"Effort to hide the hungry continues across the United States (including in Sacramento)"

2013-10-06 by Keith McHenry, National Coordinator for "Food Not Bombs" [P.O. Box 424, Arroyo Seco, NM 87514 USA] [800-884-1136] [http://www.foodnotbombs.net] [http://blog.foodnotbombs.net/effort-to-hide-the-hungry-continues-across-the-united-states/]:
Advocates for the poor were told to stop sharing meals with the hungry in  Sacramento and Santa Monica, California, Taos, New Mexico, and Olympia, Washington, on the weekend of October 5th and 6th.
Nearly every week some one contacts me about news that local authorities are threatening to stop the sharing of food in public. This was a particularly busy time for such news. At the same time hunger is on the increase and Congress is voting to cut 39 billion dollars in food stamps. There has never been a more important time to make the struggle for food justice visible.
Some officials claim they are just enforcing food safety laws but there has not been one complaint of anyone being made ill eating with Food Not Bombs. The food is vegan and shared within three hours. Not only that the food is often organic consisting of whole grains, fresh produce and high end baked goods often the best quality meals people depending on food programs ever get. In our 33 year history sharing in over 1,000 cities without one case of reported illness related to our meals it is clear food safety is not an issue. The excuse of needing permission is also false. Every state in the U.S. recognizes that food sanitation permits are only required for people and groups that would profit from cutting corners by ignoring food safety standards.  Our meals are free and a gift to anyone without restriction. Not one of us is paid and has any reason to  ignore food safety standards. Sharing food and ideas is an unregulated activity protected activity. We are seeking to change society by sharing vegan meals, free literature under the banner Food Not Bombs. The attempt to require permits is based on the goal of the authorities to deny us a permit and provide a “Legitimate” excuse for stopping the sharing of food in public.
Why would officials want to drive our meals out of sight? For one they do not want pressure to divert tax money on solutions for hunger and poverty from projects wanted by the wealthiest in their communities. On a national level military contractors, bankers and other corporate leaders are concerned the public will see the hungry gathered in the streets and it will highlight the fact that we have plenty of tax dollars to provide huge profits for the 1 percent yet little is clearly being done to provide for most of those paying the taxes.
The eight of us that started Food Not Bombs were profoundly influenced by our participation in the October 6, 1979 Occupation Attempt of Seabrook Nuclear  Power Station in New Hampshire. Three decades later it is clear those of us who’s lives were changed by the violent military response to our effort to stop the dangers of nuclear power were tragically correct in our concern. The October 6, 2013 edition of the Washington Post reported that “Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday that Japan is open to receiving overseas help to contain widening radioactive water leaks at the crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima, with leaks and mishaps reported almost daily.“We are wide open to receive the most advanced knowledge from overseas to contain the problem,” Abe said in his English speech to open the conference on energy and environment. “My country needs your knowledge and expertise.”
The dangers of nuclear power have a more direct connection to hunger than we realized in 1979 as teargas rained down on us from helicopters and the National Guard smashed us across our heads with five foot long clubs. Hundreds of millions of people depend on seafood to survive. Fish that  are now highly radioactive and may not survive. On October 4, 2013 at least 430 liters of water 6,700 times more radioactive than the legal limit spilled into the ocean from the Fukushima nuclear station and the crisis is only increasing. We have no idea what impact this is having on sea and how many will go hungry as their food supply is poisoned.
This October 6th I have had the honor to participate in the Resolve to Fight Poverty Conference at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill organized by students from around the United States. Their knowledge and dedication is inspiring. The conference opened with a presentation called “The Faces of Homelessness”  where three formally homeless people spoke about their lives and the hunger they faced living on the streets.  We watched the film “A Place at the Table” and shared conversations about possible solutions to hunger.  Brett Weisel the Director of Advocacy for Feeding America spoke just after I had received an email about the city of Olympia, Washington seeking to stop the sharing of meals by the charity Crazy Faith Outreach. The article reported that “two weeks ago the outreach hit a snag when several nearby business owners, including Pam Tuttle, complained to the city. ‘We end up with a lot of traffic,’ Tuttle said. ‘We have had problems with garbage.’ City Manager Steve Hall said after he received those complaints, Olympia police investigated and found several safety violations, including dozens of people walking into traffic and blocking cars.”
Just as the conference was about to start I get a call from one of the Santa Monica Food Not Bombs organizers. He told me that a paster Ron Hooks of West Coast Care had been trying to get the group to stop sharing their vegan meals on the downtown promenade. According to several newspaper articles Ron describes West Coast Care as a nonprofit working with the Santa Monica Police Department’s Joint Homeless Outreach Program. Santa Monica Food Not Bombs shares every Thursday evening at the Third Street Promenade long after the shops are closed.
An article in  the July 11, 2103 edition of the Boulder Weekly reported that “Groups that feed the homeless in downtown Boulder on Saturdays say the city is trying to run them out of the area in yet another attempt to get rid of those the city considers undesirable.”
 “But city officials insist that they support the feeding operations, and that they are just trying to alleviate congestion in the area and reduce criminal activity.”
 Back in North Carolina the  Raleigh  police told groups that they would be arrested if they continued to share meals in public. After news of the threat was posted all over the web and it was clear that there was opposition to the closing of the meals city officials stop the police. In mid August 2013  news was posted on a number of activist website. ” This story is exploding on social media since it was posted by Love Wins, a ministry in Raleigh. Human Beans Together is another group suddenly barred by the Raleigh police from giving out food to the homeless in Moore Square on the weekends, when soup kitchens don’t operate.”
 “Folks are heading to Moore Square today at 4, when Food Not Bombs is intending to do its regular food distribution — or try, anyway.”
 On August 25th it was reported that  “Food Not Bombs did bring food and they were allowed to distribute it. The Raleigh police stood down after Mayor Nancy McFarlane and numerous Council members intervened today with Police Chief Deck-Brown and Acting City Manager Perry James.”  The article notes that “A permit to use Moore Square is apparently $800 a day.”
 As I was watching the Oxfam staff prepare for that evening’s Hunger Banquet I get a text from the Food Not Bombs volunteers in Taos. The State of New Mexico Environmental Health official stopped by our weekly meal and asked if I was still in Baltimore as he handed one of our volunteers David Lewis a $500 citation issued to me for selling food at the Taos Plaza on October 5th without a permit. Another volunteer David Cortez filmed the exchange and posted it to my Facebook minutes after it happened. The same official issued me another $500 citation on June 1, 2013 crossing out the words selling writing in sharing. At the time rumor had it that a new food vendor from out of town had filed a complaint but they have moved on so it is not clear why the officials working for America’s hungriest state would issue a citation to someone who was busy participating in a hunger and poverty conference in North Carolina.
When I visited the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program website it said “Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available.After funding has been restored, please allow some time for this website to become available again.”
Just before the government shut down the U.S. Congress approved a three-year nutrition bill (H.R. 3102), with a partisan 217-210 vote, that aims to cut about $40 billion over 10 years for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and provide various reforms to the program. House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said the bill includes “reasonable changes” to address the “growing and growing and growing” amount of SNAP recipients. “There are still jobs available in America,” Sessions said. “They may not be ones you want to stay in your whole life.” Democratic congress people said that 4 million low-income people, including 170,000 veterans would be cut from the food stamp program because of the vote.
The government shit down will stop payments to over 9 million low-income women and children who qualify for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children also known as WIC. Feeding hungry children is not considered essential yet 350,000 furloughed civilian employees of the Pentagon will return to work on Monday.
On Monday October 7th I received an email from Sacramento Food Not Bombs volunteer Petey. “Well, yesterday Sacramento Food not Bombs was kicked out of the Cesar Chavez Park by the Sacramento police. We were greeted by about 15 officers when we arrived at the park  when we normally do in time to start sharing the meal we created by 1:30pm. We were told that our stuff would be confiscated and we would get a summons due to an ordinance that has yet to even be passed that would prevent any group from handing out free hot meal in the park.”
The federal government and corporate leaders understand the power of groups like Food Not Bombs and work hard to reduce our influence. Officials arrested nine volunteers sharing food and information at the entrance to Golden Gate Park on August 15, 1988. The police told the media that they did not mind that we were feeding the hungry. They objected to our message stating that we “were making a political statement and that is not allowed.” They told the media that the city would provide buses to take the hungry out of sight to a military facility out by the beach and we could feed people there but we could not have banners and literature and share food where the public could see us.
I was invited to be the keynote speaker at “The Great Food Fight” in North Hampton England. It turned out that the lest expensive way to fly to Europe was through Reykjavik, Iceland so I  arranged to visit the local Food Not Bombs group. We prepared the meal at a volunteers home took it to the main intersection downtown and retrieved several signs from a pub next to the serving location. One sign had the complete text of a flyer explaining about Food Not Bombs written with a marker in English on one side and in Icelandic on the other. They also provided a suit case full of literature.
People gathered to eat and soon were busy debating the ideas expressed on the signs and flyers. Before long the people were telling me about how a people started a lively debate about reform of the government or a fundamental change of society. The discussion was sparked by the statements on the signs and information on the flyers. They said the conversation continued at the next weeks meal and it was agreed that they should march on the parliament building and off they went.  Word spread and many more people came to the next Food Not Bombs meal. Lunch ended in a second march. When I arrived they had just taken down the government. Several people had been arrested after removing the flag of Iceland and replacing it with a flag of the county’s discount chain Bónus with its logo of a pink piggy bank.  Protesters march to the jail demanding the release of the prisoners.
The protests grew so large that prime minister Geir Haarde resigned in 2009. He was  prosecuted in a special trial for bringing the country to ruin. “A court ruled that he failed to hold cabinet meetings focused on the spiraling crisis ahead of the North Atlantic island’s financial implosion, which marked one of the seminal moments of the global panic caused by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.” but he was spared any time in prison even though he could have been sentenced to two year. The Icelandic people started to rewrite their constitution and refused to bail out the banks. The banner and literature at our meals can mean trouble for those in power and the state knows this.
 The message from nearly every speaker at the Resolve to Fight Poverty Conference came to the same conclusion. We have abundant resources. We just don’t have access to food, housing and healthcare because of policies that benefit the 1 percent and have turned what should be a basic human right into a commodity. The biggest change in perspective I witnessed was with Feed America when Brett Weisel stated that there focus was on “shortening the line for food”  and working to for a society when Americans were paid a living wage and could buy the food they desired, a message Food Not Bombs has expressed from our founding. A message that has placed Food Not Bombs on the F.B.I.’s terrorist watch list.
 In April 2009 C-Span aired a lecture by two U.S. State Department officials comparing “the people that share vegan meals in the parks” and al-Qaeda. The speaker concluded that the vegan meals were a greater threat to national security than al-Qaeda because the young people sharing the meals were friendly and the message was powerful. The officials feared that the public would be moved and press Congress to divert military spending to things like education, healthcare and other social services.
 It really could be that simple. If every Food Not Bombs group made a point of having banners, signs and literature at meals shared at a time and location where the most people possible would visit we might inspire change. Along with literature encouraging a transition to a future free from corporate domination each meal provided a place for musicians and puppeteers to preform and a forum for the public to share their ideas and dreams who knows what would happen. Indymedia, Food Not Lawns Gardens, Bikes Not Bombs, Homes Not Jails and the Really Really Free Markets all sprang from conversations inspired by the literature and banners at Food Not Bombs.
 It is no wonder the authorities want to stop our meals and have banned or limited the sharing of food in public in over 50 U.S. cities. The meals could be revolutionary. They could bring people together and end the country’s system of hunger and poverty.


