From Cynthia Chandler: Rally at San Leandro - We had a small rally by huge national standards, but not bad for a impromptu rally against a virtually un-noticed public city council and police meeting designed to hide the community showing of their tank-to-be. Our anti-tank, anti-police-terror folks way outnumbered the about ten pro tank /pro police fanatics. We were honored to be joined by the family of Lupe Ochoa - they are so strong. One older white woman confronted me in a bullying way for carrying a blacklivesmatter sign into the city counsel public hearing at the end of the rally, accusing me of not caring about white lives. A powerful group of teens from the san leandro social justice academy took her on, called her out by describing her comments in their public comments as signs of persistent racism here - it was so cool to watch. And the students made phenomenal public statements. Anita Wills gave powerful testimony about being in both Ferguson and Stockton when similar military vehicles were loaded with armed officers pointing guns at her as a peaceful protester. Richard Mellor gave great testimony connecting struggles and inequality here in san leandro to global struggles against capitalism and war. Several former military and police officers spoke against the militarization of policing. Many people recalled the blatant white supremacist history of the town and ti Tim Holmes poignantly charged the city council to help us challenge that history, not continue or return to it. We had a lot of radio and TV media at the rally; a few only seemed to want to film the vehicle if we took a few steps away, but mostly we got good coverage. The city council votes on whether to purchase the tank in February. That gives us more time to organize in force against the heightened level of police terrorism happening here. Overall, I left feeling hopeful that a powerful activist movement is emerging.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 06:03:17 +0000
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