ILWU Local 10 Shuts Down Port, Joins Community in March to Oscar Grant Plaza

#LaborAgainstPoliceTerror Shuts Down Port, Marches to Oscar Grant Plaza

On May Day 2015, ILWU Local 10 shutdown the Port of Oakland in protest of police-terror. In conjunction with the Anti Police-Terror Project and other community organizations, the longshore workers marched to Oscar Grant Plaza and held a rally at City Hall.

A number of Bay Area and national organizations supported the event. Here is a list of those organizations, some who organized, all who stood in solidarity with ILWU Local 10 and #LaborAgainstPoliceTerror:

Onyx Organizing Committee, The Alan Blueford Center for Justice, Anti Police-Terror Project, Community Ready Corps, Black Power Network, Workers World Party, Stop Mass Incarceration Network, Transport Workers Solidarity, Love Not Blood Campaign, ANSWER SF, Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), Oakland Socialist, International Socialist Organization –Northern California, Oakland Sin Fronteras, UC Student-Workers Union, UAW Local 2865, Oscar Grant Committee , Alameda County PFP and Socialist Organizer, Black Lives Matter – Bay Area Chapter, #BlackFriday14,SEIU Local 1021, San Francisco Electrical Workers Minority Caucus, Oakland Education Association.

The rally at the port was emceed by Jack Heyman of the ILWU. The rally at Oscar Grant Plaza was emcee’d by Cat Brooks of the Anti Police-Terror Project, Stacey Rodgers of the ILWU, and Jack Heyman.


ILWU’S Long History of Radicalism

Each speaker talked of ILWU’s long history of activism. Committed to anti-apartheid activism since the early 1960’s, it was Nelson Mandela who commended the ILWU on their radical legacy saying, “[The ILWU] established themselves as the front line of the anti-apartheid movement in the Bay Area." The Port of Oakland itself has real and symbolic history in Oakland's radical legacy, most recently with the Block the Boat campaign against Israeli-apartheid in Palestine.

Specifically, ILWU Local 10 has close relationship with the local movement to end police-terror. In 2009, ports throughout California shut-down in the quest for justice for Oscar Grant. Two years later, the longshore workers sent a letter supporting the family of Alan Blueford to U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson and the now infamous Alameda DA Nancy O'Malley.

A number of members of the ILWU spoke of their personal connections with police terror. The family of Jeremiah Moore, an autistic man shot by police in Valejo, and the uncle of Pedie Perez, an unarmed man shot by Richmond PD, are all longshore workers. Each speaker donned their ILWU vests as they called for an end to police-terror.

One father spoke of the daily concerns he has for his son’s safety; the longshoreman said he fears his son’s assault at the hands of police, not at the hands of other black people, reminding us that police-terror is not limited to murder.

The march intentionally traveled through the neighborhoods of West Oakland, neighborhoods that experience daily the material and psychological effects of police-terror, gentrification, and mass incarceration. Members of the Anti Police-Terror Project and other organizations pamphletted the neighborhood echoing the call Cat Brooks would make later at Oscar Grant Plaza: "to use the victory created by young black folks in Baltimore as a rally-call to organize the masses." Hundreds of invitations were handed out calling on the community to join the Anti Police-Terror Project at their monthly meetings, held each 3rd Wednesday,
7:30 pm at Eastside Arts Alliance.


#BlackLivesMatter Inside and Outside the Classroom

One of the most beautiful moments of the day - and, the most widely shared on social media - was the many teachers and students who cheered on the #LaborAgainstPoliceTerror march. Teachers and students stood outside their classes, many with their fists up, watching over a thousand people march past their classroom. The first school passed by the march was Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary. As the students looked one, one protestor held a sign with an oft-forgotten, yet timely radical King quote: "riot is the language of the unheard."

As the march continued towards downtown, it passed West Oakland Middle School and the KIPP Bridge Charter School. There, the marchers were met by dozens of children who were out at their recess. The young Black and Brown students were quickly joined by longshore workers and activists. Within seconds chants of "Black Lives Matter!" and "Power to the People!" and "Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop!" were being shared by marchers and students. Many of the organizers, activists, and marchers of the May Day march are educators. Around the half-way point, a number of marchers took a well deserved self-care break to rehydrate and energize before the final push towards city hall. The biscuits, it is worth noting, were delicious.

The #LaborAgainstPoliceTerror action made a forceful entrance into downtown Oakland. The chant of "Black Lives Matter!" reverberated off of city walls, causing workers to come to the street and look out their office windows; many threw their fists up in support.

The march for peace and justice, arrived safely at Oscar Grant Plaza. The rally that followed played host to a number of powerful speakers and performers and will be covered in a separate compilation.


A Note on #Oakland2Baltimore Solidarity

In the hearts of all of the organizers, activists, and workers on May Day was Freddie Gray, his family, and the thousands of Black people fighting for their lives in Baltimore. Like Ferguson with Michael Brown, and Oakland with Oscar Grant, Baltimore and it’s son Freddie Gray serve as a beacon of resistance for the entire world. Black and Brown revolutionaries have adopted a Mexican proverb and if one attends enough meetings, marches, or converses with these freedom-fighters, you will undoubtedly hear the proverb often. The saying, repeated so often, by now qualifies for mantra.

"They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds."

As #BlackSpring comes upon us and Baltimore rises from its real and symbolic ashes, these words of rebirth, liberation have a special power. Oakland is Baltimore. Both hold a legacy of radical resistance and organizing for the liberation of the oppressed. The Panthers, the sit-ins. Baltimore is Oakland. Both carrying on this radical legacy, fighting daily for the lives of Black and Brown people in their cities and nationwide. The Anti Police-Terror Project, Baltimore United. May Day 2015 was a moment for both cities, bonded in oppression and liberation, to galvanize a public, and organize them against the terror of police. As the march said, passing schools, homes, and businesses, "We’re Fired Up, Can’t Take it No More: From Oakland to Balitmore."

Thank you to @violentfanon @missmollie33 @marymad @alyssa011968 @thorncoyle @evanpmatthews @TKSFIAC @aprilaser @OaklandEA @advancethestrug and everyone who covered the event on twitter. And, thank you to @1AbbyNormal for driving the sound truck! To contact the curator of the page email evanpmatthews [at] gmail.com or leave a comment. Peace; All Power to the People!