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<div class="fwn fcg"><span class="fcg"><span class="fwb"><a
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href="https://www.facebook.com/mrdaveyd"
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data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=882195719">Davey
D Cook</a></span> added 3 new photos.</span></div>
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<div class="_5pcp"><span><span class="fsm fwn fcg"><a
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href="https://www.facebook.com/mrdaveyd/posts/10154883607530720"><abbr
title="Tuesday, December 9, 2014 at 9:09am"
data-utime="1418144976" data-shorten="1" class="_5ptz
timestamp livetimestamp">https://www.facebook.com/mrdaveyd/posts/10154883607530720<br>
</abbr></a></span></span></div>
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<p>Still trying to take in everything that went down last night on
what wound up being an epic and historic 4th night of protests in
Berkeley..Early on it it was frustrating and a bit confusing. But
at the end of the night it was empowering, inspiring, focused and
on point. Over 5 thousand folks came out and wound up shutting
down freeways several times. There was an attempt to shut down the
Bay Bridge and folks stopped Amtrak from running. </p>
<p> Civil Disobedience was the order of the night. Ending police
brutality was the unwavering demand with large numbers of students
being shown on newscasts being joined by a large numbers of local
neighborhood folks who are also upset with police terrorism. Again
last night was historic. Folks will be out in the streets again
tonight.. Here's some of what went down.</p>
<p> The flyer most of us got was put out by BAMN (By Any Means
Necessary). It noted that Monday's March was an Emergency Response
to the police violence levied on students from the past 2 days.</p>
<p> What most people know and have been being around the country
about the Berkeley based protests were bank windows being busted
and mayhem. It's what the media has focused on even though is is a
whole lot more to what is going on. </p>
<p> With the announcement of last night's march, police countered by
issuing warnings to local businesses to close down early and board
up. Nearby schools were let out and the YMCA was shut down..News
vans from all over showed up in mass, looking to see riots they
would be disappointed. </p>
<p> By 5pm over 2 thousand folks showed up and consisted of folks
from a variety of organizations both on and off campus. Folks left
the campus and headed downtown to Shattuck Ave which ground zero
for all the drama in previous nights. </p>
<p> It was here that folks at the height of rush hour, did a massive
'die in' and shut down traffic.. That was pretty impressive.
Everything came to a stand still. But as quickly as it started it
ended. There seemed to be some confusion as some folks got up
while others wanted to stay..</p>
<p> Eventually everyone got up and headed down to the Berkley police
station on MLK. They arrived around 6pm. By then the crowds had
grown even larger and for as far as the eye could see you saw
folks marching.. As was the case in previous nights, the crowd was
mostly everyone but Black folks. It was an interesting sight to
see this sea of people chanting 'Whose Life Matters? Black Lives
Matter!' and 'Hands Up Don't Shoot'.. </p>
<p> At the police station which is across the street from Berkeley
High School a line of several dozen police in full riot gear
greeted the students. They stood behind barricades and almost from
jumped acted aggressively.. </p>
<p> For example a young woman standing next to the barricade put her
hand on it and an officer wearing glasses named Johnson smashed
his baton down at her. A man who I believe was a local reporter
standing nearby also had his hand on the barricades and saw a
baton bash down on him. It was an unnecessary behavior with more
than few pointing out that it was this sort of action that set off
the firestorm the last couple of nights. Why are the police acting
so ill was the question of the night? Folks were getting pissed.</p>
<p> On the opposite side of the barricade near the PG&E building
a scuffle broke out. An officer who was identified as J Jones was
accused of jabbing a baton into the side of 16 year old kid named
Tyrese. He was one of the youngest and also one of the few Black
folks in the crowd. </p>
<p> He said he had traveled to Berkeley from Deep East Oakland and
was present because he had knowledge of self and wanted to speak
out and make a difference for people in his neighborhood who
weren't there. He said he was upset and even more disturbed that
he was hit by one of the few Black officers standing behind the
barricades. </p>
<p> The crowd reacted in anger to the scuffle with some wanting to
set it off..Others in the crowd started chanted 'Peaceful Protest!
Peaceful Protest'..Someone in the crowd yelled for everyone to
'sit down'. More than half the crowd sat down while folks in the
front, many wearing masks stood up and faced down police..</p>
<p> The folks in the front still angry from the baton swings, turned
to the crowd that was sitting and demanded everyone stand up.
