Occupy Oakland
The last two nights have been sleepless. Not only because of the Police helicopters circling while the ground forces corralled, tear-gassed, abused, and arrested protestors and marchers of Occupy Oakland, but also because my liberal guilt has been keeping me up. I stand for everything that these people do and its been killing me that I have not gone to Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza and shared in the experience with the protestors. Mainly, and regretfully, I have not because I have to work.
Lamesauce, I know.
Borrowed from OccupyOakland.org
So, with the buzzing sound of helicopters in my ears, I rose from my attempted slumber to see what the hell was going on. With little work I was able to find the empowering and the enraging. I was not content to just go to sleep so I decided to write Oakland’s mayor, Jean Quan, and let her know how I felt. Below is what I submitted through her website.
Mayor Quan,
In reference to recent events of the clashes with Occupy Oakland, I am outraged at the closed-fist, draconian actions of your office and the police department in which you directly preside over. Any and all injuries, insults, or indignity experienced or inflicted are caused by and incited from your, and your administration’s rash and unmerited reaction to a peaceful demonstration.
Protestors in Frank Ogawa and Snow Parks were respectfully and amicably exercising their First Amendment Rights to “peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”. These grievances are of the utmost importance to these protestors, the good people of Oakland, your administration, and the country as a whole. Surely someone who at one time stood in protests for Filipino farmworkers in the 1969 “Third World Strike” would understand the importance of the undertakings of these few brave protestors. Certainly a mayor that lauded her experiences in the aforementioned strike (to win favor in the mayoral race that gave you your current position) would have understood the necessity of allowing kindred spirits to carry out their peaceful actions.
Shame. Shame on you, Mayor Quan. Have you forgotten what it was like? Have you forgotten the pauperized people that you once stood by? It is these abused peoples that the Occupy Oakland protestors stand for. Also, whether you realize it or not, they stand for you. Sleep peacefully tonight, Mayor Quan, for there are literally hundreds of your constituents that are not, so that you can.
I know, it isn’t brilliant or incendiary, but it is how I feel. This was actually the first time that I have written to a politician. Weird. I can hardly believe it myself that I haven’t written to a representative in office before. It’s strangely empowering! Like I’m actually part of the process.
I highly recommend that you write the mayor as well. Not only is she the mayor, she is the direct supervisor of the police force and therefore directly responsible for their actions. You can write to Mayor Jean Quan here. Also on that page you can get the emails of the City Administrators (Quan’s lackeys) and the contact information of the City Council. Even if you do not live in Oakland, please contact the Mayor’s Office and have your say.
Lastly, here’s some links for you:
Occupy Oakland Story of Protestor Removal Protestors and Police Clash
Mayor Quan Speaking About Her Own Protest Experience
So, with the sounds of helicopters fading into the distance (to refuel?), I try to go catch the illusive sleep. Good night, Oakland. Stay safe. Stay strong.
It’s a bummer of a situation, to be somewhat glib about it…and one that will never be properly examined through the eye of headline media and a polarized country. From all reports, there was a lot of disruptive activity at Occupy Oakland beyond the usual protest noise…reports of violence, vandalism, etc, and the community was complaining to the police. This is doubly unfortunate, because it gives those who are already against the movement fuel to complain that these protesters are really just thugs without order and the usual nonsense, thus creating an impression in those who might be on the fence, that the “Occupy” movement as a whole is probably like that, when in fact it is not. Then you have the bizarrely heavy-handed reaction of the Oakland Mayor and police, the universal images of which are synonymous with unnecessary violence against those attempting to peaceably assemble, thus giving fuel to those who support the protests to rail against those who are against it as fascists and all that. It is wholly unfortunate, because the end result is that no one learns anything, each side is further polarized and galvanized, and progress is at a stand still.
That said, I applaud your intelligent and eloquent letter to the Mayor…liberal guilt aside, it is direct action that, in the end, will motivate change.