One week after an organized peaceful protest against BART police and officials broke out into a riot through downtown Oakland, the Coalition Against Police Execution decided to hold another protest in front of Oakland City Hall.
Even after their previous gathering ended in thousands of dollars of damage to stores who's owners had nothing to do with the protest. AND even after the BART police officer, who shot a handcuffed man in the back, was arrested in Nevada earlier that day.
Protest organizers STILL decided to go ahead with their second protest. And what happened? You guessed it. Another riot.
I'm not against the right to protest. I'm just against stupidity. Even though, as in the first riot, the people causing the trouble was a small splinter group--the organizers HAD TO KNOW another riot was possible. But once again, an entire afternoon of peaceful protest was overshadowed by news coverage of people breaking windows and running wild through the streets of downtown Oakland.
The thing that's really annoying is that the protest organizers get away scott-free. For all the property damage caused by the vandals, the people that gave them an excuse to riot won't be held responsible for anything. I wonder if those idiots will plan a THIRD "peaceful" protest next week?
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Runner-up: The CAPE--Coalition Against Police Executions Blog
From their blog: "On January 14 CAPE had a beautiful community event in Oakland, y'all! There were speakers, singers, preachers, organizers - amazing. Sean Bell's mother sent a letter which CAPE Co-founder Dereca Blackmon read to us at the rally. We pulled together security from the community and were able to really maintain the safety of the crowd throughout the event. The formal event ended, and folks moved out into the night."
Folks moved out into the night? I guess that's one way to put it.
4 comments:
Well put!
As someone with an office less than a mile from the "fun zone", I want to know what looting a Radio Shack has to do with being against police violence?
I believe that would be something in the way of: Don't taze me bro! I mean, I wouldn't want to be put under police violence if I were stealing stuff.
@CK not a goddamn thing, just an excuse to run amuck
Feeling like CAPE should be held responsible for what a group of individuals decided to do AFTER there was a clear indication that the event was over, is like holding a movie theater responsible for a car accident that happen as people were leaving the theater. You just want someone to blame. In hindsight, windows and property can be replaced, human life can not. Don't be so materialistic.
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