by Sri Louise

I want to let everyone know some of the details from the Act Full Gospel Church, where family and community members congregated yesterday to ask and receive answers from the OPD regarding the murder of Alan Blueford.

From the very start of the police “presentation” it was painfully clear that this was another charade meant to quell public unrest. Unfortunately, because the City and the OPD are not very smart, the same tactic they use to quell anger only inflames it. We see this tactic at every protest where the police instigate and insure violence.

One very telling control component of the meeting was that questions would not be fielded directly from attendees. Note cards and pencils were provided, questions would only be answered if they were written down. This type of process can easily censor which questions will be presented and in the end, only 7-10 out of the 100 questions submitted were answered before Chief Jordan declared the meeting over.

During and after the meeting, Chris was exercising his first amendment right to use speech as a form of redress. There was no threat of violence, ever. The meeting dispersed into the parking lot where we watched Chief Jordan get in his car and drive away while many of us shouted, JUSTICE FOR ALLEN BLUEFORD. Instead of deescalating the situation, the police did what they do best and escalated tension. 6 or 7 police cars pulled up in the drive way of the church, officers immediately drew their batons and they did this in the presence of a community that is suffering the loss of one of their young, deeply valued members, who was brutally gunned down by the OPD.

Chief Jordan began his presentation by saying how much “reverence” the OPD has for the residents of Oakland and yet time and time again, all I see is a violent insensitivity to life, community, faith, liberty and justice.

On our walk back to the Colliseum Bart station I watched at least two patrol cars monitor our status. One car only had one officer in it, at the time I thought that was strange, but I now know that tactic was intentional, they did not want to tip us off to what was about to happen. We arrived at the Bart station and I saw two patrol cars each carrying 4-5 officers. They were on the inner ring of the Bart parking lot and within about 2 min. were on the outer curb where Sgt. Beere instructed the men to arrest Chris. I’m not sure what the other officers were aware of prior to this abduction, because many of them seemed to appear uneasy, slightly inhibited and it forced Sgt. Beere to repeatedly yell at the officers to move faster.

Sgt. Beere served in Falluja during 2004/2005, which saw some of the most notorious destruction by US forces including chemical warfare. Here is some of what he and his comrades left behind.

Note: There was plenty of time and space to arrest Chris at the Church if any of the allegations were actually true. The Police waited until Chris was out of Church view, public view, surveilled his whereabouts and launched an illegal abduction. That way, when they talk to the media, they can say whatever it is that they want to justify their actions. The arrest was an act of revenge, their personal pay-back to a young man they despise for not cowering in front of their “authority”.

I asked several times, Why is he being arrested? Why is he being arrested? Why is he being Arrested and finally the default mechanism used to justify violence against community members, was, “assault on an officer.” Isn’t that what they said about Alan Blueford to justify murdering him?

So they handcuffed Chris, who did not resist and whisked him away making him sit in the back of a patrol car with two racist OPD officers. My intuitive fear was that those officers were about to do grave bodily harm to one of our own. I am relieved to write that reports from his mother say they did not.

Even after I was “gunned” down in an anti-war demonstration by OPD in 2003, I did not have the sentiment that I do now for the OPD. Since October, I have observed the demolition of our commune by armed forces. I have viewed OPD confiscate personal property and be unwilling to account for it and therefor return it. I have watched the OPD repress this community through repeated

harrasment, continual threats of arrests and countless illegal confinements and charges. I have witnessed them use extraordinary scare tactics to intimidate people out of public dissent. I have experienced them place many of us in really dangerous, potentially life threatening situations. I have watched them lie, stumble upon their own stupidity and be willing to enforce laws they cannot cite. And I have seen them do all of this with total impunity from within and with a stamp of approval from the City administration.

Repression invariable results in radicalization. I flashed my first fuck you sign when the plaza was raided on Jan 4th. I subsequently started to attend FTP marches. Many people have warned us not to let the police be our occupation, but I don’t think we have a choice and until more people are willing to stand up to the brutal injustice of the OPD, we will not be able to prevent them from killing more black and brown men in our community.

Our rage is an indication of how much we are suffering. Many of us are under extreme duress. Let us come together tomorrow and soothe some of this madness through a renewned sense of solidarity. Do not wait until someone you love is imprisoned or murdered.

Please, by then it will be too late, for all of us…everywhere.

In Prayer & Resistance,

Sri

NOTE: Chris will be arraigned Friday, 2pm at Wiley Manual Courthouse. An emergency march has been planned to support him Friday at 7pm at 19th and Telegraph.