The Mayor asked for a meeting with the protest organizers for the Sunday, May 24th rally and march. Here is the request and the reply…
Arrests in Oakland protests over limit on nighttime marches #BreakTheCurfew http://t.co/GjRFf4sNKQ pic.twitter.com/w4NdM3CKFH
— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallStNYC) May 25, 2015
Hello Katie,
My name is Tomiquia Moss and I am the chief of staff to Mayor Schaaf. The Mayor would like a chance to meet with you and Nichola to discuss the City’s crowd control policy. I realize that you all have planned a demonstration this evening and the Mayor would like an opportunity to meet before the demonstration if possible. Please let me know if you and Nichola would be willing to meet with the Mayor and the Assistant Chief of Police today.
Thank you,
Tomiquia
Hi Tomiquia,
You wrote to me privately but I’m responding publicly for the sake of transparency. I hope this note makes its way to you and to Mayor Schaaf. We declined to meet with you before tonight’s protest because our call is simple. Reverse the curfew. Beyond that, and even more importantly, stop enacting state violence on black people. Stop this violence at all levels: from gentrification, displacement, and a dearth of affordable housing, to the criminalization and execution of black people.
It does not escape our notice that police behavior tonight toward an interfaith march that included many white protesters was MUCH more lenient and hands-off than the violent aggression toward black protesters and protesters of color just last night, as they marched to remember the lives of black women murdered by the state. Perhaps you instructed the police to ease up tonight, avoiding the bad press of assaulting and arresting white faith leaders.
If you need to be meeting with anyone, it’s the black liberation groups whose marches you have disrupted with an illegal curfew and violent repression. Maybe start with an apology.
We will not be divided. Or conquered. We will continue to take the streets that rightfully belong to the people, not the police. We will continue to insist on the sacredness of black lives in the face of state repression. That’s a promise.
Sincerely,
Katie
Notes:
Katie is depicted in the tweet above, speaking at the rally before the May 24th, Interfaith march against police violence, state repression and supporting #BlackLivesMatter.
Libby Schaaf is shown with William Bratton, now Police Commissioner of New York City, famous for promulgating the “broken windows” theory of policing and for advocating “Stop & Frisk.” While on the City Council Schaaf voted to pay Bratton hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees, yet another example of money down the proverbial City of Oakland consultant sewer line.
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