Feature Archives

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) placed United Healthcare Workers (UHW) West in trusteeship on January 27. UHW members work in hospitals, convalescent facilities, and in home care. The International wanted to remove 65,000 members from UHW and put them into another, newly formed local, while UHW wanted the plan to be decided by a democratic vote of the members. UHW supporters held a rally and march on the evening of January 27 to protest the action.

On Sunday, February 1st there will be an Indybay orientation at 4:20 at La Peña in Berkeley. Volunteers will demonstrate how to publish text, photos, audio and video, and much more, including how stories get made into center column features.

The BART police officer filmed shooting Oscar Grant was arrested on January 13th. On January 14th, thousands gathered in front of Oakland City Hall for a rally to protest the shooting. One of the rally's organizers stated, "The job is not done. He has been arrested but he has not yet been prosecuted. The fight is definitely not over." When the main protests ended, there was a break-away protest. Around 8:20pm a Wells Fargo was attacked. Police moved in with tear-gas and over the next few hours there were 18 arrests. On January 16th, court hearings for arrested protesters were held. Oakland students walked out of classes to speak out at the county courthouse. At 4:40pm, students returned from the county courthouse to Oakland High. Other students started joining them and the police charged in. Four arrested and one student attacked violently by the OPD. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 19th, a March for Justice & Reparations for the Family of Oscar Grant III started at West Oakland BART.

On January 7th, a rally was held to protest the police murder of Oscar Grant. Protesters gathered at the Fruitvale BART station at 3pm. After dozens of speakers addressed the crowd for about 2 hours, a march began. Hundreds of protesters marched up International Blvd towards downtown Oakland. As the crowd passed the Lake Merritt BART area, there was a brief confrontation where a police car was attacked and a dumpster lit on fire. Within minutes, riot police arrived and shot tear gas into the crowd. The protest continued into the night as dozens of protesters massed and split up repeatedly, smashing windows, lighting fires in dumpsters, and torching at least two cars as police struggled to keep up. Oakland police are reporting that they arrested 105 people for a variety of offenses.

The Coalition Against Police Execution (CAPE) has announced a "Rally for Justice for Oscar Grant" at Oakland City Hall on Wednesday, Jan. 14th. There will be a benefit for legal defense Saturday, January 17th. On January 12th, a demonstration against the police murder of Oscar Grant was held in SF.

In the early hours of January 1st, BART police shot and killed a 22 year old man, Oscar Grant, on the platform of the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland. Witnesses report that Grant was "lying on his stomach with his hands out in a non-threatening position when he was shot". Police have confirmed Grant was unarmed and have suggested the shooting was an accident. Grant lived in Hayward and leaves behind a 4-year-old daughter.

On Wednesday, January 7th, there will be a memorial service at 11am at Palma Ceia Baptist Church and then a rally to protest the shooting from 3pm till 8pm at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland.

On Monday December 8th, the Berkeley City Council voted to approve the contract for an expanded, street level Bike Station with many more services and features than the existing station to the cheers of a packed council chamber. Bike activists say that this is the culmination of over ten years of work by local advocates.

"A Day Without A Gay" protest and boycott took place across the US on December 10th to show opposition to California's Proposition 8 and show the power of the LGBT community. Organizers encouraged people to "call in gay" to work and spend the day volunteering at local LGBT and/or human rights organizations. There were several rallies in the Bay Area, including a noon rally in UC Berkeley's Sproul plaza and a 4pm press conference in Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza.