Feature Archives

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.

On April 9th, No Justice No BART assumed control of the BART Board meeting. Demonstrators took turns voicing their objections to the lack of accountability and the apparent cover-up attempts at BART regarding the murder of Oscar Grant. One demonstrator independently threw red paint onto BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger and was subsequently arrested. On April 2nd at the MacArthur BART station, No Justice No BART distributed fliers with campaign demands to over 1000 commuters.

Kiilu Nyasha, former member of the Black Panther Party in Oakland, was recently interviewed on a wide variety of topics. Kiilu Nyasha quotes George Jackson from a passage in his book Blood In My Eye: “Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are dying who could be saved, that generations more will live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution.”

On Tuesday, March 24th, members of the Kahana movement marched through the outskirts of Umm el-Fahm, a Palestinian town. The Kahana movement, a political party in Israel that vocally advocates the expulsion and extermination of all Palestinians living in Israel, was protected by more than 2500 military personal. Many residents and activists were determined to not allow the march to happen and clashed with the military. Thirteen residents were arrested, and 13 were wounded. Another 15 members of the military were also injured, among them the deputy police commissioner.

No Justice No BART (NJNB) are holding a series of disruptive actions with the goal of seeking accountability for the abuse and murder of Oscar Grant. After successfully blocking the fare gates at Fruitvale BART in their first demo, NJNB chose the BART station in the upscale Rockridge neighborhood for their second demonstration on March 19th. NJNB is committed to demos at various stations until justice for Oscar Grant is reached. NJNB's next action will be at MacArthur BART in Oakland, Thursday, April 2nd at 4pm.

On Saturday March 21st, five people were killed, after police pulled over a man in East Oakland. Copwatch13 writes: "[F]or the second time in recent months, police in Oakland shot and killed a young African American man apparently after prematurely resorting to the use of deadly force when alternative remedies were available. This time, the haste on the part of police caused them to lose two of their own just after two other officers had just been shot...." A vigil and rally for Lovelle Mixon and his family was held Wednesday, March 25th.

Curtis Reliford and his Follow Your Heart Action Network sued Starbucks for slander after an incident in 2007 when a Starbucks manager in Santa Cruz tried to have Curtis arrested for panhandling. Curtis, and about 20 supporters, attended a court hearing on March 17th in front of Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Jeff Almquist. The case was dismissed on the premise that calling a charitable organization a "panhandler" was not going to hurt its reputation or influence how it conducts its business. Further action against Starbucks is being planned.