"Oakland's Not For Burning"- Armory Bradford

I have an article to finish and a bunch of songs to post and ramble about, but at present I can't focus my attention on anything other than the events surrounding the death of Oscar Grant. I am outraged by Grant's execution at the hands of the police and am upset about the riotous turn the subsequent protest took. If you don't know the particulars, google it, it's everywhere. As noted, by the Grant family's attorney, John Burris, this is a crazy case in that there is so much video evidence that has surfaced showing a BART officer killing Grant execution style by standing over him and shooting him in the back.

I don't want to delve too much into the legitimacy of Officer Johannes Mehserle's actions or any events that preceded the shooting, because nothing excuses such actions. NOTHING. Yesterday a protest took place that shut down the Fruitvale BART Station where the shooting occurred. From what I've heard, from friends and family in attendance, the protest was peaceful and effective.

Unfortunately, a group of protesters spilled down East 14th St towards downtown after the rally. The live coverage was saying that the crowd had turned "rowdy," based on the video below. The crowd sets a dumpster on fire and rocks a cop car, but nothing outrageous. In true police fashion, they fire tear gas, rubber bullets and bean bags into the crowd and hit the on-scene reporter at the end of this clip.

Things would get uglier however as we have all seen and heard. I understand the frustration and anger that we all feel, but I'm frustrated about our lack of discipline last night. We have a sound and righteous cause, and yet we are allowing ourselves to be led astray. We aren't stupid for lashing out, but our energies must be unified and thought out. Many took to the streets informed and with the best intentions and so we need to be careful about being accusatory. It is not my intention to make blanket indictments, I'm only trying to say that we need to control ourselves so that the police won't. Disproving the media myth of indiscriminate mayhem, four Oakland teens express their frustration in an informed manner in the video below.
Clearly the police are in the wrong and created this climate and continued to be unpopular by arresting over 100 people last night, but much of the crowd's behavior was out of line and unproductive. Have we not learned from Watts, DC, Crown Heights, Cleveland and the numerous other cities to experience riots, that destroying random property in your city and neighborhoods does no one any good?

I want justice for Oscar Grant, his family and Oakland, but this is not the way to go about it. I don't want us to shrug and go on about our lives, I DO want us to maintain that anger and energy, but I want us to channel it constructively. This is a great tragedy, but with tragedy comes opportunity. We have the ears and eyes of the nation on us, but we are abusing that opportunity by making ourselves look like roaming idiots. I know a lot of you went to the protest and took part in the demonstration and march, so I want to know how you feel. I am not in town and so can only cling to second hand news and slanted reporting, but from what I hear and see, it was not a good showing of us as Oaklanders.
Riots have seldom led to progress. I understand the concept behind "No Justice, No Peace," but random acts of violence don't help anyone. We messed up a police car or two, but we caused more damage to private property that has nothing to do with the City or the Police. I think visiting the DA's office was a good move on behalf of local preachers and residents, but I think we need to do that to Mayor Dellums and the city counsel as well. We need to clog the jails and sit outside the police station. We need to make the city function at our command. We are protesting excessive force so hopefully the police will not use it in shutting down our activities. That is, unless we give them every excuse in the book to like we did last night.

I understand that much of the destruction was the work of random knuckleheads and opportunistic, out-of-town anarchists, but we allowed it to happen. It showed that without leadership, it's hard to rally around a common vision and strategy. And I don't mean we need a figure head, but we need a unified thesis so that we can stand and act in solidarity. The city's "leadership" have clearly proved themselves unworthy once again, but we shouldn't be surprised. To quote William Wallace from Braveheart, "Men don't follow titles, they follow courage." We need to stop looking to their long official sounding titles for guidance, where is our courage? Smashing the windows of small businesses does not take courage. Stomping on random cars does not take courage. I am glad that folks are upset enough to mobilize but WE ALSO NEED TO BE DISCIPLINED. Last night too many of us insulted the memory of Oscar Grant by using his wrongful death as an excuse to indiscriminately fuck shit up.

As much as city officials decry the violence and destruction of these skirmishes, you better believe that they are relieved too. Why? Because riots tend to lose focus and momentum and burn out. Folks have taken out their aggression, but not done anything to resolve the original source of their frustration. We are kidding ourselves if we think smashing some windows will bring Oscar back or make BART, the police or the city act any quicker. Oakland expects riots just like every other major city. That's why they have SWAT teams. That response has been played out and doesn't work. It doesn't harm those who are ignoring our calls for justice, it only harms our fellow citizens and business owners who we need on our side. We need to be more creative and comprehensive.

To quote Braveheart again, "I know you can fight, but it our wits that make us men." If we choose to utilize violence as part of our strategy then that is fine. But it must fit into a broader framework that makes sense. 30 protesters will not beat a SWAT team toe-to-toe, they will merely contradict the more peaceful message sent earlier at the protest. And that contradiction will allow authorities to identify all of us as lawless because we are all holding the same banners. If 10,000 protesters decide to stand up in unity to carry out some large scale acts of strategic violence, then that can be different, but let us not fool ourselves into thinking that's what last night was.We are angry. But blinded by our anger we act out rather than act right. The moment we lash out randomly, we cede our just cause and give authorities and police the power we held. If we can't control ourselves, each other, or our causes then idiots will control us. And idiots come in the form of car stomping teens, pseudo-revolutionary mercenaries, inept transit cops, abusive police officers and graying city officials.

WE NEED TO CONTROL THE MESSAGE AND OUR CAUSE. Don't let this become about the riots, make it about Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo and all the others killed and harassed by the police. Let it be about us as citizens taking back control of our streets by enacting real oversight in police matters. Hold the police, the city and us accountable. Let's go back to the drawing board, refine our message and strategies and come out unified. Yes splinter groups will always exist, but if we can dominate the message and THE ACTION, then we will be in a much better position to demand change.

For starters, please go down town to assist and patronize the small business owners who had their shops damaged in the rioting. It's what a good neighbor, friend and Oaklander would do. Let our giving spirits be one of the qualities that define us and our response to this tragedy.