July 15, 2011. He was the godfather of Oscar Grant’s daughter, Tatiana, and was one of the young men on the Fruitvale BART platform on January 1st, 2009 when Oscar Grant was killed. Johntue Caldwell was unarmed and killed at a Hayward gas station at around 5:35 p.m., when “someone” walked up to his car and fired several times at him. His assailant has not been identified or located yet. He leaves behind two young sons.