On November 23, 2012, four boys in a red SUV pull into a gas station after spending time at a mall buying sneakers and talking to girls. With music blaring, one boy exits the car and enters the store, a quick stop, for a soda and a pack of gum. A man and a woman pull up next to the boys in the station, making a stop for a bottle of wine. The woman enters the store and an argument breaks out when the driver of the second car asks the boys to turn the music down. 3 1/2 minutes and ten bullets later, one of the boys is dead.

This riveting documentary is one story of the devastating effects of racial bias and the search for justice. Negative portrayals of black men and boys in the media lead to irrational fears; these implicit biases can prove deadly. The film dissects the aftermath of this fatal encounter using powerful footage which shows intimate scenes with the boy’s parents, police interrogation footage, and interviews with others at the scene that night. You are on the edge of your seat during the trial testimonies. We chose this film to bring audiences into the discussion of racial bias and gun violence.

6:30 pm reception
7:00 film
8:30 -9 community discussion
The series is sponsored by the Piedmont Appreciating Diversity Committee, Piedmont League of Women Voters, and Piedmont Unified School District Adult Education.

diversityfilmseries.org

Our weekly PARTY to get this hackerspace together, to provide a venue for those things that otherwise cannot be worked out through day-to-day practice.

Potluck! – bring your own tasty dish!

Sudo room, located in the southwast corner of the ground floor, is a creative community and hackerspace. We offer tools and project space for a wide range of activities: electronics, sewing/crafting, 3D and 2D manufacturing, coding, and good old-fashioned co-learning!

Hours: The space is open whenever a member is present. Come visit! Best times to drop in are evenings between 7 and 9pm. See the calendar for recurring meetups and upcoming events: https://sudoroom.org/calendar

Join and support the dedicated Social Workers and Eligibility Workers who provide services to the homeless, victims of child and elder abuse, and families in need of food assistance. They are fighting to make sure they have the safety, resources and staffing to do their jobs.

The County’s failure to recruit and retain staff puts crucial public assistance programs at risk. Workers who have spoken out on have been targeted and threatened by County management.

Contra Costa has one of the lowest salary and benefit packages in the Bay Area, leaving many employees to lean on the very public assistance services they administer.

This strike highlights a major political issue to working families in Richmond. We need your support on the line!

Only 11% of United States workers today are unionized. Unions under our labor law regime and economic system have become smaller for almost a half century. Thus wages have stagnated or declined for the 89% of U.S. workers who are now not in unions and, for the unionized, they have barely kept pace with inflation.

If greater union density improves wages and work life conditions for all workers: (1) how do we grow actually existing unions, and (2) how do we organize workers who are not unionized? The Oakland Livable Wage Assembly (“OLWA”) is an experiment towards some solutions. www.olwa.org https://www.facebook.com/groups/1568668586707336/

With now five years in Oakland of volunteer autonomous organizing experience based on and inspired by the Zapatista and Occupy models, I will both document OLWA’s two year history and situate our collective work in the relevant human sciences, labor economics/history, and community/labor organizing literatures. I welcome help with both recruiting more OLWA participants and a publication agenda. Written scholarly work product is to be determined. As a rank and file SEIU Local 1000 union shop steward, I thank my union for the meeting space for OLWA’s ongoing work.

The Bio:

John Hayakawa Torok is a participant in the Oakland Livable Wage Assembly and is an SEIU Local 1000 rank and file worksite shop steward at his State of California day job in San Francisco. After receiving a 1991 JD from the CUNY Law School he was a Rockefeller Humanities Fellow and then participated in the Critical Race Theory workshops. His 2008 Berkeley Ethnic Studies PhD dissertation sounds in immigration, legal and civil liberties history focusing on immigration policy enforcement in Cold War New York Chinatown. As an ISSI/CRSC Visiting Scholar, he will situate five years of labor and community organizing in Occupy Oakland, his union, and the Oakland Livable Wage Assembly in the relevant literatures.

Join Haiti Action Committee to commemorate the 25th anniversary of a coup that continues to inform the present struggle of the Haitian people for democracy and justice.

SEPTEMBER 30th – 4:30 PM DEMONSTRATION meets at 14th & Broadway in Oakland

OCTOBER 2nd – 3PM EVENT at Eastside Arts, 2277 International Blvd, Oakland

Why is it important to remember September 30, 1991?

It is a battle of memory against forgetfulness, because we think that we cannot build the democracy we want for this country if we continue to erase what happened. It is impossible. – Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine

September 30, 2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the coup that overthrew Haiti’s first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide who was the candidate of Haiti’s popular movement Lavalas in the 1990 presidential election; he won with 67% of the vote.

Aristide’s Feb. 7, 1991 inauguration marked a huge victory for Haiti’s poor majority after decades living under the Duvalier family dictatorship and military rule. The inauguration signaled the participation of the poor in a new social order. This radical change was represented by Aristide’s first act as President when he invited several hundred street children and homeless to join him for the inaugural breakfast at the National Palace.

