On July 9 at around 2:30 p.m. the announcement was made that the
official verdict on the trial of Johannes Mehserle, the transit pig who
shot Oscar Grant in the back and killed him, would be released that day,
and immediately people started gathering at the major intersection of
14th and Broadway in downtown Oakland, California. At about 4:15 p.m.,
the verdict of involuntary manslaughter was released. This is the lowest
charge that the jury could have chosen to give Mehserle, and as
expected, the people of Oakland were pissed. Our comrades attended the
protest, equipped with fliers emphasizing that the movement needs to be
elevated from rioting into conscious revolutionary struggle generally,
and national liberation struggles specifically, if people want to stop
the murders of more Oscar Grants. The flier suggested Frantz Fanon’s
The Wretched of the Earth and
Black
Panther Party original documents as good starting points for a
successful transition into a movement to truly end police brutality.
Government employees in the downtown area were under a mandatory
evacuation, and business people were high-tailing it out of there as
fast as the freeways could take them. The state and the media had hyped
it up to be L.A. in 1992. That was far from the case. Still many large
buildings were boarded up 20 feet high for days; others were frantically
drilling in plywood as protesters converged. The hype was so extreme
that even one discount grocery store located a mile from the epicenter
of the protest boarded its windows as soon as the jury went into
deliberation - as if a crazed mob would travel so far to loot their
expired yogurt.
The City of Oakland set up a sound system in front of Town Hall that was
supposed to serve as a speak-out, but was just playing funk for a few
casual dancers, sometimes so loud that it seemed like they were
attempting to drown out the actual protest. The rest of the 1000 people
were gathered around a much smaller sound system in the adjacent
intersection, having their own speak-out. The soap box ran from about
5-8 p.m., and the “don’t tear up Oakland” position that was emphasized
so strongly at past protests seemed to have taken a back seat on the
collective agenda of the group. Most messages were that this verdict is
bullshit, the system isn’t going to give justice for Oscar Grant, and we
need to organize. There was also a strong recognition that Black people
were the targets of this violence and of the need for Black nationalism.
The typical divisive tactics that we had
reported
on at previous at Oscar Grant movement events was also present. One man
insisted on addressing “just the Oaklanders” and advised the Black youth
to not get “pimped” by “outside agitators.” The response from the crowd
was cold. The next speaker said he was also asked to speak on “outside
agitators” and went on to point out that Martin Luther King, Jr. was
called an “outside agitator” everywhere he went in the South. He said
that no one is “outside” the struggle for justice, and went on to point
out that the only people who are coming from outside the movement to
cause problems were the pigs. This brother received enthusiastic cheers.
This theme was one that had been playing out for weeks within the
organizations preparing for the verdict. Reportedly, non-profit leaders
and those working with the City government were spearheading the line
that the Black youth of Oakland couldn’t rebel without white people from
the suburbs telling them what to do. This racist bullshit had already
been struggled against for weeks leading up to the verdict. While some
in the crowd were dismissive of white speakers, telling them to get
down, ultimately it was the content of what was being said that the
protesters recognized. While there was a strong contingent of
self-proclaimed locals saying “be cool” and using the local slang to
attempt to create divisions, their effect seemed minimal.
During the speak out, pigs were lined up several blocks from the
protest, controlling foot traffic and warning “unsuspecting” bicyclists
of the “danger” ahead. At 8 p.m. the soap box was shut down by the City
and everyone was hanging out in the streets, occupying several blocks of
Broadway. After about thirty minutes, a trash can was lit on fire but
protesters put it out within a minute. Occasional bottles were thrown at
the pigs, and when any excuse was given to the pigs to attack, many of
the protesters would run like hell. The pigs were surprisingly
non-reactive, however, and would just occasionally change positions,
pushing the protest north on Broadway. This didn’t prevent “Fuck the
Police” from being the most popular chant of the night.
A Foot Locker was looted, and many people made out with fresh kicks and
jerseys. A group of three to four protesters started guarding the Foot
Locker and tried to appeal to the protesters to not loot, which they
said would prove that they are just ignorant Black people and would
prove “them” right (“them” presumably being the white legislators and
City officials who they hope to ask for justice). On the other hand, the
guards correctly emphasized that there are Black organizations to get
involved in to deal with these issues, and that looting the shoe store
won’t stop killings. If there was a strong Black vanguard in the area,
MIM(Prisons) would have worked with them at this event rather than
promoting study and building of new cadre groups. That’s not to say
there aren’t a number of small, semi-underground formations that are
worth working with, but none of them wield the power or influence to
have led the rebellion.
The Black Panther Party asserted the need for a vanguard to organize and
lead the masses down the most effective path to power in The Correct
Handling of a Revolution, following the uprisings in 1968 across
the country. It states, “There are basically three ways one can learn:
through study, through observation, and through actual experience.” They
go on to say that the Black community generally learns through
observation and participation. Unfortunately, the lessons put forth in
this article were not observable at the demonstrations this year or
last, indicating that study is needed. While the fires, graffiti and
smashed windows grab our immediate attention, it is the serious
organizing efforts that will allow the Oscar Grant movement to have a
lasting effect. While it is hard to quantify these efforts now, the mood
of the speakers indicate that despite the lack of a vanguard
organization leading the rebellions, many are thinking and moving in
this direction.
Over the next few hours the crowd gradually dwindled, smoke bombs and
fire crackers were set off, windows broken, over a dozen dumpsters and
trash cans lit up, graffiti was sprayed, garbage cans tossed into the
transit stations, as the crowd was constantly pushed north, sectioned
off, and divided by the pigs. At one point the street lights went out
and three gun shots were fired from an unknown source, but apparently
nobody was hit. Unlike the usual large demonstrations in the Bay Area,
many protesters tonight were armed, but attacks on police were limited
to rocks, bottles and, according to police, a few molotov cocktails. By
11 p.m., the protest had reduced to small groups launching hit-and-run
tactics on stores. Their movement seemed guided by the police, who
vastly outnumbered them. At the end of the day, there were 78 arrests.
Although our comrades were not on the front lines for the whole
showdown, a tazer was only heard once, and while there were regular
explosions heard, no reports are claiming that they were caused by the
kkkops. Overall it seemed like the pigs were on their best behavior (for
being stinking fucking pigs, anyway). This was clearly unexpected
behavior by most protesters, who were constantly running at the
slightest sign of action, only to return a few minutes later when they
realized the tear gas and rubber bullets had yet to arrive. Activists
were expecting the worst, including the use of the a $675,000 long-range
acoustic device (a machine that produces sound waves that can cause
permanent damage) that the Oakland Police Department recently purchased.
Again, it never showed up.
The pigs outnumbered and outlasted the protesters. When the rebels had
been reduced to a couple hundred, the pigs still had reinforcements
coming in and surely more on standby. The fact that there was no need to
resort to severe repression demonstrated their control over the
situation. Evidently, they were willing to sacrifice a few downtown
businesses as a pressure release. The next morning, the Oakland police
chief was celebratory about their ability to control and contain the
rebellions.
Mehserle’s sentence is due out in November, and could range from 14
years in prison to probation. We expect the day of sentencing to
re-ignite these protests all over the state.
Notes: Prisoners write us for a copy of “Oscar Grant: organization, line
and strategy” printed on the anniversary of the initial rebellions
following Grant’s murder.
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