There was a bunch of back and forth between protestors. </p>
<p> There was a brother named Abe Adelaja from New York. For folks
who were there, he was the cat rocking a jean jacket and wearing a
red baseball hat. He got really hyped and ran to the middle of
crowd and demanded everyone stand up..</p>
<p> 'You don't protest sitting down", he yelled. "No justice will
come with us sitting down!.. This is not a Kumbaya moment!
Everyone stand up! ".</p>
<p> At that point someone grabbed a bullhorn and tried to urge the
crowd to be silent for 4 minutes in honor of Michael Brown.. </p>
<p> The brother with the red cap was not having it and him the guy
with the bullhorn got into a back and forth.. It was peaceful
protestors vs those who wanted to take more aggressive action.</p>
<p> Abe could be heard saying that the police need to be challenged.
He said "We can't sit down.. Protests are not peaceful.. This is
not how you protest". </p>
<p> Still large numbers of folks felt differently and held their
ground. They felt they should sit down and "be peaceful." </p>
<p> After a while many in the crowd that were sitting got up and
left.. It had to be close to a thousand people.. They just
bounced, The whole thing seemed disorganized as it was clear folks
had not fully planned things out..</p>
<p> The brother with the red hat (Abe) who by now had a small crowd
around him declared the march was a failure.. "We lost tonight" he
said. "We allowed 25 police officers to punk 2 thousand
protestors" </p>
<p> He continued; "Look at the media... they are no longer watching
us.. They are leaving,. Our message won't be heard". </p>
<p> In actuality, many of the local commercial media including folks
from the CBS affiliate KPIX were on hand and had gathered around
him as he continued to stress his points about protests are not be
love fests.</p>
<p> I asked the brother; "Whats wrong with sitting down. Can't one
cause disruption and shut things down by sitting down and blocking
traffic?"</p>
<p> He said 'yes, but sitting down in front of a police station is
not the move..We are being killed for sitting down. We are being
killed for holding our hands up.. We have to push back, We have to
push through.." </p>
<p> He again re-emphasized the lack of media coverage and our
message not being heard about the horrors of police brutality if
we just sit down. </p>
<p> While all the local media cameras were on Abe I asked him, 'Why
do we need to have marches, show up in large numbers, bust up
windows or confront the police in order for these commercial news
outlets to cover issues of police brutality? Why do we need to
protest in order for all these media to talk about the police
killing unarmed people? </p>
<p> My question though directed to Abe was actually intended to make
the point to the commercial outlets standing with us. I also
pointed that all the outlets standing around us run commercials
each night bragging that they have investigative units.. 'Why
aren't those investigative units not investigating the police
being violent?' </p>
<p> The brother Abe acknowledged that its true the media should
cover wrong doing on its on merit. "But what else are we supposed
to do?" he asked "The media is out here because of confrontation,
not because we sat down peacefully. How else do we get the media's
attention? We have to do things to capture their attention because
if all we do is sit around quietly they wont take us serious. No
one will come talk to us so we have to demonstrate". </p>
<p> It was at that point someone pointed out that Berkeley police
had hit a young brother (Tyrese) with baton. It was suggested that
the media 'investigate'. So all the cameras and lights came over
to the barricades where the cops were at..Tyrese who must weigh
about 130 pounds explained that he was holding up a sign when
officer J Jones hit him with his baton. </p>
<p> 'You are my brother, why would you hit me? I'm not armed. I'm a
young activist who got knowledge of self and I'm trying to make
things better-why would you hit me.. I'm the only Black guy out
here and you're Black cop out here.. why would you hit me like
that?'. </p>
<p> The officer responded, 'You touched the barricade'.</p>
<p> Tyrese responded; That he had not touched the barricade and all
the officer had to do was tell him to step back.. "'What is it
about your uniform that you find more value in a barricade,which
is a piece of iron then you do in my life?" </p>
<p> He continued; You don't know if I have asthma, heart condition
or anything. I am unarmed, peaceful and now I'm bruised and in
pain. You are armed with guns, bully club and riot gear. What is
it about this uniform that robs you of your humanity? </p>
<p> Tyrese concluded by telling the officer he'll never forget his
name or his face and that he needs to get knowledge of himself.. </p>
<p> The entire exchange was powerful. It'll be interesting to see if
any of it made the news since all the cameras caught the exchange
and reporters got to see a video of Tyrese getting hit with the
baton.. Thus far it has not been shown.. I will post up the
exchange later on today for all to hear.. </p>
<p> While all this was taking place, the crowd that left had gone
down several blocks, to bypass the police barricades and headed
down University Ave toward the 80 freeway. Whatever tensions and
disorganization displayed in front of the police station gave way