A brave young democracy set out to reverse centuries of exclusion of Haiti’s poor majority in the country’s political, economic and social life against the backdrop of right wing death squads and a corrupt Haitian military tied to former dictators and Haiti’s wealthy elite. Just four days before the inauguration, an orphanage founded by Aristide – Lafanmi Selavi – was torched, killing four street children.

The new administration began to implement programs in adult literacy, health care, and land redistribution; lobbied for a minimum wage hike; proposed new roads and infrastructure to create jobs. Aristide renounced his $10,000 a month salary. He enforced taxes on the wealthy and dissolved the rural section chief infrastructure that empowered the Ton Ton Macoute. He denounced the treatment (akin to slavery) of Haitian sugar cane workers in the Dominican Republic, and called for improved working conditions.

After the September 30th coup, Lavalas supporters turned out by the hundreds of thousands to defend the constitutional government. They were brutally suppressed, starting on the eve of Sept. 30th when National Police chief Lt. Col. Michel Francois led busloads of soldiers to the Champs de Mars where they machine gunned hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the National Palace.  Francois would later be convicted in absentia for the 1993 murder of Antoine Izmery, a prominent businessman and supporter of Aristide who was dragged from a church in broad daylight and executed. Aristide’s Justice Minister Guy Malary was murdered one month later.

Between the years 1991-1994, during the military regime headed by General Raoul Cedras, four to seven thousand supporters and activists of Lavalaswould be killed; others savagely tortured; rape as a political weapon was widespread; thousands fled or were driven into hiding. Poor neighborhoods were particularly targeted, as was the Ti Legliz (little church) – an important sector of the grassroots movement. Anti-coup journalists and radio stations were attacked. Haitian elites and the coup regime, with the support of US intelligence agencies, backed the formation of a violent paramilitary organization known as FRAPH, which emerged in August 1993. FRAPH operated as a death squad, and was responsible for thousands of deaths and human rights violations. Its leaders like Louis-Jodel Chamblain, associate of Guy Philippe, still operate freely in Haiti.

No commemoration of September 30th would be complete without remembering Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, a psychologist and leading spokesperson for Lavalas, who was kidnapped and disappeared in Port-au-Prince in 2007. Lovinsky founded the Fondasyon Trant Septanm organization dedicated to justice for the victims of the September 30th coup and the release of political prisoners. He remains forever present at the forefront of Haiti’s struggle for justice and democracy.

Sources:

THIS EVENT IS MOST LIKELY CANCELLED BECAUSE THE BUILDING IT WAS BEING HELD IN CAUGHT FIRE ON 9/30 AND IS STILL BURNING!

Tracy Kidder, master of the nonfiction narrative and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic The Soul of the New Machine and the bestselling Mountains Beyond Mountains, presents the inspiring story of Kayak.com founder Paul English, a kinetic, unconventional inventor and entrepreneur.

Growing up in working-class Boston, Paul English discovers the perfect medium for his talents the first time he sees a computer. Despite suffering from what is later diagnosed as bipolar disorder, he begins his pilgrim journey through the surreal ups and downs of our brave new world. Relating to the Internet as if it was an extension of his own mind, English discovers that he has a gift for building creative teams of individuals. His innovative management style, rapid success, and innate sense of fair play inspires intense loyalty. When English does make a fortune – as co-founder of the travel website Kayak.com (which sold for almost two billion dollars) – his first concern is how to give it away.

With the power of a consummate storyteller, Tracy Kidder casts a fresh, critical and often humorous eye on the way new inventions and new money are reshaping our Culture. A Truck Full of Money is a unique portrait of an irresistibly endearing man who is indefatigable, utterly original, and wonderfully unpredictable.

Presented by KPFA Radio 94.1 FM

Hosted by Mitch Jeserich, Host and Producer of KPFA’s Letters and Politics, is a veteran broadcast journalist. He got his start as KPFA’s California State Political Reporter in Sacramento before going to Washington DC to cover the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court between 2003 and 2006. In 2009 Mitch launched a pilot program called Letters from Washington, chronicling the first 100 days of the Obama administration, which became Letters & Politics.

KPFA benefit http://www.kpfa.org

$12 advance, $15 door.

COLORSTRUCK! Written and performed by Donald E. Lacy Jr.,

On Her Own tells the story of Nancy Prebilich and her family as they struggle to save their 5th-generation farm during the Great Recession. When both of Nancy’s parents suddenly pass away, Nancy, her sister, niece, and nephews fight to stay afloat in the face of loss and financial instability. On Her Own represents what is happening all across the U.S. as houses are foreclosed, families are forced to move for purely economic reasons, and small farms face ruthless competition from larger factory farms and land developers. Chronicling Nancy’s personal journey over a 5-year span, this extraordinary story explores the roles that history and ancestry play in our present-day lives, asking: what happens when the cost of preserving family heritage is the family itself? Learn more about the film at https://onherownfilm.com.     

