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by Alex Cuff, Newsbrief Editor
Oakland - March 5 marked the day for the National Student Strike against the
war. High school and college students from San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley
and around the Bay Area walked out of classes today in support of peace.
Instead of protecting this peaceful protest, however, Oakland Police marred
the day by brutally attacking the youth and several elderly people
accompanying them.
Gathering in downtown Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza, the
protest began peacefully with police looking on. As 300 to 400 students,
most from local high schools, marched peacefully down Broadway toward Jack
London Square, carrying a banner, singing and chanting in the tradition of
nonviolent protest, members of the Oakland Police Department began following
the protesters, and the number of officers steadily increased.
Once the students reached Jack London Square, police began attacking them,
running into the demonstrators with their motorcycles. Ra'shida Askey,
managing editor and staff writer for the San Francisco Bay View newspaper,
asked officers why they were running over the young marchers. In response, a
black female police officer grabbed Ra'shida by the neck and placed her in a
chokehold. The Bay View's associate editor, JR Valrey, who was also covering
the march, came to his colleague's aid. At this point, several officers
swarmed both JR and Ra'shida, knocking them to the ground and beating them
both. Ra'shida sustained the most injuries.
JR and Ra'shida were placed in a paddy wagon. When another arrested
demonstrator, Kelly Duncan, joined them, the Black woman police officer
holding her remarked, "It was three of them! I should have been able to use
my gun."
The two Bay View journalists are currently being detained at the Oakland
City Jail and have been refused release on their own recognizance. They are
being charged with obstructing and battering a police officer and resisting
arrest. The extent of their injuries is unknown.
These unprovoked attacks are yet another example of the out of control
conduct of the Oakland Police Department and police departments across the
nation. The ferocity and severity of the attack on these two Black
journalists, representing a Black newspaper, and on young demonstrators -
predominantly Black high school students - looks suspiciously like a case of
racial profiling. In the Bay Area, known for racial diversity, political
activism and overwhelming opposition to U.S. plans for war, such attacks on
freedom of speech and of the press are intolerable.
In a show of support, please share this information widely and make your
opinions known to the Oakland Mayor's Office at (510) 238-3141 and the
Oakland Chief of Police at (510) 238-3365.
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