It's hard to convey the magnitude of people in attendance. Early estimates suggest close to 500 attendees around Frank Ogawa Square.
The place was crawling with media, but the faces of the community shone through.
A sea of signs, cameras and consternation
Even the youngest participated in the "Lay In," nearly 100 people laying face-down, emulating Oscar Grant, chanting "Please don't shoot," while the names of victims of police brutality were read off along with Oscar Grant.
An event organizer calling for donations to support Oscar Grant's family.
The rally marched from city hall to the courthouse to listen to a rousing speech by Keith Muhammad, a minister with the Nation of Islam.
Protesters push back to City Hall after making the rounds of the march.
A handful of assholes decided to directly defy calls from organizers and the Grant family by following the peaceful, positive rally with further violent action against local businesses. It is appalling that they continue to appropriate Oscar Grant's memory and the energy of this positive moment to fulfill their own misdirected need for destruction. Shame on them and shame on the local media for ALREADY equating these miscreants with the movement and giving them more coverage than the rally itself. For once, I'm really glad I am not with a mainstream media outlet where in I would be forced to cover that insanity. Fuck sensationalism and fuck needless violence.
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2 comments:
Great pictures.
It is the way of all movements that people attempt to co-opt them for their own purposes. Luckily for the vandals, and unfortunately for everyone else, violence attracts attention in more visceral manner than a righteous cause.
the ugliest thing i saw at the rally was that asshole evangelical with the megaphone, taking the opportunity of a gathered crowd that had nothing to do with him and his hateful agenda, to spew bigotry and tell people they were all going to hell. i wouldn't be surprised if he were actually a plant with the main objective to actually incite violence. i'm typically a pacifist and even i was having to control the violent impulses welling in me toward him.
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