The October 5, 2013 citation issued in Taos, New Mexico.
[http://www.foodnotbombs.net/october_5_violation.html]


The first wiretap memo, from a 2013-10-07 message from "Sacramento Food Not Bombs" to "Food Not Bombs" co-founder Keith McHenry [http://www.foodnotbombs.net/wiretap1.html]:
 Hi Keith.
Well, yesterday Sacramento Food not Bombs was kicked out of the Cesar Chavez Park by the Sacramento police. We were greeted by about 15 officers when we arrived at the park  when we normally do in time to start sharing the meal we created by 1:30pm. We were told that our stuff would be confiscated and we would get a summons due to an ordinece that has yet to even be passed that would prevent any group from handing out free hot meal in the park.
 When it rains we move over to the east side of the park and across the street where there is an awning in front of three businesses that are not open on Sundays. So , this is where we moved to yesterday to actually continue with what we set out to do which is sharing the hot meal we created.
The police harassment began when we arrived at the park to try and serve the meal, continued when we moved across the street, and persisted until finally packed up. At one point a Food Not Bombs volunteer was accosted by a bicycle cop while she went to her truck to get a bread donation and then return to where we were set up – he was trying to continue to tell her that the Sacramento police do not want homeless people in the Cesar Chavez Park or even around the park. I was accosted by the same bicycle cop when I left where we were set up to  walk a couple blocks and let everyone know where we were set up. Eventually – I’m guessing it was the captain stood on the park side of the street and began video taping us where we were set up for about the final 10 -15 minutes.
We moved across the street reluctantly and would really like to continue to stay in the park every Sunday at 1:30pm. Wed like to start preparing and making contacts to begin mobilizing.
Would you please give me the contacts for every Food Not Bombs chapter in northern California?
 Thank you, Keith.
 I hope all is well with you.
-Petey of Sacramento Food Not Bombs


"Is It Legal … To Feed The Homeless?"
2012-11-20 by Rachael Mason
[http://news.thelaw.tv/2012/11/20/is-it-legal-to-feed-the-homeless/]:
 Is it legal to feed the homeless?
 Depending on where you live and how you’re planning to provide food for the needy, it might indeed be against the law to feed the homeless.
 This year, Philadelphia enacted a ban on serving food in city parks, which affects local charities’ efforts to feed the homeless, reported Bloomberg BusinessWeek. “Under additional rules recently adopted by the city’s health department, those who want to feed the hungry on a sidewalk, road, or other public place outdoors must take a food-safety course and obtain a permit from the city,” reported BusinessWeek.
 In Dallas, those who want to give food to homeless people must first become “certified food handlers,” reported the Los Angeles Times. The National Coalition for the Homeless maintains a page detailing the laws that affect sharing of food with homeless in cities across the country.
 Examples include Atlanta, which has required all food given to the homeless must be facilitated through one of eight approved providers since 2003. In Baltimore, every food service provider—even if the food is given out for free—must be licensed. In Las Vegas, a permit must be obtained for gathering of more than 25 people gather in a city park.
 What other laws affect the homeless?
 In many cities, it’s illegal to be homeless, according to a report from the NLCHP. Many of the activities performed by homeless people, like sleeping on the street, are against the law.
 “Of the 234 cities surveyed, the report shows that: 40 percent prohibit sleeping in public places, 33 percent prohibit sitting/lying in public places, 56 percent prohibit loitering in public places and 53 percent prohibit begging in public places,” the NLCHP said.
 Why should I be concerned about the homeless?
 The homeless population includes more people than you might imagine. For example, many residents of the areas hit by Hurricane Sandy still don’t have a place to live.
 Every year, more than 2 million kids across the country will experience a period of homelessness every year, according to Covenant House. The nonprofit organization helps homeless kids by providing shelter and other basic necessities and works to help get them off the street.
 The number of homeless young people in the U.S. continues to increase. Public schools have reported more than 1 million homeless students are enrolled, according to a June 2012 report released by the U.S. Department of Education.
 When it comes down to it, helping the homeless is more cost-effective than sending them to jail. Cost studies in 13 cities and states reveal that, on average, cities spend $87 per day to jail a person, compared to $28 per day for shelter,” according to the NLCHP.
 What can I do to help the homeless?
 Instead of organizing your own efforts to feed the homeless, consider donating time, money or goods to established nonprofit groups in your area. You might work at a soup kitchen, collect canned goods for a local food bank or donate to an organization that hosts holiday meals for the needy. Rather than buying gifts this season, perhaps you’ll make a donation in the names of your loved ones.
 Like executives did recently in Washington, D.C., you might even sleep outside for a night as part of a movement designed to raise awareness of homeless. In Nov. 2012, the group in D.C. spent the night outside Covenant House Washington. Through pledges from family and friends, raised more than $60,000 for the organization, reported the Washington Post.
 To find out more about the issue of homeless, visit the National Alliance to End Homelessness’ website at [www.endhomelessness.org].

Justice for Raheim Brown, jr.

[againsthiredguns.wordpress.com]

In the Oscar Grant Memorial March and Rally on the third anniversary of Oscar’s murder on New Year’s Day 2009 by BART police, supporters of Raheim Brown and all victims of law enforcement demanded justice. – Photo: Bradley Stuart, Indybay

Raheim Brown’s mother, Lori Davis, was one of the parents of young Black men killed by police who spoke out in passionate protest at a press conference held two days after San Francisco police murdered Kenneth Harding on the spot, at Third and Oakdale, where Kenny died on July 16, 2011, a few months after Raheim’s death. – Photo: Malaika Kambon

Barhin Bhatt, the Oakland School Police officer who killed Raheim Brown, keeps protesters out of Fremont High School on March 4, 2011, three months after the murder. In August of the same year, the appointment of Bhatt as chief of the Oakland School Police sparked outrage that led to his removal about two weeks later. Forty angry speakers testified to the Oakland School Board, including civil rights attorney Anne Butterfield Weills, who said that to “appoint the shooter of Raheim Brown Jr. to be the acting chief of OUSD ... what a role model for our young people, particularly for our Black and Brown young males and women who are in our schools.” – Photo: KALW


"$1 million deal in shooting by Oakland schools cop"
2013-10-05 by Henry K. Lee [http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/1-million-deal-in-shooting-by-Oakland-schools-cop-4872706.php]:
The Oakland Unified School District has agreed to pay $995,000 to settle two lawsuits filed in connection with a fatal police shooting outside a school dance that was later questioned by one of the two officers present at the scene, officials said Friday.   
Raheim Brown, 20, of Alameda was shot and killed Jan. 22, 2011, by Oakland schools police Sgt. Barhin Bhatt after he allegedly tried to stab another schools police sergeant, Jonathan Bellusa, with a screwdriver, authorities said.   
The incident happened as Brown was sitting in the passenger seat of a Honda Accord parked on Joaquin Miller Road, not far from where Skyline High School was holding its winter ball at a nearby park.   
Bhatt told investigators that he opened fire on Brown because Brown had tried to attack Bellusa. Bellusa, though, told authorities that Bhatt fired two shots at Brown's chest before his gun jammed and that by then, Brown was already incapacitated and no longer a threat.   
Bellusa said Bhatt then fired five more shots, killing Brown. Bhatt told investigators he fired the second volley because Brown continued to move and was reaching for the gearshift.   
Brown's parents, Lori Davis and Raheim Brown Sr., filed a lawsuit against the district, as did LaDonna Smith, the mother of Brown's then-unborn child. The parents and Smith will each receive $497,500.   
John Burris, an attorney who represented the parents, said a deposition by Bellusa was crucial to the case.   
"I have a lot of respect and admiration for him because he's one of the few officers in the course of this case that I thought was truthful about what happened," Burris said.    
David Kelvin, Smith's attorney, said, "This young man was killed for nothing. I don't believe you can put a price on that loss."   
Of the total $995,000 payout, the district will pay a $250,000 deductible, while the rest is covered by insurance, said district spokesman Troy Flint.   
"We're pleased with this settlement," Flint said. "Obviously, we don't feel that the district is at fault in any way."    
Flint said Bellusa was not a credible witness and that his testimony had no impact on the settlement, which was the "best possible resolution given the circumstances." He noted that a jury could have ordered much more in damages at trial.   
Bellusa is suing the district, alleging that officials pressured him into "conforming his account" of the shooting to that of Bhatt, or else face perjury charges.

2013-05-04 "Superintendent implicated in cover-up of Oakland School Police killing of Raheim Brown"
by Laura Savage from "San Francisco Bayview" [http://sfbayview.com/2013/superintendent-implicated-in-cover-up-of-oakland-school-police-killing-of-raheim-brown/]:
Laura Savage is a graduating senior in journalism at San Francisco State University and is interning with the SF Bay View this semester. She can be reached at lsavage26@gmail.com.
---
Perhaps you’ve heard or read the name Raheim Brown Jr. He’s the 20-year-old Black man who was beaten then shot and killed by Oakland School Police Department Sgt. Bhatt.
In January 2011 Brown and a female companion were parked in a vehicle in the Oakland Hills when they were approached by officers Barhin Bhatt and Jonathan Bellusa, who were working as hired security guards for an Oakland School District dance being held at Skyline High School.
The officers reported that they first approached the vehicle, which was not parked at the school or on campus, because the hazard lights were flashing. Brown and his friend didn’t need help. As a justification for questioning them, the officers claimed they smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle after approaching it. Other reports have claimed the officers thought the car was stolen. The officers also reported Brown threatened to stab Barhin with a screwdriver that he had in the car.
As Brown and his companion sat, buckled-up, in the car, the officers began beating them both.
What exactly happened next, no one is certain because the requests for the full reports of the shooting by Lori Davis, mother of Raheim Brown, and her attorney, John Burris, have yet to be fulfilled by the Oakland Unified School District.
What is known is that Bellusa, who was outside the car on the passenger side where Brown was sitting, ordered a first round of shots. The shots were fired by Bhatt, who was outside the car on the driver side near the female driver. Bhatt fired at Brown across the driver multiple times, but Brown remained living at this time. Bhatt’s gun jammed. He cleared it, then a second round of shots was fired, killing Brown.
Davis filed a wrongful death suit against OUSD, which operates and employs the district police officers who shot and killed Brown.