as folks would step up and shut down Highway 80 in both
directions. </p>
<p> They overwhelmed the large numbers of police by splitting up
into several groups and entering the freeway from multiple
directions via Aquatic Park. Police were forced re-route traffic
and have people turn around and go in the opposite direction on
the freeway headed west in order to clear it. </p>
<p> While police were engaging the throngs of people on the freeway,
another large group headed up to the nearby Amtrak station. They
entered onto the tracks and lied down and refused to move. Amtrak
was shut down and would remain so for the entire night as folks
stood in front of the train with doing 'Hands Don't Shoot
'gesture.</p>
<p> A few things that should be noted. In the local coverage, some
of the news accounts have shown folks who suggested that folks
were just out there protesting to protest. That's far from the
truth. Over and over again, folks emphasized, that it can no
longer be business as usual and that police brutality must stop.</p>
<p> If you are watching local news coverage, they are trying to show
folks who were 'upset' about the freeway closures. Not sure if the
folks they interviewed were actually stuck in traffic. However, if
you were on the freeway or even near it along the park, then it
was plain as day to see that many who were in their cars were
honking their horns in approval with more than a few getting out
of their cars and joining the protests. People were chanting,
doing the Hands Up Don't Shoot gesture, while others who were
sitting in their cars cranked up their music and gave folks a
soundtrack. </p>
<p> From what I could see last night, none of the local outlets
reporting on the freeway shut downs this morning had reporters on
the freeway to interview drivers or protestors. Most are using the
same stock footage of an overhead shot taken when folks were in
Emeryville in much smaller numbers and was given to them by a
service. </p>
<p> Some of the footage being shown alongside the freeway footage
came during earlier parts of the march when folks were at the
police station.</p>
<p> This is important to note because a lot of important aspects
were missed. First the news keeps saying a thousand people were at
the march. No way. No how. There were several marches. The first
group that showed up to highway 80 via Aquatic Park might have
been at least a thousand deep. </p>
<p> There was another group that went through South Berkeley and got
local residents to join. What started out as a mostly Non Black
student demonstration was soon mixed with Black and Brown folks
and non students. This second group was even bigger then the first
group. There were several hundred people on actually hoped the
railing and went on the freeway but throngs of people were a few
feet away along the walk way and jogging trail that runs alongside
the freeway. Those folks would not be seen from the airel footage
because its too dark.. But folks were there and in large numbers.
It wasn't just students out there. It was neighborhood folks,
students, older and younger.. </p>
<p> One mother who was on the freeway brought her two daughters and
said it was important for them to witness this. Another older
gentleman also on the freeway said he recalled when folks tried to
shut down the freeway after Rodney King verdict in 92. He said
back then the crowds were much smaller and everyone got arrested,
but tonight he was proud to see folks came out for a problem that
sadly still persists.</p>
<p> There was another sister with a bull horn walking up and down
and in between cars demanding that folks call their congresspeople
and demand they do something about police killing Black people.
She was amped and kept shouting where's Nancy Pelosi? Why aren't
our elected officials they out here with us? She gave out the
phone numbers and websites of everyone from Barbara Lee to Pelosi
and urged people to call their representatives and get them to do
something about the police killing folks. </p>
<p> Some of the footage being shown is a third group of marches who
attempted to shut down the Bay Bridge. They were eventually
stopped and arrested after police got reinforcements in
Emeryville. More than 150 were sent to Santa Rita last night for
being on the freeway. </p>
<p> Another thing to note is that marchers had their own drones or
aircraft that was set into flight and followed along. While on the
freeway the peoples drone flew overhead with people talking about
how they have their own technology to watch the police. </p>
<p> At every point students and marchers confronted the police and
asked them to examine the roles that they are playing. One man
refused to leave the freeway until one of the officers would step
forward and promise to stand up to those who are mistreating
people. He kept asking is there one officer or any officer who
will stand up and speak out against wrongful deaths by police. He
told the police they are making choices. Just doing your job is a
weak excuse. Who will stand up to wrongful deaths at the hands of
police? None of the officers standing alongside the freeway would
answer. </p>
<p> I will post up all the audio from last night later today so
folks can hear some of these powerful exchanges..</p>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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