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<b><small><small><small><small>Link:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/12/15/demanding-end-war-black-people-oakland-protesters-blockade-police-department">http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/12/15/demanding-end-war-black-people-oakland-protesters-blockade-police-department</a></small></small></small></small></b><br>
<h1 class="node__title managed-node-title">Demanding End to War on
Black People, Oakland Protesters Blockade Police Department</h1>
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<p>Black-led direct action disrupts business-as-usual</p>
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<div class="grouping-prefix">by</div>
<div class="profile-titles clearfix"><a
href="http://www.commondreams.org/author/sarah-lazare-staff-writer"
target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Sarah Lazare, staff writer</a></div>
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<div class="field__item even"><img class="caption-processed"
src="cid:part2.00090909.04030609@freedomarchives.org"
alt="Monday's protest was organized by black organizations
including The Blackout Collective, #BlackBrunch and
#BlackLivesMatter. (Photo: Blackout Collective)"
height="500" width="955"></div>
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field--type-text-long field--label-hidden">
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<p>Monday's protest was organized by black organizations
including The Blackout Collective, #BlackBrunch and
#BlackLivesMatter. (Photo: Blackout Collective)</p>
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<p>Bearing a banner declaring "Black and Breathing," protesters
surrounded and temporarily blockaded the Oakland Police Department
headquarters on Monday morning while shutting down a nearby
freeway entrance to <a
href="https://baysolidarity.wordpress.com/">demand</a> "an
immediate end to the war on Black people."</p>
<p>"We fight for justice for every single Black life that has passed
at the hands of police, but we must also stand up and shut down
for the Black and breathing who are at risk of the same fate,"
said Deirdre Smith, one of the organizers of the action, which was
led by the all-black organizations the BlackOut Collective,
#BlackBrunch and #BlackLivesMatter.</p>
<p>Chaining themselves together, demonstrators blocked four sets of
doors to the Oakland Police Department while approximately 30
black protesters held the space in front of the station.
Meanwhile, others shut down a major intersection leading to a
freeway close by, causing significant traffic disruption.</p>
<p>At one point, a demonstrator scaled a pole to replace an OPD flag
with one memorializing Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Alex Nieto,
Renisha McBride, and Michael Brown—all people of color, almost all
of them black, killed by police or vigilante violence. A group of
people locked together at the base of the pole to prevent the
alternate flag from being taken down.</p>
At the time of publication, organizers announced that they had
reached their goal of maintaining the blockade for 4 hours and 28
minutes. "The 4 hours honor the memory of Michael Brown, whose body
lay in the streets of Ferguson for more than 4 hours after he was
killed by a police officer," explains a <a
href="https://baysolidarity.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/why-4-hours-and-28-minutes/">joint
statement</a>. "The 28 minutes highlight the startling fact that
every 28 hours a Black person is killed by police, security or
vigilantes in this country."
<p>Protesters say that now is the moment to take a stand against
this deadly status quo.</p>
<p>"This action is part of a larger, sustained effort to disrupt
business as usual in the tradition of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
and the Woolworth counter sit-ins," said Jeralynn Blueford, the
mother of Alan Blueford who was killed by an Oakland police
officer in 2012.</p>
<p>"We didn’t get an equal seat on the bus or at the lunch counter
because we said 'please,'" Blueford continued. "We got our seats
because of our highly organized and effectively sustained protests
and boycotts, disrupting business as usual. We hold this space
today as a demonstration of Black peoples’ right to exist and to
thrive, just like anyone else."</p>
<p><span style="width: 598px;" class="image-caption-container
image-caption-container-none"><img style="width: 598px;"
class="caption-processed"
src="cid:part5.08080604.01080106@freedomarchives.org"
alt=""We fight for justice for every single Black life
that has passed at the hands of police, but we must also stand
up and shut down for the Black and breathing who are at risk
of the same fate," said organizer Deirdre Smith. (Photo:
BlackOut Collective)" title=""We fight for justice for
every single Black life that has passed at the hands of
police, but we must also stand up and shut down for the Black
and breathing who are at risk of the same fate," said
organizer Deirdre Smith. (Photo: BlackOut Collective)"
height="400" width="690"><span style="display:block;"
class="image-caption">"We fight for justice for every single
Black life that has passed at the hands of police, but we must
also stand up and shut down for the Black and breathing who
are at risk of the same fate," said organizer Deirdre Smith.
(Photo: BlackOut Collective)</span></span></p>
<p><em>Common Dreams</em> spoke over the phone with Alex Tom, a
protester with the Asian solidarity group #Asians4BlackLives,
which, along with the white ally group Bay Area Solidarity Action
Team, helped organize Monday's action under the leadership of
black organizations. "This was a really important action because
it was bringing all communities together to show that fighting for
Black lives should not just be the job of Black people," Tom
declared. "It is important for us as Asians to put our bodies on
the line and shut down institutions like the OPD that perpetrate
the war on Black people."</p>
<p>Felicia Gustin of the Bay Area Solidarity Action Team told <em>Common
Dreams, </em>"We are part of a national movement to say Black
lives matter. As white activists, we want to stress that white
silence means violence. We as white people have to join with black
communities to end violence against Black communities in this
country, making sure to do that under their leadership with
accountability to them."</p>
<p>At least 27 people were arrested at the action, and participants
are urging <a
href="http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/opd-shut-down-bail-fund/278631">support</a>
for those detained.</p>
<p>Monday's protest comes on the heels of massive <a
href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/12/13/we-will-have-justice-tens-thousands-march-day-resistance">demonstrations</a>
in New York City, Washington, D.C., and across the country over
the weekend amid a groundswell of anger and mobilization in
response to institutionalized racism in the U.S. and police
killings of unarmed black people and other communities of
color—including in Oakland.</p>
<p>According to <a
href="http://antievictionmappingproject.net/opd.html">data</a>
obtained by the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, the Oakland Police
Department, California Highway Patrol, and BART police have killed
at least 78 people since 1970. Of those 74 percent were black and
99 percent were people of color.</p>
<p>The organizers of Monday's action have been in close touch with
protesters across the country, including in New York and Ferguson,
and have explicitly endorsed a series of <a
href="http://fergusonaction.com/demands/">demands</a> which
emerged from the organization Ferguson Action, including: "an end
to all forms of discrimination and the full recognition of our
human rights" and "an immediate end to police brutality and the
murder of black, brown and all oppressed people."
</p>
<p>"There is a war on Black people in America and police are the
militarized force leading it," said Wazi Maret David, an Oakland
resident and violence prevention educator. "We are here today to
bring our demands to OPD’s front door, to stake claim on their
space, and to bring an end to state-sanctioned violence against
all Black people."</p>
<p>A video of the action is available at the link above<br>
</p>
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