Breaking ‘Code Blue’ -
This case is highly suspicious for many reasons: 1) A complete report containing all the details has yet to be made available to the public, Ms. Davis or her attorney; 2) there was definite mismanagement on the part of OUSD Superintendent Tony Smith directly following the shooting, as well as by OSPD Chief Williams; 3) an Oakland School Police Department officer is calling foul against his own department.
What has come as a “whistle-blowing” effort by Bellusa has also rocked the community and the department’s claims.
Bellusa filed a federal complaint against the OSPD claiming retaliation for his refusal to lie about the second round of shots that killed Brown. In his complaint, Bellusa claims that the second round of shots weren’t necessary because Brown was no longer a threat, after being shot with the first round.
According to Davis, who cited testimony by former Sgt. Bellusa of OSPD, Superintendent Tony Smith was accompanied by some Oakland School Board members at the crime scene – directly following the shooting.
“Based on Bellusa’s testimony in his deposition,” said Davis, “Tony Smith came down there and tried to get him to do witness tampering. He tried to get their (Bhatt and Bellusa’s) stories together.”
Bellusa, who is now on paid administrative leave is accusing the OSPD of a pattern of corruption.
For the Davis wrongful-death case, the Bellusa complaint and the federal investigation underway bring light to the issue of a cover-up by the OSPD.
“You don’t get one officer to lie for the other one,” said Davis.

Problems with guns -
Incidents like the Raheim Brown killing highlight a huge debate going on in America right now about the necessity of armed district staff in schools. This comes after the terrible December 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children, six teachers, the shooter and his mother were shot and killed.
For people of color, the issue may be more of a concern regarding security officers being armed when working at schools with large numbers of students of color. Communities of color are extremely reluctant to put guns in the hands of those who terrorize Black children and youth the most: the police. To whites, police officers are there to protect civilians.
When asked whether OUSD needs a police department, Davis said; “They don’t need police – just regular security.”
The rate of officer involved shootings seems to be increasing.
In an update, posted July 16, 2012, to a report by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement that was originally released April 6, 2012, MXGM wrote:
“Invasive policing is only one aspect of the U.S. states’ comprehensive containment strategies to exploit Black people and to smother resistance … The U.S. state maintains and reinforces these economic injustices with the militarized occupation of Black communities by the police and a web of racist legislation like the ‘war on drugs,’ discriminatory policies like ‘three strikes’ and ‘mandatory minimum’ sentencing. The result is a social system that mandates the prison warehousing of millions of Black people and extrajudicial killings where the killers act with impunity and more often than not are rewarded and promoted for murder.”
These views are backed by data tracking police killings, or “extrajudicial killings,” over many months. The latest data collected by MXGM shows that a Black person in the U.S. is killed every 28 hours by law enforcement.
The nearby Oakland Police Department is so plagued that it has been appointed a court monitor, former Baltimore commissioner Thomas Frazier, by U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson to oversee mandated changes to the department.

What post-racial America?
What does this mean? It means that as the Black community and its organizers and leaders have justly claimed and proven, a post-racial society DOES NOT exist in America.
Blacks are still falling victim to racist law enforcement organizations intent on sending them to prison if not to the graveyard. Why is it that our Black youth must endure officers at their presumed “educational safe havens” or when they are merely enjoying some leisure?
What real justification can there be for officers – who were hired to secure a school dance on a school campus – to venture from their assigned duty posts and beat, shoot and kill innocent youth? Furthermore, what justification does Tony Smith have for not releasing the details of the incident as reported by his staff?
When Smith started as superintendent he was quoted in an Oakland North article as saying [http://oaklandnorth.net/2009/09/28/oaklands-new-schools-head-tony-smith-this-is-the-future-of-democracy/], “For me, you have to examine the effects of institutional racism, institutional classism, institutional bias, language bias and say, ‘At this point, the system that we have – even if we do it really, really well – isn’t going to close and transform that gap.’”
Apparently that was only talk and didn’t extend to his school police department. Not only has Smith championed school closures, he hasn’t brought in valuable resources such as librarians, music programs etc. In the same interview he said:
“I’m incredibly committed to thinking about new kinds of relationships with local communities. We have to become beacons and be able to infuse into those neighborhoods expectations and ways of being. That takes partnership and leadership and expectations and being honest about how hard it is.”
It is safe to say that the beacon light is out when it comes to Tony Smith and the Oakland Unified School District. His failure to demonstrate unwavering, transparent leadership has continued to damage Oakland schools and district departments – as evidenced with the OSPD.
Smith has only been in Oakland four years and he conveniently is moving to Chicago, just as a wrongful death suit surfaces and a federal investigation is taking place, with him as lead culprit.
In his letter to the Oakland School Board, he cited family illness as the reason for the move. That very well may be true.
What is also true is that, on Smith’s watch in Oakland, we have lost another young Black life.


2013-02-28 "Oakland school cop comes forward as a whistleblower" 
by Rebecca Bowe from "San Francisco Bay Guardian" [http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2013/02/28/oakland-school-cop-comes-forward-whistleblower]:
Family and friends of Raheim Brown protested outside Oakland School Police Department headquarters last year. GUARDIAN FILE PHOTO BY YAEL CHANOFF

Two years after his involvement in a police shooting that took the life of a 20-year-old African American man, an Oakland School Police Department officer has come forward as a “whistleblower” in sworn testimony, making allegations of unethical behavior within a department that is already under the scrutiny of federal investigators.
In a deposition delivered earlier this month as part of a civil suit, police Sergeant Jonathan Bellusa gave a detailed account of what transpired just before his patrol partner, Sgt. Barhin Bhatt, fired several rounds and killed Raheim Brown as the youth was positioned in the passenger’s seat of a car outside a high school dance in January of 2011.
Bellusa gave testimony that in the months that followed, he came under retaliatory pressure from within the department and was “uncomfortable” with various aspects of how the investigation unfolded.
An unedited, uncertified transcript of Bellusa’s deposition, which contains some grammatical and punctuation errors because it was transcribed by an automated system, was made public Feb. 28 by a group of activists organized under a project called “Against Hired Guns.” The group sent a detailed summary and analysis of the deposition, as well as the unedited transcript, to reporters. The activists also posted the contents on a website, againsthiredguns.wordpress.com.
Asked who is behind Against Hired Guns, spokesperson Cat Brooks said they are Oakland activists “who have been doing this work either together on campaigns, or separately inside of our own groups, that see strength in numbers rather than apart. We in general are tired of having flashpoint reactions to police corruption or violence, and are interested in bringing as many people or groups together as possible to have a sustained campaign that is focused on eradicating police violence.”
Bellusa is currently on leave from employment at the Oakland school police department, and the Guardian was unable to reach him by phone on the number listed on the OUSD website. “He’s been gone for quite awhile,” OUSD spokesperson Troy Flint told the Guardian when reached by phone. Asked to comment on the myriad allegations raised in Bellusa’s testimony, Flint said, “We're going to refrain from comment until we've seen the actual suit.”
The deposition was conducted by Attorney Adante Pointer of the Law Offices of John Burris, in connection with a civil rights suit that is being filed against OUSD by Brown’s mother, Lori Davis. Reached by phone, Pointer confirmed that he had taken Bellusa’s deposition several weeks ago, and was surprised that its contents had been made public, since it “is not complete yet.” He added, “I’m thinking to myself, who put that out there?” As of press time, Pointer had not returned a follow up phone call.
Brooks declined to answer questions about how the activists obtained a copy of the uncertified transcript.

Allegations of retaliation for whistleblowing -
Roughly a month after the shooting incident, Bellusa said in his deposition, former OUSD Police Chief Pete Sarna let out “a boisterous yell with his [fist] up in the air” and seemed “excited” that “we as a department don't have to worry about anything.” According to Bellusa’s testimony, Sarna had just received word that his “friend” Pete Peterson had “agreed to do the investigation” of the fatal shooting of Brown.
Asked if he felt pressured by supervisors to make statements consistent with Bhatt’s account of the shooting incident, Bellusa stated, “I have felt that if I gave statements that went against the district that I would be thrown in jail for perjury.”
In the months after the shooting, Bellusa testified that he filed a formal complaint alleging that Sarna drunkenly made racist remarks to an African American sergeant in July of 2011. Sarna resigned the following month.
Bellusa also testified that on an August morning in 2011, after he’d filed the complaint against Sarna for allegedly making racial slurs, he overheard a conversation between OUSD General Counsel Jacqueline Minor and Superintendent Tony Smith. “I over heard Jackie Minor… say they were not going to let John get away with this,” he stated.
In another incident, Bellusa testified that a different OUSD officer informed him that “Chief Sarna’s assistant, Jenny Wong, told a bunch of officers something like: ‘Don't worry, Sarna is going to beat this case. He’s going to fire John [Bellusa].’”
After Sarna stepped down, Bhatt was briefly appointed interim police chief, unleashing an outcry from OUSD parents outraged that an officer would be promoted to the top post after shooting and killing Brown just months before. Alameda County prosecutors had since cleared Bhatt of any wrongdoing in the shooting that resulted in Brown’s death.
In response to the backlash, Bhatt was removed and replaced with Police Chief James Williams in September of 2011. The shooting of Brown, coupled with Sarna’s alleged use of racial slurs, prompted a federal grand jury investigation into the OUSD police force last year. Bellusa noted in his testimony that he had described his experience to federal investigators.
Taken as a whole, Bellusa’s testimony renders a disturbing internal portrait of the Oakland School Police Department, which consists of about a dozen officers and operates independently of the Oakland Police Department as a division of the school district.
The alarming account raises serious questions about internal operations of the department, particularly since it is an independent force operated by the school district at a time when funding cuts have placed the public school system under tremendous budgetary pressure, resulting in recent school closures.

Allegations of corruption -
A detailed summary of the transcript provided by Against Hired Guns highlights more disturbing allegations made by Bellusa in the course of his testimony. Among them:
* Bellusa asserted that he witnessed Bhatt pour Wild Turkey into a glass while he was on duty. He also said he felt concerned about Bhatt after observing him “clean his firearm for a long period of time.”                                                                      
* Bellusa testified that he “found out” that Sarna and Lou Silva, a former OUSD officer and current district-wide Campus Security and Safety Manager, were “sending their personal cars down to a shop on 16th Avenue… [and] were overcharging the police cars,” apparently in order to have their personal cars repaired for free or at a deep discount.
* Bellusa testified, “I found out that he [Sarna] called another officer [and] told him [not to report] what had happened in front of the African American who is a witness to the … racial slurs.”

