Feature Archives

The Oakland General Assembly decided on October 4th that the people of Oakland should occupy Frank Ogawa Plaza at the corner of 14th and Broadway on Monday, October 10th starting at 4pm in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, the many occupations underway across the country, and Indigenous Resistance Day. Organizers say, "Come ready to spend the night or just swing by to say hello. Let's do this Oakland style!" Nearly 1000 people gathered on the first day, with around 50 tents set up overnight, including one tent occupied by Oakland city council member Desley Brooks. The plaza has been dubbed "Oscar Grant Plaza" by Occupiers.

At noon on Monday, October 10th — Indigenous People’s Day — members of the Elem Pomo tribe will march to the offices of millionaire businessman John Nady in Emeryville to demand that he immediately halt his planned desecration of Rattlesnake Island. The Elem Pomo have invited supporters to join the protest and tell Nady that from the Bay Area to Lake County, people will stand up to oppose the desecration of sacred native sites.

Tuesday Sep 20th, 2011: Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has OK'd Troy Davis execution for 7pm EST September 21st. Read more: 1 | 2 | San Francisco Rally/Vigil at 1pm, 9/21

Troy Davis has been on death row in Georgia for twenty years. He is set to executed by the state on Wednesday, September 21st, despite the fact that there was no physical evidence presented against him during his trial and since then seven out of the nine "witnesses" who testified against him have recanted, many claiming that they were pressured by police. On September 16th, supporters rallied in cities across the country. A solidarity rally was held in Oakland in front of the Federal Building. As the courts are no longer an option to establish Troy Davis' innocence, his last hope is the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles which will hold a clemency hearing in Troy’s case on Monday, September 19th, in Atlanta. A "Save Troy Davis - Stop the Death Penalty" event was held at Laney College on September 20th.

On August 24th, family and supporters of Raheim Brown Jr. once again gathered at Oakland Unified School District headquarters to demand that OUSD police officers Barhin Bhatt and Jonathan Bellusa, the officers responsible for the murder of Raheim Brown, be fired and charged with the killing. This time, though, the anger was even more intense as it was learned less than a week earlier that the superintendent and school board had not only ignored the repeated previous pleadings of community members, but had promoted Barhin Bhatt to interim chief of the school police upon the previous chief's sudden retirement when racist and threatening comments of his became public. On September 6th, James Williams, a former Oakland Housing Authority police officer, was appointed as the new interim chief to replace Bhatt.

No Justice No BART called for an action to be held on Thursday, September 8th, at the Powell Street Station in San Francisco. The plan announced was that if enough protesters were mobilized, in order to keep riders moving into and out of the station, BART would have to open the emergency exits and let folks ride for free, just as they have for other large events in the past. On September 8th, protesters gathered at Powell station, chanting and holding signs. No fare gates were ever blocked. Within a half hour, BART riot police kettled dozens of protesters and reporters. BART police handcuffed numerous journalists, requesting that SFPD confiscate their SFPD police press passes. Two Indybay journalists were arrested, along with over 22 protesters, and charged with violating Penal Code 369i, which deals with interfering with train operations.

It has been over a month since KB Home contractors unearthed the skeletal remains of a young Ohlone child at the Branciforte Creek construction site in Santa Cruz. On August 25th, 75 people marched in downtown Santa Cruz to the City Council meeting in an action organized by the Save the Knoll Coalition. One person maintained an indigenous chant throughout the march, many people carried signs and banners, and several distributed educational flyers.

Save the Knoll writes: As few in Santa Cruz are currently aware, a developer has been in the process of destroying a beautiful wild area in Santa Cruz, locally known as "Market Street Field", which is also the location of a 6,000 year old Native American burial and village site. The project is a 32-unit residential subdivision called "Branciforte Creek - the Comfort of Green Living". A 2006 developer-commissioned archeological study states that despite disturbance from historic house and road construction, "SCR-276 is possibly one of the sites least impacted by existing urban development within the City of Santa Cruz."