College students and Berkeley residents gathered to march from UC Berkeley to Downtown Oakland Civic Center in solidarity with those protesting over the Grand Jury decisions to not indict both Darren Wilson in the Mike Brown case in Ferguson, MO., as well as Daniel Pantaleo in the Eric Garner case in Staten Island. Protesters met with riot police inevitably because you can’t be against systemic racism in this country without it. I say riot police against students, because for the most part the crowd is always students and families, teachers and activists. Some are more radical than others but if people who were ready to fuck the city up came out in numbers deserving of police in riot gear, it would be more than a few windows broken or a few atms smashed or a few batteries taken from a radioshack. Who gives a shit about any of those things when Black LIVES are being stolen from us? Those you have absolutely no ability to give back.
Anyway, to say that this was a march hell bent on property destruction as a form of self expression is complete bullshit given the very serious peace police problem we have within the movement. I guarantee you there is always someone who is more mad about a little bit of spray paint than they are someone’s life being taken away and so the same cameras we use to film police, some us to try and actually be the police but from the inside. This is a major problem at every single protest I have ever been to. The lack of respect for diversity of tactics causes rifts and divides within the movement that cause it to shut down. So because of this very inconvenient thing that is an epidemic through the protests, many of the marches are not filled with black clad individuals ready to destroy everything and setting the city on fire. That’s propaganda.
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When you see protesters masking up at these different events it is in an effort to protect themselves and their identities; not just from police who have been known to unfairly target people after they leave protests, but also by those who watch on the various livestreams that are available. As a streamer I myself have been under an exraordinary amount of attack by viewers who disagree with my stance against the
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According to an ABC News article protesters broke windows and threw rocks and bricks at police. Some of the projectile hit police causing minor injuries. Instead of believing the lie that a protester somehow threw a heavy ass sandbag that caused an officer to have a dislocated shoulder, I think it’s more logical to assume the officer obtained that injury by swinging a baton wildly at protesters. Other sources claim the police broke a protesters leg when it was hit by rubber bullets.
Whether or not the Trader Joe’s, RadioShack & Wells Fargo Bank were vandalized and products liberated from them before or after the attack is pointless. People are frustrated with the violence, racism and various forms of systemic oppression we have all been subjected to. They are tired of the abusive capitalist power structure that highlights the divide and profits off of the suffering of those in need. The silenced voices of People of Color and those living in a lower socio economic environments will be heard and will not be ignored even if that means you can’t get your $10 morning latte and Trader Joe’s Syrah dipped cheese.
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One also has to wonder if Berkeley police haven’t been waiting on a chance to pay UC Berkeley students back for research that was done on the Occupy protests back in 2011 and had come to the disturbing conclusion that police themselves actually instigated the violence when protesters met them in the street. I personally thank them for the research even though it was after we had all experienced it first hand with no
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Below are videos from both J28 Occupy Oakland Protests when police used the same heavy handed tactics on peaceful protesters that they used last night on those marching from UC Berkeley to Oakland Civic Center. Pictures can be found here. Both are disturbing if you have any heart.
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