Officer-involved shooting -
Brown was shot and killed outside a dance at Oakland’s Skyline High School on Jan. 22, 2011. He was sitting in the passenger’s seat of a Honda with a friend, Tamisha Stewart, who was in the driver’s seat. Bellusa and Bhatt pulled up behind them in an unmarked patrol car after noticing the lights of the Honda were flashing. Bhatt made his way to the driver’s window, Bellusa testified, while he flanked the rear passenger’s side of the car.
As Bhatt began a verbal exchange with Stewart, Bellusa testified that he noticed Brown was “fidgety” rather than cooperative, which he interpreted as a “red flag.” He opened the passenger door, crouched into what he described as a “catcher’s stance,” and initiated a verbal exchange with Brown. Shortly after opening the door, Bellusa said he made observations that led him to conclude that the car had been stolen.
When Pointer asked him where his hands were at that point, Bellusa stated, “They were on his lap,” according to the transcript. “Were they holding anything?” Pointer asked. “No,” Bellusa responded. “And so did you ask him to step out of the car when you're having this conversation with him?” Pointer asked. “Not at that time,” Bellusa answered.
Bellusa said Brown then grabbed a screwdriver and stuck into the ignition of the vehicle, directing Stewart to drive. This prompted a struggle between Brown and Bellusa. According to a summary of the transcript written by the group of activists: “Bellusa lunged into the car, grabbing [Brown] from behind as Brown was leaned over toward the ignition. …Bellusa tried to hold Brown, and then grabbed him, pulling Brown’s shirt and ripping it. Bhatt, leaning in through the driver’s window, hit Brown with his flashlight. … Brown had not yet made any aggressive move toward anyone, according to Bellusa’s description of events.”
A struggle ensued, and Bellusa testified that at one point Brown bit Bellusa’s wrist, prompting Bellusa to pull his hand away and use his “hammer fist” to strike him. Brown then grabbed the screwdriver from the car’s ignition, and “I believe that the backside of the screwdriver [was what] he used at that point to strike me in the chest,” Bellusa testified.
“As the struggle ensued and neither fighter gave in,” activists wrote, “[Brown] turned the screwdriver around and tried to make contact with Bellusa.”
According to Bellusa’s sworn testimony, “I was afraid that I was going to get stabbed in the throat clear as day.” He told his partner to shoot Brown: “I just screamed shoot him, shoot him,” he testified.
The Against Hired Guns summary describes what happened next. "As Bellusa pulled himself out of the car, two shots were quickly fired through the driver’s open window ... by Bhatt before his gun jammed. Raheim Brown, Jr. had two bullets lodged in his body. It took Sergeant Bhatt five to ten seconds to clear the chamber of his gun, during which time he said loudly: 'Fuck! Fuck!' By this time, Bellusa was out of the car and at a safe distance, he said in his deposition. When asked whether he thought Brown was still a risk after the first two shots, Bellusa replied plainly: 'No,' and said that by this point, he had his own gun out. When asked why he didn’t pull his trigger, he replied: 'Just like I said my statement with OPD, I didn't see a threat.'

‘Tell me … about the gun’ -
Bellusa explained in his deposition that he’d noticed a gun sitting in the side pocket of the vehicle during the incident, but did not alert Bhatt that the gun was there until after the shooting had occurred. When Pointer asked, “And prior to you screaming ‘shoot him, shoot him’ you hadn’t said anything related to the gun?” Bellusa responded: “No.”
Shortly after the shooting, Bellusa testified he had an interaction with Sarna, then-OUSD chief, and Smith, the OUSD superintendent. According to details included in the deposition, this conversation took place at Oakland Police Department (OPD) headquarters, after Bhatt and Bellusa had been separated, prior to any formal interview with OPD regarding the shooting.
According to Bellusa’s testimony, Smith questioned him directly. “He said specifically ‘John, tell me where the gun was. Tell me everything you can remember about the gun and what it looked like.’”

Penetrating the Thin Blue Line -
An introductory statement from Against Hired Guns notes that Bellusa “will likely be considered a ‘good’ cop” for publicly airing these allegations and making an unusual break from the code of silence that typically binds police departments.
Yet the activists aren’t willing to let the sergeant off the hook so easily. Asked why they took steps to preempt release of this information, Brooks, the spokesperson for Against Hired Guns, told the Guardian, “We thought that it was important so that the debate could be framed as part of the larger context of police and violence in Oakland, as opposed to this cop has now done something good, which makes him a good cop. … He was still present the night Raheim was murdered.”
Against Hired Guns wrote in an analysis included in press materials, "It has now been over two years since Raheim’s family lost him to the violence of policing.  They have relentlessly searched for justice and still do not know exactly what happened to him. At the very least, Bellusa or any of the people or agencies he spoke with, could have explained the context of Raheim’s killing to his family members, who continue to grieve and struggle with the loss of their son, father and lover." 
The activists’ summary frames the issue in this way: “Sergeant Bellusa has now penetrated the ‘thin blue line’ that shields corrupt, abusive, violent police officers and departments. We are releasing this information as part of … a series that places the statements of Bellusa’s testimony in the larger overall context of policing in our society [and] the ‘thin blue line’ that protects officers from any consequences.”


2013-02-28 "Exclusive: Oakland School Cop Calls Shooting Investigation Compromised; Sergeant questions whether “second volley of shots” was necessary"
by Vicky Nguyen, Liz Wagner and Felipe Escamilla from "The Investigative Unit" at "NBC News Bay Area"
[http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/Exclusive-Oakland-School-Cop-Calls-Shooting-Investigation-Compromised--194114051.html]:
An Oakland school police sergeant has spoken exclusively to NBC Bay Area's Investigative Unit to expose what he calls a coverup in the district’s police force, two years after an officer-involved shooting that left a young man dead.
Eighteen-year police veteran Sgt. Jonathan Bellusa has come forward as a whistleblower because he believes the investigation into the Jan. 2011 shooting of 20-year-old Raheim Brown was contaminated from the start, and that when he tried to speak up, he says he faced coercion and retaliation.
When asked if he thought the investigation was handled properly, Bellusa replied, “I don’t think so. I can be honest—I don’t think it was.”
Bellusa is currently on paid administrative leave. Oakland Unified School District representatives said the district and Bhatt are refraining from comment until they see the claim. The district’s police force is currently the focus of a federal grand jury investigation into the shooting.
Bellusa and his partner, Sgt. Barhin Bhatt, approached Brown on the night of Jan. 22, 2011 near Skyline High School after they found him sitting in what was believed to be a stolen car. Bhatt fired seven shots at Brown after Brown allegedly stabbed Bellusa with a screwdriver.
Bellusa’s attorney, Dan Siegel, said police protocol is to separate the officers to allow investigators to interview them alone.  Instead, he says school officials tried to pressure Bellusa into matching his memory of what happened with  Bhatt’s account.
“I have never before heard of an incident where police are involved in a shooting or other acts where the head of an agency shows up to interfere with questioning of the police officer,” Siegel said.  “It just really raises a lot of questions regarding the integrity of our public officials.”
Siegel is filing a federal lawsuit against the district claiming Oakland Unified School District officials “compromised the investigators’ ability to conduct complete and sterile interviews of the two sergeants” and that Bellusa was retaliated against for telling the truth—especially when it came to a second round of shots Bhatt fired at Brown.
According to a draft deposition given to the Investigative Unit by Siegel, when asked why Bellusa didn’t fire his own gun after the first two shots, Bellusa replied, “Just like I said in my statement with OPD, I didn’t see a threat.”
Bellusa claims the tainted shooting investigation is part of a pattern of corruption in OUSD. According to the complaint, Bellusa has reported that a sergeant “drank alcoholic beverages while on duty,” and that another officer “often stole drinks and food items from merchants in the Fruitvale area of East Oakland.”
When asked how he has been treated for coming forward as a whistleblower, he said, “with hell.”


2013-03-08 "Against Hired Guns: Town Hall to Support Strategic Organizing Against Police Violence" 
Friday, 6:00pm until 8:00pm
Commander Jonathan Bellusa of the Oakland School Police Department has blown the whistle on his department. Against Hired Guns has published his legally sworn testimony which claims that protocols were not followed the night Raheim Brown, Jr. was killed, and exposes several other cover ups and unethical behavior in the department.
Check out the full write up and analysis, as well as context of policing in Oakland and organizing against it, at: [http://againsthiredguns.wordpress.com/]
Against Hired Guns is not interested in defining the character of public outcry, but we also want to support concrete wins. Because of this, we will be facilitating a public meeting on Friday, March 8th at Uptown Studios (1738 Telegraph Ave in Oakland) from 6-8pm to support sustained and strategic campaigns against policing in our communities. We hope that a myriad of people and organizations concerned with keeping our communities safe from the harms of policing will be there.


2012-07-06 "Justice 4 Raheim Brown Jr., Friday July 6, 2012, in OAKLAND. CA !"
Friday, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
March from OPD at 7th street and Broadway to School District Police Headquarters at 1011 Union Street!
 Contact : Jeremy Miller [415.595.2894]
NO MORE SCHOOL COPS! SPEND MONEY TO KEEP SCHOOLS OPEN NOT PATROLLED!!!
JOIN US AS WE DEMAND JUSTICE FOR RAHEIM BROWN JR.–MURDERED BY OUSD SCHOOL POLICE JANUARY 22, 2011
 –AND JUSTICE FOR ALL OF OUR CHILDREN THAT HAVE DIED AS A RESULT OF LIVING IN A SOCIETY THAT TARGETS BLACK AND BROWN YOUTH!
*JUSTICE FOR KERRY BAXTER JR!*
*JUSTICE FOR KENNETH HARDING JR!*
*JUSTICE FOR OSCAR GRANT!*
[https://www.facebook.com/events/399242696778336]

FRIDAY-JULY 6 11:00 a.m.: Justice for Raheim Brown Jr! No School Closures!
Oakland, California, July 3, 2012
Press Contact: Jeremy Miller 415.595.2894
Friday, July 6th, anti-police brutality advocates will march in solidarity with the family of Raheim Brown Jr, gunned down by Oakland School Police officers Bhatt and Bellusa January 22, 2011.
Unarmed Raheim was barely out of his teens when he was gunned down by school police on Joaquin Miller Rd. Officers Bhatt and Bellusa attempted to pull Raheim out of the vehicle he sat in with a female friend, then shot him seven times, twice in the head. They also brutalized the young woman.
Instead of counselors, the city of Oakland and its school board employs armed guards to patrol children as young as 11-years-old.
At a time when the school board is claiming to not even have enough money to keep schools like Marshall, Santa Fe, Lakeview, Lazear, and Maxwell open, they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on school police.
Just last year, Cole Middle School in West Oakland was closed down and now functions as a school police station. 
The fact that there is a separate police department to deal with our children is an insidious abuse of power perpetrated by the school board.
Friday, July 6th, 11am, we will convene at Oakland Police Department headquarters on Broadway and 7th Streets and march to the school police office located at 1011 Union Street to demand JUSTICE FOR RAHEIM BROWN JR. AND AN END TO POLICING OUR KIDS!



