Black Power Salute! Protesters Chain Selves to Oakland Police HQ: 25 Arrested

This is xposted from GD: I'm amazed at the lack of interest there. I think this is awesome!

Now that's what I call sending a message:

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-protesters-chains-oakland-20141215-story.html





To add my own note: I found it really disturbing that the Oakland police kept their distance during the media-covered Black Lives Matter Million March in Oakland on Saturday, but as soon as the spotlight was turned away, jackbooted police were marching in *battalions* to surround and arrest protesters. While there may have been people engaging in criminal activities, I'm confused over why the police don't just focus on arresting them? Why do they let one incident of misbehavior - which can be committed by an opponent to a demonstration - shut down the entire demonstration? And why do they have yet to grok that these are protests against abuses of police authority? That means if some student has just been hanging out protesting, and has been within their rights to protest, and they think they have the right to argue that point, the police DO NOT come down like some World War III platoon and kettle everyone in sight for resisting arrest!!!!

http://winstonsdiary.com/2014/12/15/front-center-at-the-oakland-protests-the-politics-of-a-police-state/

People do find arrest, or even direct confrontation with the police, to be a traumatic - possibly a scarring - experience. The police have to stop exposing people to that "for kicks". And this Movement means the first thing they have to do is stop exposing black people to this sort of trauma on a regular basis just "for kicks". The Oakland Police Department needs to refocus their confrontation and their authoritarian attitude ON THE CRIMINALS.

And then, just maybe, they won't have to deal with human chains outside their HQ.

Power to the #shutdownOPD!



GD post was here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025966312