Meserhle Trial for death of Oscar Grant begins in LA (Oakland: middle-class, lofts)

[lmk1707]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Its like they think they can get away with it because its Oakland.

I wish the communities in Downtown, around the lake and in other high profile areas of town would meet and plan ways to protect their areas. Maybe put up roadblocks at strategic points and help board up storefronts.

Most of all, I think its important to reach out to the Oaklanders themselves who might be inclined to participate in these antics.

This one rhetoric lady from I think they are called "Justice by Any Means" is quite vitriolic in her commentary on threatening violence and vandalism. Ive seen her on the net a few times and it makes me mad that she can be so coy about damaging the property of innocent people who have nothing to do with this trial at all.

They've been posting/emailing a Community Information Bulletin in several languages urging residents to secure their trashcans/cars, and there's a Mehserle verdict update section of the City of Oakland website. I think you're right to say the city should be humanizing potential targets more - emphasizing who the retail establishment owners are, maybe including profiles of people whose businesses were damaged last time around.

'Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, beseeched residents to avoid further violence and not tarnish the image of her son.

"You're hurting people who have nothing to do with the situation. You're vandalizing their property, hurting their cars and breaking their windows. Please just stop it, please," Johnson said at a Thursday afternoon news conference.'

also:

'Evan Shamar, an organizer of the protest, said a group of anarchists not associated with the organizations hosting the rally had smashed a police vehicle before setting a garbage can on fire — triggering the rioting.

Thomason seemed to agree, saying that many in the crowd were peaceful —but mixed into the group were what he called "professional protestors," some wearing masks designed to conceal their identities.'

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by lmk1707

They've been posting/emailing a Community Information Bulletin in several languages urging residents to secure their trashcans/cars, and there's a Mehserle verdict update section of the City of Oakland website. I think you're right to say the city should be humanizing potential targets more - emphasizing who the retail establishment owners are, maybe including profiles of people whose businesses were damaged last time around.

'Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, beseeched residents to avoid further violence and not tarnish the image of her son.

"You're hurting people who have nothing to do with the situation. You're vandalizing their property, hurting their cars and breaking their windows. Please just stop it, please," Johnson said at a Thursday afternoon news conference.'

also:

'Evan Shamar, an organizer of the protest, said a group of anarchists not associated with the organizations hosting the rally had smashed a police vehicle before setting a garbage can on fire — triggering the rioting.

Thomason seemed to agree, saying that many in the crowd were peaceful —but mixed into the group were what he called "professional protestors," some wearing masks designed to conceal their identities.'

Good stuff.

In any event, hope it all turns out well.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

Are you trying to write a movie script or something??? The cops had no evidence that Grant was the toruble maker? They simply pulled him out of the train based on suspicion and then shot him dead for no reason. Are you just thick or hell-bent on justifying this murder?

People on the train called the police.

It was a dangerous situation.

I'm not justifying the wrongful death.

But Grant was no choir boy. I concede he was making an attempt to reform. But he had a history of confrontations with police and had a severe anger management problem.

Stop trying to paint this into a one size fits all notion of "police brutality against people of color." It was actually a complicated and ugly situation.

[UPT Oakland]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

People on the train called the police.

It was a dangerous situation.

I'm not justifying the wrongful death.

But Grant was no choir boy. I concede he was making an attempt to reform. But he had a history of confrontations with police and had a severe anger management problem.

Stop trying to paint this into a one size fits all notion of "police brutality against people of color." It was actually a complicated and ugly situation.

How would they have known his history or why would that matter? It seems like people are using his past history as an excuse to why he was shot. What does that matter, so because of his past history it justifies him getting shot in the back? What are you saying? Meserle got radio'd "You're arresting Oscar Grant Prior felon think fast, react". Cops are trained to treat every random person the same way, as a potential criminal. This was not a pre organized raid where they had a list of background information.