The People's Community Medics are proud endorsers and sponsors of this march and rally for Justice for Raheim Brown, Jr.
You can reach us at 510-239-7720 or PeoplesCommunityMedics@gmail.com. The People’s Community Medics are on the air every Saturday from 2 to 4 on Berkeley Liberation Radio, 104.1 fm or www.BerkeleyLiberationRadio.net.


2012-05-19 "FBI, U.S. grand jury probes Oakland schools police"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2012/05/19/BA5T1OKIEI.DTL]
   (05-19) 16:06 PDT OAKLAND -- The Oakland Unified School District police force is the focus of a federal grand jury investigation, the district's spokesman said Friday.
   The district was notified in a letter Thursday that its Police Department is the subject of an investigation by the FBI, and the grand jury subpoenaed unspecified documents from school officials, said district spokesman Troy Flint.
   Sources said the grand jury is investigating two high-profile incidents, a fatal officer-involved shooting and allegedly racist remarks made by former schools Police Chief Pete Sarna during a drunken outburst after a golf tournament.
   "We will provide whatever information that the federal government requests," Flint said. "I think we've been open in confronting any perceived issues, and we have nothing to hide in this instance."
   The district is the subject of two federal lawsuits in connection with the Jan. 22, 2011, fatal shooting of Raheim Brown, 20, by schools police Sgt. Barhin Bhatt, who opened fire after Brown allegedly tried to stab Sgt. Jonathan Bellusa with a screwdriver on Joaquin Miller Road in Oakland. Alameda County prosecutors have cleared Bhatt - who briefly served as interim chief, sparking an outcry - of any criminal wrongdoing.
   Last August, Sarna resigned as chief and acknowledged a drinking problem after it was alleged that he had made racist comments to an African American sergeant and insulted the children of Bellusa, who is white. Bellusa filed a complaint against Sarna with the district.
   Sarna's attorney, Alison Berry Wilkinson, said Friday that she was unaware of the grand jury investigation and could not comment.


2011-11-15 "Some Oakland parents question need for school police" by Rosa Ramirez
[http://www.healthycal.org/archives/6062]
Police take an oath to protect and serve. But some parents and local residents say they don’t feel any safer having cops in schools.
Since the lethal shooting of 20-year-old Raheim Brown in January by an on-duty Oakland Unified School District police sergeant, some community activists and residents have questioned the role of the police on school grounds. Some parents are even calling for the dismantling of the district’s school police force.
“I don’t want police in my son’s school,” said Oakland resident Sheri Morer, during a recent board meeting. And she’s not alone.
College student Jabari Shaw, who has four children, including three boys who attend Oakland public schools, fears his children are at higher risk of being harassed by school police for fitting a specific profile: male, low-income, energetic and African American.
“Look at them, they fit the description,” said Shaw recently at the Oakland Unified School District building. “They have dreadlocks and they’re black. So, they’ll be targets eventually if we don’t get the police out of our schools.”
But Troy Flint, spokesman for the school district, said police are there to protect students, teachers and other school personnel from crime that happens on campus and the surrounding areas. And at a time when Oakland Police Department has downsized due to budget cuts, having school police on school grounds is even more critical.
A 2009 National Crime and Delinquency Council report showed that only about 40 percent of students in Oakland public schools reported feeling safe at school.
“The officers are assigned to specific schools and worry about those schools rather than the entire neighborhood,” he said. “They provide a greater level of security.”
In addition, the district has a number of intervention programs to help students resolve conflicts.
“I can guarantee you that we have more behavioral mediation programs” than other school districts, Flint said.
It has been a particularly tumultuous time for the Oakland school district’s police force.
Brown’s family and others had called for an independent investigation of the shooting. Instead the school district had an internal investigation, which concluded that no district policies, practices or regulations were violated. Later in August, then-school police chief Peter Sarna retired at 41 amid accusations that he made racial slurs against an African-American colleague. The district tapped into Sgt. Barhin Bhatt, the highest-ranking member of the school police department and the officer who shot Brown, to lead the 16-member police force.
“They sent a message that a black life doesn’t count. That you can do anything and nobody will say anything about it,” said Philip Byers, a community organizer with the Black Organizing Project, a program of the Center for Third World Organizing. “There’s no caring, no compassion for what happened to Raheim Brown and his mother. It was basically a slap in the face.”
“There’s a lack of transparency around the role of the police engagement with students,” said Jackie Byers, director of the Black Organizing Project. “A real kind of block around parents and students being able to find out how accountability happens even within the district and the school board.”
School police programs started in the United States in the mid-1950s, but didn’t gain prominence until the 1990s in response to highly publicized school shootings, such as those in Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky and Columbine High School in Colorado. Now, approximately 35 percent of elementary, middle and high schools in the country have school police officers.
The Oakland school district created a security division in 1957 made up of two officers to protect school property. The officers patrolled the buildings and responded to burglary alarms. The division began to grow and officers began to take more law enforcement responsibilities in the two decades following. In 1983, the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, the agency that trains law enforcement officers from school police to sheriff’s department, certified the division as a full-service police department.
Richard Reed, assistant director of administration at POST, said school police officers must have additional training to work with students in addition to basic training. All officers are required to have 24 hours of continuous training every two years, he said.
Reed said his agency conducts regular audits to ensure departments are meeting the standards. A 2009 POST audit showed that Oakland school police department was in good standing. A second audit is scheduled for 2012.
Little research has been done on the effectiveness of school resource officers, or school police, in providing a safe learning environment for students and educators. At least one researcher has identified a “school-to-prison pipeline” as a result of having police officers in schools, according to the article, “Police at School: A Brief History and Current Status of School Resource Officers.”
During a 2005 labor dispute with school police, the school district told the state’s Public Employment Relations Board that in the “few years of having an independent police force actually reduced and worsened services to school sites and reduced the safety of the students in general.”
Aside from 16 sworn officers, the district counts 79 security officers that report to the police chief, Flint said. Officers are assigned to specific schools and can respond quickly if there needs to be, for instance, a lockdown because of a problem happening in the school or vicinity.
“It’s important for Oakland schools to supplement crime prevention with our own special dedicated officers,” he said. “That’s particularly true since we need rapid and immediate response.”
Some are skeptical.
“Police will most likely arrest the students and that puts them in the system. There’s a chain reaction,” said Leslie Phillips, a long-time Oakland resident. “The high school students don’t feel comfortable having police on campus.”
Phillips said having police in schools makes students feel unsafe, and in certain situations, it becomes the first contact students have with the juvenile justice system for incidences that in the past would have merited a talk with the principal, a counselor, or a call home to parents.
The school district has had three police chiefs in two months. On Sept. 2, Lt. James Williams of the Oakland Housing Authority became third person to lead the small independent police unit.
During a special school board meeting on Sept. 7, Superintendent Tony Smith introduced Lt. Williams.
“We’re very happy to welcome him and very thankful to the Housing Authority for their partnership,” Smith said.
Jackie Byers of BOP said it’s going to take more than changing the leadership of the school police to mend the relationship with the students and parents.
“This had just come at the tail end of where there was a murder of a young black man by a high ranking police officer who was then named as the next in line,” she said. “Which tells us that as an institution the school district is not in a position to hold itself accountable in any kind of way. And it’s time for the community to play that role.”


2011-09-07 "Justice for Raheim Brown" rally at Oakland School Board Meeting

Community Fascism in San Francisco

"Black Human Rights Leadership Council" member ignores prevalent Human Rights abuse imposed on the People of New African (Black) community in Hunter's Point, instead lauds their efforts!
2013-10-20 message from Fly Benzo: One of the leaders of the so-called "Black Human Rights Leadership Council" of San Francisco... Can we say Conflict of interest??


Diane Smith: Commander Loftus knows what up! All the great police officers in S.F. came through the Bayview Police Station. They feel us and each one I've spoken to agree, "The best crime prevention would be more jobs"! They would lead the struggle, you know? Chief of Police Suhr, current Bayview Captain and on...a great legacy of fantastic officers....all from Bayview.....if you can make it here you can make it anywhere!!!! 
---
Fly Benzo: I.N.I.C.U... Fuck the Police... All of 'em... 
---
Diane Smith: Fly, there have been and are police officers who've killed and abused those that I love and care about, which includes you. But your Dad can tell you I keep it REAL TOO! And if someone tries to break into my house, strong arm me, or abuse me or mine in any way I will not hesitate to call upon Brothers like you and the Police! There are good and bad everywhere. Some of the indignities I've suffered were long before you were born and they were at the hands of people WHO LOOK LIKE ME! I always keep it real and don't take no S**t from you or anyone else. Let's not act like a disrespectful brat. Carry yourself like man. Like I said, I've had more people who "look like me", try to deny me the rights given under the Constitution! The first one is MY RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH. I will always tell me truth I've been doing it since before you will born! I place God first, what He thinks of me is my ONLY concern. With that being said, everyone else will only be treated with dignity and respect, even you, young one. Keep growing in your spiritual life and it help you become EFFECTIVE. I too went through the period of "mouthing off" and disrespecting others. God continued to protect me through it all and now I understand there is a better way. Those that KNOW me, know I'm always trying to find a better way. Those that know me, others are speaking from ignorance, which is their right too. Bless their hearts like Grandmon used to say about the....less fortunate.
---
Northbay MDS: Diane, do you advocate for Human Rights in honor of Kenneth Harding and the many other innocent victims of extra-judicial street-executions, or defend the Human Rights of Fly Benzo? Can you give us an example of your work? All I have seen here is disrespect by you against Fly despite his hostile comment, using the "I know God better, and am older than you" routine. Yet you choose to ignore all the abuse Fly Benzo and his family have suffered for political reasons by the SFPD. And I checked online for your work, and all I find is nothing to prove you are doing anything of worth for the community living under terror by criminal police practices and criminals... so. say what you have to say. And don't bring down the old "I know God better than you" routine. The devil blinds those who have too much pride, and tricks them into shaking hands with those who perpetrate Human Rights abuse.



