MON & TUES: Come Support Folks Arrested at Mehserle Verdict Protests (Community Voices)
Post Mehserle verdict papers, by All About George, http://www.flickr.com/photos/allaboutgeorge/4785264449/
Sent over by Rachel Jackson of New Years Movement 4 Justice, Oakland Assembly & California partners for Justice:
Come to the court to support people arrested during protests against the unjust Mehserle verdict. Court begins on Monday, July 12th and Tuesday, July 13th. All current Court hearings will be at:
Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse,
661 Washington Street, near 6th Street
Downtown Oakland.
According to the National Lawyers Guild, out of roughly 80 arrests, about 2 dozen have more serious charges or other issues (including parole violations). Of the total, about 17 are still in custody.
Support in court makes a difference. Please come if you can -- but remember not to carry anything illegal (i.e., drugs, pocket-knives, etc.) and don’t come if you think you may be at risk of arrest for any other reason.
Court dates are below:
MONDAY
9am, Dept.
107: One Misdemeanor arraignment
2 pm, Dept. 112: 14 Felony arraignments
2pm, Dept. 107: 4 Misdemeanor arraignments
TUESDAY
9 am, Dept. 107: 2
Misdemeanor arraignments
2 pm, Dept. 112:
Two Felony arraignment
Peace,
Rachel Jackson
New Years Movement 4 Justice,
Oakland Assembly & California partners for Justice
- - - -
A reminder from Walter Riley, Oakland attorney, arrested during the protests:
Don't put the "outsider" label on people who are standing up for justice and civil rights!
The murder of Oscar Grant is a universal issue of justice and civil rights.
I do not like this divisive campaign to divide our community and protestors by calling people outsiders. Oakland is not an isolated town in the desert. This is a great metropolitan area with people from all over; with a world class university; we expect people from all over the map to participate in Oakland. Calling people outsiders in this instance is a political attack on the movement. The subtext is that the outsiders are white and not connected to Oakland. From the days of the civil rights movement to now the outsider labeling failed to address the underlying problems for which people came together.
For those whose frustration with progress leads them to violent protest, we must engage in respectful political struggle. I understand the frustration; I do not support destruction and looting as political protest. I adamantly object to calling our youth and political activists outsiders. I call upon everyone to push back against this tendency.
Walter Riley
Attorney at Law
Oakland, CA
- Oakland Local editorial team's blog
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"unjust" verdict? "divisive" to call them outsiders when that's what they are?
I would support them were they arrested - unjustly. However, these creeps created mayhem in the streets, stole shoes and hair and then made Oakland a stereotypical place of "bad" black people.
I wouldn't support any of these clowns if you paid me - double time.
I completely agree, Victoria!!!
I am so tired of explaining that Oakland is a BIG city filled with hard working, peaceful people of all colors. I've lived all over the Bay Area and in many other cities world wide and there is no other city that compares.
These anarchists, who saw our beautiful city as a chance to "play" at the expense of many hard working, small, business owners, deserve the maximum penalty for premeditatied criminal activities.
To: Mr. Walter Riley, Attorney
There is a definable difference between the people who came to protest the Mehserle verdict and the injustice it embodies, and the people who came dressed purposely in black, with scarves across their faces. THEY are the "outsiders," even if a few of them live in Oakland.
These people have been vandalizing cities for years now under the cover of heartfelt, well-organized, legitimate protest actions. Their mode of operation is always the same. They can be identified and their actions predicted from the time they are visible. They don't "agitate" except by their actions, and they don't take action (breaking windows, setting fires, etc.) until they feel safe--when there are other, sincere people around to incriminate.
They call themselves anarchists and if pressed will come up with some kind of bogus analysis to support their acting-out--that they are attacking capitalism. Crap. They pick targets of opportunity and never explain, announce, or take responsibility for their "principles." Anarchist philosophy is light-years away from what they do; these are simply people who want to destroy. Getting their kicks, they discredit some serious, necessary protest in the media (which shares the blame, for giving them the attention they're seeking).
A protest is just that, and serious people will get angry and give the police a reason/excuse to be belligerent and violate folks' rights. Those who are being called "outside agitators" may not all be "outside" (although most are), and the only "agitating" they do is to encourage the already-prone to thievery and destruction. They couldn't care less about Oscar Grant's murder, or the history of murders that his includes. They are vandals and should be frozen out by the rest of us who are putting ourselves on the line for rights and justice.