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by UPT Oakland

How would they have known his history or why would that matter? It seems like people are using his past history as an excuse to why he was shot. What does that matter, so because of his past history it justifies him getting shot in the back? What are you saying? Meserle got radio'd "You're arresting Oscar Grant Prior felon think fast, react". Cops are trained to treat every random person the same way, as a potential criminal. This was not a pre organized raid where they had a list of background information.

Exactly!

I watched that tape plenty of times, and he did absolutely nothing that would or should have warranted him being shot, or even manhandled the way he was!

The thing that I hate about people falling back on his past is that they knew nothing about him when this occured - he could have been a choirboy as the previous poster said. He could have been anyone. Whether he was a bad kid who was cleaning himself up or not is not the point: he did not deserve to die.

[Mr. Fantastic]

Originally Posted by lmk1707

I remember when the Mehserle thing first came out, it turned out it was mostly troublemakers from other areas (primarily SF) coming to Oakland and starting crap, and a lot of the people interviewed seemed to just have an alarming zeal for violence, and weren't particularly concerned with the issue at hand. Last weekend, someone graffiti'd around Lake Merritt some really odd things, and one of them was "BART hates black people." I was extremely skeptical of that being written by someone who was either black or from Oakland, it seemed more like someone was trolling Oakland residents via sidewalk graffiti.

Yeah because Oakland doesn't have a history of violent rioting.
RAIDER RAGE / Oakland police no match for street mayhem - SFGate
http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2003/01/27/ba_riot2.jpg (broken link)

lmk1707: "Look guys, it's people from San Francisco trashing Oakland because of 'Raider Rage'."

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Mr. Fantastic

lmk1707: "Look guys, it's people from San Francisco trashing Oakland because of 'Raider Rage'."

more like:
"Look guys, its the racist, israeli-apologist, waiter, back to sling mud at things he know's nothing about."

Credibility: Zero.

[lmk1707]

Originally Posted by Mr. Fantastic

Yeah because Oakland doesn't have a history of violent rioting.
RAIDER RAGE / Oakland police no match for street mayhem - SFGate


lmk1707: "Look guys, it's people from San Francisco trashing Oakland because of 'Raider Rage'."

Aw heck, I warrant a troll-bait of my very own? I feel so special.

[lmk1707]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Most of all, I think its important to reach out to the Oaklanders themselves who might be inclined to participate in these antics.

Small update on this, they've just released a flyer meant for young people who might feel inclined to participate in riots:

Home ~ City of Oakland, California

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by lmk1707

I remember when the Mehserle thing first came out, it turned out it was mostly troublemakers from other areas (primarily SF) coming to Oakland and starting crap, and a lot of the people interviewed seemed to just have an alarming zeal for violence, and weren't particularly concerned with the issue at hand. Last weekend, someone graffiti'd around Lake Merritt some really odd things, and one of them was "BART hates black people." I was extremely skeptical of that being written by someone who was either black or from Oakland, it seemed more like someone was trolling Oakland residents via sidewalk graffiti.

I concur.

Not long ago, someone sprayed "GREEDY IGNORANT YUPPIES FREE YOUR MIND" and "CORPORATE ELITIST YUPPIES GO HOME" in front of the Whole Foods on Harrison. They probably then got on their fixed-gear bikes and rode down to BART to spray paint what they think that black people want to say but don't because the MAN keeps them down.

Seriously though: I picture a white kid on a fixed-gear bike with plugs in their ears and horn rimmed glasses, wearing a ratty plaid shirt and black jeans they borrowed from their girlfriend who lives in a converted warehouse in West Oakland and lives off of vegan soul food going and doing stuff like this.

Over the last 2-3 years, it seems like there's been an exceptional influx of kids who seem to live off of a diet of white guilt and teen angst that's extended into adulthood as their parents pay for their art school into West Oakland, Fruitvale, Macarthur, etc. and then think that they are some sort of super-down urbn revolutionary or something.