SF Mayor Ed Lee, of the Democrat Party, Appoints an actual Fascist to SF Community College Board
2012-08-22 report by John Coté from "San Francisco Chronicle" [sfgate.com/default/article/Poll-finds-most-in-S-F-want-sheriff-out-3805592.php]
Making waves: Mayor Ed Lee on Tuesday appointed Rodrigo Santos, a structural engineer who has served on three different city commissions, to fill an open seat on the embattled City College Board of Trustees.
Santos, who was already the top fundraiser out of a field of 10 candidates vying for four spots on the board of trustees in the November election, now holds the seat left vacant after Milton Marks III died earlier this month from a brain tumor.
The appointment gives Santos the trappings of incumbency for about 2 1/2 months before a pivotal election for the college, which faces the threat of losing its accreditation in June because of poor financial management.
Lee said Santos' business background - he co-founded the engineering firm Santos & Urrutia in 1988 - was part of his draw as a trustee to help turn around California's largest public school, with its 85,000 students.
Santos has been criticized by some on the city's political left as a conservative and polarizing figure.
He was registered as a Republican for years before changing his affiliation in 2008 to the American Independent Party, according to the San Francisco Department of Elections. He switched to the Democratic Party in December.
Santos came under scrutiny in 2005 for a potential conflict of interest when he headed the Building Inspection Commission but was also hired as an engineer to help get approvals for a construction project that the city department overseen by the commission had shut down.
Lee dismissed the idea that Santos was a polarizing figure, saying, "The business background that Rodrigo brings to this is really a huge asset for City College."

Note from Dr.G.: The American Independent Party is Christian-Supremacist, and White-American Nationalist, according to their website [aipca.org]. Fascists hate public programs such as public education and public libraries. They want these public resources to be inefficient or privatized, and expensive for the majority of the Public, so that only the wealthy can access knowledge, and everybody else are relegated to being uneducated wage-slaves. Knowledge is Power. Power in the hands of the wealthy... That's fascism.



"SF pension reform donors tied to anti-union efforts"
2011-10-04 by Heather Knight from "San Francisco Chronicle" [sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/03/BA6P1LAOD3.DTL&type=newsbayarea]
San Francisco -- San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi is billing his pension reform measure on the Nov. 8 ballot as a progressive effort to protect city services for children, seniors and the poor - and has bristled at the notion it's an attack on unions.
But the two main contributors to Proposition D - venture capitalist Michael Moritz and businessman George Hume, who have donated $250,000 apiece - have also contributed to Republicans in Ohio and Wisconsin who supported those states' polarizing, national-headline-grabbing efforts this year to curb unions' rights dramatically.
"Adachi is the front man, but Hume and Moritz are the antiunion billionaires behind the curtain," said Nathan Ballard, strategist for the Yes on C campaign to pass a separate pension reform ballot measure backed by Mayor Ed Lee, the Board of Supervisors and labor unions.
"Whether he knows it or not, Adachi's being used by the very same billionaires who have mounted a campaign against unions all around the country," Ballard said.
Adachi said that the idea behind Prop. D was entirely his own and that he sought out wealthy proponents only after it was clear he'd have to wage a pricey signature drive to get it on the ballot. Prop. C, on the other hand, didn't need a signature drive because it made the ballot on a vote by the supervisors.
"This was something I started. It's not like Hume or Moritz came to me and said, 'We want you to destroy workers' rights in California,' " Adachi said. "When you can't attack the measure, you attack the people who support it."

Antiunion measures -
Moritz has donated to the Ohio Republican Party and to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a former presidential candidate and talk show host who is a union foe.
Earlier this year, Republican legislators in Ohio backed a law signed by Kasich that significantly restricted public workers' collective bargaining rights, including making it a criminal offense for government workers to strike and barring public workers from talking to elected officials during contract negotiations.
Hume has given money to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and several Republican Wisconsin state legislators who supported the law passed this year to strip most public employees of their collective bargaining rights.

Curbing pension costs -
In San Francisco, pension reform has become a hot-button issue because the fund is increasingly swallowing city money while services like summer school are chopped and fees such as those at parking meters are rising. This year, the city is paying $422 million toward pensions, a number expected to jump to $800 million by 2014. The city's entire budget is $6.8 billion.
Props. C and D would both raise the contributions city employees must make to their pension accounts, though Prop. C would raise them less and would also lower them significantly in particularly good economic years. The controller's office has said Adachi's measure would save $300 million to $400 million more than the mayor's over the next decade.

Campaign financing -
Moritz and Hume are San Francisco residents. Moritz is a registered Democrat, and Hume is a registered Republican. Moritz is a partner in Sequoia Capital, and Hume is the chairman of Basic American Foods and the president of the San Francisco Opera Association.
Both have donated extensively to candidates and causes around the country - both liberal and conservative. Records show both, for example, have donated to Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.
Hume could not be reached for comment, but Moritz wrote in an e-mail that he strongly disputed the notion that his funding of Prop. D had anything to do with destroying unions.
"The accusations you've heard are just cheap campaign chaff and a sly attempt to deflect attention from the real issue - the way in which 750,000 people in San Francisco are being forced to subsidize the lifestyles of the people behind City Hall," he wrote.
"The vast majority of San Franciscans have just been abused by the self-dealing machine that calls itself the 'city family.' I'm just fortunate enough to be able to make their voices heard."
The progressive Adachi, who is also running for mayor, is the unlikely recipient of praise from conservatives around the state because of his pension efforts.
"I don't know about the rest of San Francisco politics, but anyone who is willing to champion pension reform in the belly of the beast has extraordinary political courage," said Jon Fleischman, the publisher of the popular conservative GOP website Flashreport.org.

Backing other measure -
Prop. D isn't alone in having wealthy backers; Prop. C was negotiated between city officials and labor unions under the guidance of Republican billionaire financier Warren Hellman. He paid $200,000 for an actuary to provide data for the effort and has donated $100,000 to the proposition so far.
Some backers of Prop. D have questioned Hellman's intentions since at least three times in recent years the city's retirement board has voted to invest some money in the city's pension fund into funds managed by Hellman's firm.
Ballard said that the most recent investment was made in April 2009, well before the ballot measure was even discussed, and that Hellman's efforts on Prop. C have nothing to do with it.
"Saying Mr. Hellman is acting selfishly is like saying he puts on Hardly Strictly Bluegrass just so the Wronglers will have a place to play," Ballard said of the weekend's bluegrass festival paid for by Hellman and featuring his band. "Mr. Hellman's support for Prop. C is just one more example of his civic activities that have benefited San Francisco many times over the years."
Barbara O'Connor, an emeritus professor and the former director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University Sacramento, said that on a particularly complicated issue like pension reform, voters often make decisions based on who supports it and who doesn't. She said it's legitimate for campaigns to attack one another based on each side's supporters.
Corey Cook, a political scientist at the University of San Francisco, agreed but said San Francisco voters shouldn't make the mistake of thinking either pension reform proposition is remotely close to the laws adopted in Ohio and Wisconsin.
"There's a gulf between them," he said. "It's a serious enough issue that you hope voters are talking about it on the merits."

"Defend TWU 250 A Driver Dorian Maxwell, STOP Union Busting, Frame-Ups & Attacks On Muni Bus Drivers"
"SF Mayor Ed Lee, MTA Boss Nathanel E. Ford: Hands Off Dorian Maxwell!"

Dorian Maxwell, a member of TWU 250A, a health and safety advocate and union activist is under attack by the anti-labor MTA City administration and the Mayor's office. Dorian has reported serious health and safety hazards for drivers and the public to OSHA and other agencies.
He has also been injured on the job as a result of the management's callous disregard for the health and safety of the drivers. As a result of his whistle blowing and also his opposition for the reactionary Proposition G pushed by former Mayor Newsom, Sean Elsbernd, SPUR and the billionaires in San Francisco he has been framed up with a charge of "political activity" while on the job.
This political frame-up to fire Dorian Maxwell is an orchestrated effort to further intimidate SF Muni drivers from speaking out against the vicious union busting and racist attacks they have faced for opposing concession bargaining and give-backs.
It is time to call a halt to this witch hunt and put these union busters on the defensive. They are seeking to destroy city wide seniority, smash city workers pension and healthcare plans, privatize and contract out city services and destroy public workers unions in San Francisco.
SF City Workers Speak-out On Concessions [http://blip.tv/file/4545534]
SF Muni Bosses Target Dorian Maxwell [http://blip.tv/file/4451201]

Stand UP For TWU 250A Driver Dorian Maxwell
Put The Privatizers and Union Busters On Trial
Rally Wednesday Jan 26, 2011 Noon
MTA 1 South Van Ness/Market St.
Sponsored by:
- San Francisco City Workers United [Sfcityworkersunited @ gmail.com]
- United Public Workers For Action [http://Upwa.info]
---
Also Join The Speak-Out Against City's Attack On Seniority
Feb 7, 2011 2:00 PM Rm 400 San Francisco Civil Service Commission SF City Hall

Advertisements: Monopolist Propaganda and Monopolized Truth

The following is an example of the manipulations of information by monopolist corporations, detailing the falsehoods publicized by McDonalds. If you've been lied to about the Chicken McNugget, then this practice is ordinary business practice. We can read this to mean that they all do it, and that their advertisements are, simply, propaganda selling an idea that everything is fine, perfect, and ordinary. Taken further, monopolist news media are also manipulated along the same lines, as well as the monopolist political parties.
Break free and declare your independence from monopolist propaganda.

"Are the Chicken McNuggets really 100% chicken?"
[mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/see_what_we_are_made_of/your_questions_answered/meats.html]:
The only meat used in McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets is chicken breast meat. The white meat is minced before being shaped into nuggets, and then coated with a specially seasoned batter at our trusted suppliers, such as Keystone Foods. To find out more about Keystone Foods, read their story here [mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/see_what_we_are_made_of/meet_our_suppliers/keystone_foods.html].




