Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Alameda Christmas Tree Lighting Disrupted by Black Lives Matter Protest, 12/6/14: photos
On December 6, just three days after a Staten Island grand jury refused to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the July 17 choking death of Eric Garner, and less than two weeks after another grand jury refused to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the August 9 shooting death of Mike Brown, a call-out was made from Black Alamedans to others in the Bay Area for a show of solidarity on the night of the official lighting of the Alameda city Christmas tree. The action served as a reminder to the city that while it fancies itself as apart from the woes of the rest of the Bay Area, it remains complicit in the despair wrought by police terrorism. "Black Lives Matter" was chanted at the scene in front of city hall before the tree was lit and throughout the nearby streets of Alameda.
[Photo: Alameda city Christmas tree yet to be lit before the almost-entirely European- and Asian-descended crowd at City Hall.]
Alameda is an insular island city just a stone's throw from Oakland across the Oakland Estuary. Its land mass is a mere ten square miles, running from the port of Oakland down to the Oakland airport. Alameda residents cherish the belief that not only is their city is an island unto itself, which geographically it certainly is, but that it represents an idealized slice of small town Americana from another time. While Alameda fancies itself as harmlessly Mayberry-esque, it is through a long-time system of racial profiling, housing discrimination, and educational inequality that the percentage of African Americans in Alameda has been held down below 7%, while across the estuary Oakland's is much higher at around 28%.
As the demonstration at the Mayor's "holiday" tree lighting ceremony and in the streets proceeded, numerous bystanders and passers-by showed support for the demonstration, by raising fists up in the air or by honking their car horns. Unaccustomed to witnessing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda,_California#Controversy">demonstrations of any kind in Alameda, a handful of Alamedans expressed vehement opposition to seeing African Americans openly protesting in "their" town, at "their" holiday ceremony, at times dangerously so. Alameda police did not interfere.
Reportback from Rasheed Shabazz:
Black Lives Matter: Why we Protested at Alameda's Tree Lighting Ceremony
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/01/03/18766296.php
Event Announcement:
From Staten Island to Alameda Island
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/06/18765122.php
Alameda is an insular island city just a stone's throw from Oakland across the Oakland Estuary. Its land mass is a mere ten square miles, running from the port of Oakland down to the Oakland airport. Alameda residents cherish the belief that not only is their city is an island unto itself, which geographically it certainly is, but that it represents an idealized slice of small town Americana from another time. While Alameda fancies itself as harmlessly Mayberry-esque, it is through a long-time system of racial profiling, housing discrimination, and educational inequality that the percentage of African Americans in Alameda has been held down below 7%, while across the estuary Oakland's is much higher at around 28%.
As the demonstration at the Mayor's "holiday" tree lighting ceremony and in the streets proceeded, numerous bystanders and passers-by showed support for the demonstration, by raising fists up in the air or by honking their car horns. Unaccustomed to witnessing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda,_California#Controversy">demonstrations of any kind in Alameda, a handful of Alamedans expressed vehement opposition to seeing African Americans openly protesting in "their" town, at "their" holiday ceremony, at times dangerously so. Alameda police did not interfere.
Reportback from Rasheed Shabazz:
Black Lives Matter: Why we Protested at Alameda's Tree Lighting Ceremony
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/01/03/18766296.php
Event Announcement:
From Staten Island to Alameda Island
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/06/18765122.php
For more information:
https://www.indybay.org/police/
Add Your Comments
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$200.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network