Anger and Peace and Hatred and Justice and Smashing the State for Oscar Grant

Let us be clear about one thing. This was never a peaceful rally. Peace is not the absence of conflict; it is the presence of justice. Even during the speakers, people were not at peace. Many people, including myself were crying during some of the performers and speakers. Many others were angry, yelling, singing and rapping about the injustice through Oscar Grant. I know in coming to this rally, I was not at peace. I was sad, angry and in a great turmoil about the state of the justice system in our country. I was probably most disturbed about the lack of turnout to the rally. We should have thousands of people on the streets because of this travesty, and many others before and after this sad day, my 24th birthday, when Oscar Grant was murdered lying facedown on the BART terminal while being called a nigger by a fascist pig. “He was reaching for his taser” is like saying “I was aiming for the apple” as William Tell fired 20 arrows into his friend’s chest. Seven months in jail for a cold blooded murderous hate crime and the news is upset that a couple cars got jumped on? We should be burning down the court houses and the police stations and yet they call some misplaced aggression on parked cars violence. Wait until cops are being killed on the street and then the media can start talking about violence. To be completely truthful, peace does not exist in the present. No justice, no peace.



As of now, the media is straight lies. I was there, not once was there a dispersal order. The police trapped us in on both sides and we were not allowed to leave. They would stand there with their blank stares as we pleaded to be released. This happened twice. The first time on International Blvd, we were able to cut through a park under construction and escape the police trap of lines of officers surrounding the marchers on both sides. The second time it occurred we had been forced by their blockades onto a small side street where we were arrested. No one took any gun from a police officer. They were all waiting for us to be violent with the cops so they could smash skulls. A friend in custody overheard someone asking a cop if he got to beat up any protesters. The police officer had to remind his friend he was on speaker phone because of his bulky riot gear. Cars were jumped on, and although I would not advocate the aggression personally, I can understand why someone living in fear from the people who are supposed to protect them would do such an act. Let us be clear, we are very angry and I am deeply depressed that the rest of this city, state and country is not pissed off. There are not enough people on the street being angry. We have been in the middle of a war declared over lies for eight years. We are all killers, racists, murderers and thieves as we stand idly by as our state commits atrocious, ungodly acts in the name of a so-called democracy. How could that BART cop Mesehrle thought he was doing anything wrong when he shot Oscar Grant in the back as he was lying face down on the ground with another cops knee on his neck holding him down? Is it not the same metaphorically that we are doing to Iraq and the whole of the Middle East? Why should I expect anyone to stand on the streets with me and protest the injustice of Oscar Grant when no one seems to care about the injustice of war? There is so much injustice and disrespect to life on the planet and the forces that create life, why should I expect anyone to care?



Well I care about all of it. I cannot help but to care. I feel the suffering of all those around me as if it were my own. I hear the Earth crying out in pain and agony as we trample, rape, pillage, waste and dump poison into her body, blood and breath. I feel it all in my heart which shatters on a daily bases. I am not so special. Can’t you feel it too? How can you choose to ignore the great anguish that we are creating with our institutions, corporations, governments and collect conscious? Why do we choose to comply with all this greed and violence? We must take a stand. We need to tear down these horrid institutions and have the constructive ones ready to replace them. I am filled with such sadness that I feel alone in my paradigm. The world feels like a backwards place with the criminals going free and rewarded while advocates for peace and justice get beaten, criminalized, paralyzed and pushed to the fringes of society. If this were India, we would be the untouchables with “normal” people pretending they don’t even see us while we volunteer our time to canvass or pass out literature on the street.



How many times can you scream fuck at the top of your lungs before it completely loses its meaning?