"Just what is in that chicken nugget?"
2013-10-04 by Kathryn Doyle from "Reuters" [news.yahoo.com/just-chicken-nugget-131533269.html]:  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Stand-up comedians have long joked that some things, like the actual components of chicken nuggets, are better left mysterious.
 Recently, Mississippi researchers found out why: two nuggets they examined consisted of 50 percent or less chicken muscle tissue, the breast or thigh meat that comes to mind when a customer thinks of "chicken."
 The nuggets came from two national fast food chains in Jackson. The three researchers selected one nugget from each box, preserved, dissected and stained the nuggets, then looked at them under a microscope.
 The first nugget was about half muscle, with the rest a mix of fat, blood vessels and nerves. Close inspection revealed cells that line the skin and internal organs of the bird, the authors write in the American Journal of Medicine.
 The second nugget was only 40 percent muscle, and the remainder was fat, cartilage and pieces of bone.
 "We all know white chicken meat to be one of the best sources of lean protein available and encourage our patients to eat it," lead author Dr. Richard D. deShazo of the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, said.
 "What has happened is that some companies have chosen to use an artificial mixture of chicken parts rather than low-fat chicken white meat, batter it up and fry it and still call it chicken," deShazo told Reuters Health.
 "It is really a chicken by-product high in calories, salt, sugar and fat that is a very unhealthy choice. Even worse, it tastes great and kids love it and it is marketed to them."
 The nuggets he examined would be okay to eat occasionally, but he worries that since they are cheap, convenient and taste good, kids eat them often. His own grandchildren "beg" for chicken nuggets all the time, and he compromises by making them at home by pan-frying chicken breasts with a small amount of oil, deShazo said.
 "Chicken nuggets are an excellent source of protein, especially for kids who might be picky eaters," said Ashley Peterson, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for the National Chicken Council (NCC), a non-profit trade group representing the U.S. chicken industry.
 According to the NCC, its member producers and processors account for about 95 percent of the chicken produced in the U.S.
 "This study evaluates only two chicken nugget samples out of the billions of chicken nuggets that are made every year," Peterson said. A sample size of two nuggets is simply too small to generalize to an entire category of food, she told Reuters Health.
 Two nuggets is a small sample size, deShazo acknowledged, and some chains have begun to use primarily white meat in their nuggets - just not the particular restaurants he visited.
 "Chicken nuggets tend to have an elevated fat content because they are breaded and fried. But it's no secret what is in a chicken nugget - most quick service restaurants have nutritional information posted in the store or on their website," Peterson said.
 "And every package of chicken nuggets in the grocery store by law contains an ingredient list and a complete nutritional profile, including fat content," she said.
 The brief chicken nugget exploration was not meant to be an exposé of the chicken industry or fast food generally, but to remind consumers that "not everything that tastes good is good for you," deShazo said.
 He and his colleagues chose not to reveal which chain restaurants they visited.
 Consumers aren't necessarily being misled, since much of the nutritional information they need is readily available, he said.
 "We just don't take the time to understand basic nutritional facts."
---
SOURCE: "The Autopsy of Chicken Nuggets Reads “Chicken Little”" by Richard D. deShazo MD, Steven Bigler MD, Leigh Baldwin Skipworth BA, published by "American Journal of Medicine", online 2013-09-13 [amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(13)00396-3/abstract]:
Abstract:
Purpose - To determine the contents of chicken nuggets from 2 national food chains.
Background - Chicken nuggets have become a major component of the American diet. We sought to determine the current composition of this highly processed food.
Methods - Randomly selected nuggets from 2 different national fast food chains were fixed in formalin, sectioned and stained for microscopic analysis.
Results - Striated muscle (chicken meat) was not the predominate component in either nugget. Fat was present in equal or greater quantities along with epithelium, bone, nerve, and connective tissue.
Conclusion - Chicken nuggets are mostly fat, and their name is a misnomer.



"Pre-Chicken Nugget Meat Paste, AKA Mechanically Separated Poultry"
2010-10-04 from "Huffington Post" online newsjournal [huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/04/mechanically-separated-meat-chicken-mcnugget-photo_n_749893.html]:
Mechanically Separated Chicken, from Fooducate, via Early Onset of Night

The photo above [SEE UPDATE BELOW] has been extensively passed around recently, and for good reason: it's a peek into the rarely-seen world of mechanically separated meat.
Fooducate writes [blog.fooducate.com//2009/08/03/guess-whats-in-the-picture-foodlike-substance]: [begin excerpt] Someone figured out in the 1960s that meat processors can eek out a few more percent of profit from chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows by scraping the bones 100% clean of meat. This is done by machines, not humans, by passing bones leftover after the initial cutting through a high pressure sieve. The paste you see in the picture above is the result. [end excerpt]
Michael Kindt continues [early-onset-of-night.tumblr.com/post/1206666159/say-hello-to-mechanically-separated-chicken-its]: [begin excerpt] There's more: because it's crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia... Then, because it tastes gross, it will be reflavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color. But, hey, at least it tastes good, right? High five, America! [end excerpt]

UPDATE, 10/4/10: The story has been amended to reflect that although mass produced chicken nuggets at large may contain mechanically separated chicken, McDonald's famous McNuggets no longer do contain "mechanically separated poultry as defined by the federal government. The USDA now requires foods with mechanically separated poultry to be labeled as containing "mechanically separated chicken or turkey" in their ingredients lists.
Additionally, although "mechanically separated meat" may apply to turkey, chicken and pork, due to concerns over BSE, the federal government has held since 2004 that mechanically separated beef  "is considered inedible and is prohibited for use as human food."

UPDATE II, 10/5/10: Because the original source of the photo cannot be fully verified, we have removed it from this post. While no one has been able to prove definitely whether the image shows mechanically separated poultry or pork, we do know that those products look quite similar to the substance in the photo. For example, on the Food Revolution show, Jamie Oliver demonstrated a version of the process ("how to use all the leftover bits to make food"), by hand, to kids, in a failed attempt to scare them away from the mass-produced foods that such meat slurries end up in (failed, because the children still wanted to eat the resulting chicken nuggets despite his demonstration). The chicken slurry he made before their eyes bears an uncanny resemblance to the passed-around photo. from "Jamie Oliver - Nugget experiment epic failure" 2010-04-12 upload to "Youtube.com" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9B7im8aQjo]: From the show Jamie Oliver Food Revolution. Jamie Oliver attempts and fails miserably in trying to convince a group of American kids that consuming processed chicken nuggets are bad.:

Here is a picture of mechanically separated pork and beef scraps in a hot dog plant, emerging after emulsification, from a National Geographic video, from "Meat Smoothie" 2008-09-30 upload to "Youtube.com" by "National Geographic" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBBSY5Z5YVk]: Follow two tons of meat into the chopping room where it becomes a "meat smoothie," which ultimately becomes a hot dog.:

And here's another shot of the resulting product from mechanical meat separation, from this video, which advertises a company's suite of machines that perform these functions:

More info about mechanically separated meats [snopes.com/food/prepare/msm.asp]

Santa Cruz targets "Gangs", scapegoats lower-income communities

"Santa Cruz Task Farce Rides Again"
2013-10-01 by Robert Norse from "Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom (HUFF) - Santa Cruz" [http://www.huffsantacruz.org] [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/10/01/18744150.php]:

Title: Public Hysteria Gang "Targets" Other Gangs
START DATE: Wednesday October 02
TIME: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Location Details: Community Room of the Santa Cruz Police Department at Center and Laurel Streets. 809 Center St., Santa Cruz, CA
The Mayor's handpicked "scapegoat the homeless" Task Force will be meeting Wednesday, October 2 in its familiar meeting place--the Community Room of the Santa Cruz Police Department.
The audience, as usual, will be gagged (i.e. refused any public comment period and rudely advised to shut up if they dare to raise a question or react to the ongoing show).
The topic will be Gangs--without, of course, any representation from current gang members on police abuse, background on gangs from the gang member's point of view, and/or suggestions for real solutions rather than throwing more money at police or forming local vigilante Take Back Santa Cruz style counter-gangs..
Prior agendas, staff reports, minutes, and audio of this City-funded Circus can be found at http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/index.aspx?page=1924 where the agenda and staff report for the meeting tomorrow can be found.
The next meeting will be held at Branciforte Middle School on October 9 (see below) and will actually allow the public to speak before resuming "no comment" sessions in a weekly schedule throughout October. This is as distinguished from its bi-weekly schedule previously.
The staff person being paid to do research, record, and organize these meetings is Susie O'Hara, who actually gave me her direct city contact phone after the city offices would not (it's 420-5013). She can be reached by e-mail at sohara [at] cityofsantacruz.com .
I suggest those who go bring placards silently indicating their opinions ("Stop Scapegoating Street People") or even a more versatile sign like a double-sided one with 'half-truth" on one side and "total bullshit" on the other. Signs referencing the new Downtown Ordinance outrage against street culture would also be welcome.
More discussion on the issue at the HUFF meeting tomorrow 11 AM 10-2 at the Sub Rosa Cafe 703 Pacific Ave.

For ease of reference, I include the agenda as PDF.
For some prior indybay articles on the Task Farce and its members see
* "Mayor's Public Safety Task Force Member is "fine with junkies dying" at [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/07/25/18740407.php]
* "Strongly Biased Public Safety Survey" at [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/06/10/18738231.php]
* "Mayor's Stacked and Packed "Public Safety Task Force" meets" at [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/28/18737491.php].
To be clear, this post is by Robert Norse in its entirety--the information was in part supplied by city staffer Susan O'Hara, whose opinions are not necessarily represented by this article.

Call for Labor Solidarity with the Justice Movement

Oct 8 th rally - Romero, Huey and other families speak to ATU rally

To: The Executive Board and Membership of ATU 1555
Attn: Chris Finn, ATU 1555 Recording Secretary,
       STRIKE!  STRIKE!  STRIKE!  STRIKE!      UNION POWER!  UNION POWER!  UNION POWER!
Who could forget that scene, the afternoon-evening of August 1st, 2013.   Emanating from a 1,000 strong rally and march of BART workers and their supporters, these chants rocked BART headquarters!!    The workers felt their power then.  But due to the inaction of the bureaucratic and reformist leadership, due to the lack of a delegated, rank and file Strike Committee that meets daily, this sense of power we all shared has been allowed to dissipate into inactivity.  We are watching a prime fighter become disabled from fighting.   Labor, Black & Brown (LBB) believes also that “An Injury To One, Is An Injury To All”, and were honored to have the ILWU Local 10 come to Vallejo and make that real.
What brings us to this point in history involves  Jared Huey, 16 years old, who was murdered by the Vallejo Police on June 20, 2012, and  Mario Romero, 22 years old.  Mario was murdered by the Vallejo Police on September 2nd, 2012.   As you are aware, the families of these two youths are fighting for justice, have united with other Bay Area families, and have been seeking the active support of the union movement.    On February 26, 2013, the ILWU Local 10 responded to the call for assistance by Cynthia Mitchel, mother of Mario Romero, and Mike Huey, father of Jared Huey.  A “Labor – Community Press Conference” was convened on the steps of Vallejo City Hall.  Those  present included 15 ILWU Local 10 members,  the Black Riders Liberation Party (BRLP), Labor  Black & Brown (LBB),  members and supporters of the Romero and Huey  families and the family of Guy Jarreau, (killed by Vallejo Police, December 12, 2010).   A spirited press conference was convened, and afterwards, an impromptu, orderly and disciplined shut down of the Vallejo City Council meeting took place.  (See ILWU – Vallejo 2-26-13 on You Tube)
    LBB noted at the ILWU Local 10 Executive Board on Feb 12, 2013, that there is “…the need for a rank and file United Front consisting of labor, workers organizations in general, with the Black and Brown community organizations and the youth.”  This need has not gone away, but has become more urgent today, as illustrated by the events around the current BART negotiations/strike.
    Labor Black & Brown has been providing advice to the families in Vallejo, as well as the folks in Stockton (James Rivera – murdered July 27, 2010) and Manteca (Ernest Duenez –  murdered June 8, 2011).  Specifically, we advise them to seek out the unions or groups of workers – especially those engaged in active struggles – for a joint united battle against our common enemy, this capitalist system.   LBB understands that when the power of the labor movement is joined by Brown and Black Power in the class struggle, ALL of that power is increased, exponentially.  
    This will become apparent when community protests against police violence are joined by militant contingents of workers, union and non-union, perhaps even developing towards joint labor, Black and Brown defense guards.   When we organize and witness workers’ picket lines bolstered by mass community support, we will begin witnessing that power – labor, Black and Brown power.   The power of the masses  who are conscious and united for the class-struggle.   This is what we have in mind when we suggest that the BART unions engage in and join the fight against Police, La Migra/ICE terror, and supporting the community with Union Power just as the BART workers want and need the community to support them.
     That 1,000-strong August 1st BART rally – march??  When we arrived at BART headquarters, remember when those chants went up??  For about 5 minutes!!! :  STRIKE!  STRIKE!  STRIKE!  STRIKE!.... UNION POWER!  UNION POWER!  UNION POWER!  UNION POWER! ! ! !  . . . .   In your mind’s eye, add about 1,000 or more Brown and Black people from the community, mad about Oscar Grant, mad about Ernest Duenez, mad about Mario Romero and Jared Huey, mad about the service cuts, the lack of opportunity, the latest “immigration” atrocities and the many other attacks and indignities our communities are suffering. . . .   We start determining what is possible.
    When Cynthia Mitchel and Mike Huey came down from Vallejo to the 1,000 strong August 1st BART Union rally, Chris Finn, ATU 1555 recording secretary and main union organizer for the function, told Cynthia, Mike and LBB that there wasn’t enough time  to fit them into the speakers schedule.   Wow!  They came all the way from Vallejo to share their trials, tribulations, pain, and to express their thanks for the very able assistance we got from the ILWU Local 10.  On a basic level, is this solidarity?  …An embarrassing political blunder?   …A bureaucracy?  
    The workers movement should be about honesty and learning from our mistakes.  So we contrast this unfortunate incident with our meeting and action with the ILWU Local 10 and stress that fighters in the workers’ movement  should  learn  more useful  political habits, like the ability to change plans when a unique opportunity presents itself.   Chris, you are a likable enough guy, I don’t get it, you behaving like bureaucratic habit.  “Not enough time” ??  The Unions -- the ATU 1555, SEIU 1021 & AFSCME 3993 were the shot callers for when or what time the march left city hall (Oscar Grant Plaza) for the BART Headquarters.  I am certain, that those good union folks, assembled that afternoon, would gladly abide a three or four minute non-delay to hear Cynthia and Mike describe the goings on in Vallejo and explain their efforts to join with other families victimized by police murders, in what should become a nation-wide movement.  
    Anyway, what Vallejo has to report, that rally of union workers needed to hear.  The stone-walling by city officials.  The harassment by the Vallejo Police.  The surveillance.   The intimidation.  That cabal of the Vallejo establishment trying to isolating the resistance of these good people.   Race-hating Nazis nibbling around the edges…. 
    Union workers need to hear from the parents of James Rivera, murdered July 22nd, 2010 and their call for a “General Strike in Stockton, May 31 (2012).   The mainstream media wouldn’t cover it.  Why would our union allies shunt away families who desire and actively seek united action with the unions? 
    We urge ATU Local 1555 not to turn away from, or censor out the battles occurring in the outlying areas of the Bay.  These working class families have been, pretty much by themselves, working against the formidable powers of police departments and this system they protect.  From Stockton, Manteca, Vallejo, Oakland, and also Southern California, “victims” of police killings are becoming intransigent resistors.  The unions need to do some aggressive outreach and actual, factual solidarity -- it will be an outreach that will be very welcome.  And perhaps, for the unions and for us all, an answer to Wisconsin.
    These families, from Manteca, Stockton, Vallejo (and anywhere else) should be welcomed to the speakers platform to tell their stories.  Labor Black & Brown would like to speak and educate about Political Strikes (like ILWU Local 10 on Oct. 23rd, 2010)  and workers defense guards (like UAW Local 6 in 1975).  In our opinion Union Outreach and Support Rallies work best with the grass roots from the communities and union rank and file speaking from an OPEN MIKE.  We need less officials speaking and more ideas from the people!
    Please communicate with us to discuss any aspect of what we have addressed
In Solidarity, Charles DuBois for Labor, Black & Brown

When they shoot us down – We shut them down!
For More OCT. 23rds!  Unions, Organize Political Strikes against Police Murderers.
Victory to the BART Workers and Their Unions! 
For Rank and File delegated Strike Committee that meets daily, to assess and co-ordinate strategy and political tactics.   Convene these meetings before October 10th.
Organize mass union-community picket lines to inform and inspire union

One-Day Strikes: A Word to the Wise

Organize a Labor Union! [link]

2013-10-02 by Robert M. Schwartz from "Labor Notes" [labornotes.org/2013/10/one-day-strikes-word-wise]:
Robert M. Schwartz, a Boston-area labor lawyer, is author of several labor law handbooks including Strikes, Picketing and Inside Campaigns.
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Non-union Subway restaurant workers at the Oakland airport walked out for a day in an unfair labor practice strike to protest the firing of a co-worker for organizing. Workers can’t be legally fired for a ULP strike. Photo: Marilyn Bechtel/People's World.

More and more unions are turning to one-day or other short-term strikes to add punch to contract campaigns. Walmart, fast food, and other non-union workers have also used the tactic to demand changes in wages, working conditions, and safety, and to protest discharges. A short-term strike sends a powerful message to management, dramatizing workers’ anger and determination. Workers, both union and non-union, who take part in a short-term strike have the same legal protections as workers who engage in open-ended strikes. They cannot legally be disciplined for failing to give advance notice or failing to call in early the day of the strike (an exception is the health care industry, where 10 days’ advance notice is required). Nor can the employer count the days as absences under an attendance-control program. Once the strike is over, if the union or an individual offers to return “without conditions,” the employer must allow the worker to return to his or her original position. A union or a non-union worker who is illegally discharged or refused reinstatement can file an unfair labor practice charge at the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB can order the employer to reinstate the worker with back pay—although the legal process can be frustratingly lengthy.

INTERMITTENT STRIKES -
One pitfall for union and nonunion workers who engage in short-term strikes is the poorly understood NLRB intermittent strike doctrine. The doctrine prohibits union and non-union workers from taking part in a “series” or “pattern” of short-term strikes for a common goal. Workers who participate in what the Board calls “intermittent” or “hit and run” activity lose their NLRA protections and can be fired. Although most Board decisions on this topic have required three walkouts before falling under the intermittent label, in some cases the Board has applied the label after two walkouts. Walmart will probably cite the intermittent strike doctrine to defend its recent discharges of short-term strikers. The surest way to avoid classification as an intermittent strike is to limit the number of short-term walkouts to one (this does not forfeit the right to later call an open-ended strike). A union or organizing committee that wants to hold multiple walkouts should take the following precautions:
* Hold the walkouts for different reasons
* Hold the walkouts weeks or months apart
* Hold the walkouts quickly after a triggering event
* Avoid literature (or emails) referring to a campaign based on strikes.

PERMANENT REPLACEMENT -
Another threat to short-term strikers, especially if the strike is for more than a day, is the risk of permanent replacement. A 1938 Supreme Court ruling (Mackay Radio) allows employers to hire permanent replacements for workers engaging in an “economic” strike—whether the walkout is one day or open-ended.
The replacements may be hired before the strike or while it is in progress. A permanently replaced striker must wait for vacancies to open up. In most states, however, he or she can collect unemployment benefits. One way to protect short-term strikers against permanent replacement is to send the employer an offer-to-return letter immediately after the strike begins. The letter should state that the worker or workers will return to work “without conditions” the following day or soon thereafter. Example:

Date: Tuesday, October 2, 2013
Time: 7:01 a.m.
To: Leo Nelson, Production Manager From: Maria Myers, President, Local 21
Re: Return-to-work offer
Local 21 hereby notifies the company that at 7:00 a.m. today, Tuesday, October 2, 2013, members of the bargaining unit represented by Local 21 commenced a 24-hour strike for a fair contract. Peaceful picketing will occur at the company’s premises. Strike activity will cease as of 6:59 a.m. October 3, 2013, and an offer to return to work without conditions at 7:00 a.m. on October 3, 2013 is hereby made on behalf of all persons in the above-described bargaining unit and all employees who honor the union picket line.

Under NLRB rules, an employer served with an unconditional offer to return to work cannot hire permanent replacements during the remainder of the strike. In an organized workplace, the union can submit the letter for all its members. In a non-union workplace each striker must submit an offer. A second technique that protects strikers against permanent replacement is to position the walkout as an unfair labor practice strike. Workers who participate in a ULP strike cannot be permanently replaced. A walkout qualifies as a ULP strike if its purpose, or one of its purposes, is to protest an employer violation of the National Labor Relations Act. Examples include surveillance of concerted activity, threats of punishment for taking part in organizing activity; or the issuance of job rules that deter or discourage workers from taking part in protests. (Note: an employer violation of other employment laws, such as OSHA, Title VII, or the Fair Labor Standards Act, does not create a basis for a ULP strike.) The union or the organizing committee should take the following steps to link the walkout to the ULP violation:
* If the walkout is preceded by a vote of employees, there should be a discussion of the ULP at the meeting and a reference to the ULP in the ballot question.
* Picket signs should refer to the ULP. Examples: “On strike against illegal threats,” “On strike against employer surveillance.”
* References to the ULP should be included in all press releases and interviews.
* Descriptions of the ULP should be included in letters seeking support from politicians and clergy.

It is important that all strikers understand the ULP strike strategy. If a reinstatement claim goes to an NLRB hearing, the employer may subpoena rank-and-file workers in the hope of eliciting testimony that the strike was called solely to protest low wages or another non-ULP matter.