Bio
Morgan Schmidt-Feng, the founder of Filmsight Productions, is an award-winning director, producer and cinematographer for TV, documentaries, and independent feature films. His feature documentary, On Her Own, premiered at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival and had its international premiere at Hot Docs in Toronto. Morgan won the 2011 regional Emmy® for Best Documentary for The Next Frontier, a TV documentary about solutions for climate change. Morgan’s feature film experience began as an actor and associate producer on Morgan’s Cake, collaboration with his father and the film’s director, Rick Schmidt. Morgan lives in his hometown of Berkeley, California and graduated from CCA in Oakland.      

Support the Moore family as they go to court to hold Berkeley police accountable for Kayla’s death. The event will feature a dramatic play performance, a vigil for Kayla and for all Black, Brown and Poor women killed by state-sanctioned violence, and will be followed by a transformational celebration of Black life and resilience.

– 8 p.m. (doors at 7:30 p.m.) ~ Tasha
Tasha is Cat Brooks’ one-woman play based on the 2015 murder of Natasha McKenna by Virginia police.

-9:30 p.m. ~ A vigil for Kayla and all Black, Brown, trans, disabled and poor women killed by state-sanctioned violence.

-10 p.m. ~ A Transformational Poetry & Dance Party
with Po’ Poets, Kaila Love, Maria Moore and more musicians, activists and allies

The event is sponsored by Justice 4 Kayla Moore, Berkeley Copwatch,Anti Police-Terror Project, Black Trans Women’s Lives Matter.

=================================================
Website: JusticeForKaylaMoore.wordpress.com
For more info email: Justice4KaylaMoore@gmail.com or call (510) 548-0425

COLORSTRUCK! Written and performed by Donald E. Lacy Jr.,

Day One (Saturday, 10/1) Here

Sun. 10/2

10:30am -12:30 pm

How Capitalism Shreds Our Personal Lives

Harriet Fraad, Harriet Fraad  is a licensed mental health counselor and hypnotherapist in private practice in New York City. She has been an activist in the feminist movement and the journal Rethinking Marxism. For 40  years, she has been a radical committed to transforming US personal and political life.

1:30-3:30 pm

Crisis: It’s How Capitalism Works 

Richard Wolff, Marxist professor of economics, Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the New School University, New York City. He is the author of numerous books and articles and host of the weekly radio show, Economic Update, and Co-founder of the projectDemocracy at Work

4:00-6:00 pm

Our Role In Transforming The World

Activists in Speak Out Now, will present a revolutionary socialist perspective on the challenges and choices we all confront today

Followed by time to discuss and socialize – refreshments provided

7:30-8:30

The Artist as Activist 

Emel Mathlouthi, Tunisian singer, songwriter, social commentator and participant in the Arab Spring – will take us through her musical and political journey. He song Kelmti Horra (my word is free) became well-known throughout Tunisia during the struggles against the rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Join Haiti Action Committee to commemorate the 25th anniversary of a coup that continues to inform the present struggle of the Haitian people for democracy and justice.

SEPTEMBER 30th – 4:30 PM DEMONSTRATION meets at 14th & Broadway in Oakland

OCTOBER 2nd – 3PM EVENT at Eastside Arts, 2277 International Blvd, Oakland

Why is it important to remember September 30, 1991?

It is a battle of memory against forgetfulness, because we think that we cannot build the democracy we want for this country if we continue to erase what happened. It is impossible. – Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine

September 30, 2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the coup that overthrew Haiti’s first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide who was the candidate of Haiti’s popular movement Lavalas in the 1990 presidential election; he won with 67% of the vote.

Aristide’s Feb. 7, 1991 inauguration marked a huge victory for Haiti’s poor majority after decades living under the Duvalier family dictatorship and military rule. The inauguration signaled the participation of the poor in a new social order. This radical change was represented by Aristide’s first act as President when he invited several hundred street children and homeless to join him for the inaugural breakfast at the National Palace.

A brave young democracy set out to reverse centuries of exclusion of Haiti’s poor majority in the country’s political, economic and social life against the backdrop of right wing death squads and a corrupt Haitian military tied to former dictators and Haiti’s wealthy elite. Just four days before the inauguration, an orphanage founded by Aristide – Lafanmi Selavi – was torched, killing four street children.

The new administration began to implement programs in adult literacy, health care, and land redistribution; lobbied for a minimum wage hike; proposed new roads and infrastructure to create jobs. Aristide renounced his $10,000 a month salary. He enforced taxes on the wealthy and dissolved the rural section chief infrastructure that empowered the Ton Ton Macoute. He denounced the treatment (akin to slavery) of Haitian sugar cane workers in the Dominican Republic, and called for improved working conditions.

After the September 30th coup, Lavalas supporters turned out by the hundreds of thousands to defend the constitutional government. They were brutally suppressed, starting on the eve of Sept. 30th when National Police chief Lt. Col. Michel Francois led busloads of soldiers to the Champs de Mars where they machine gunned hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the National Palace.  Francois would later be convicted in absentia for the 1993 murder of Antoine Izmery, a prominent businessman and supporter of Aristide who was dragged from a church in broad daylight and executed. Aristide’s Justice Minister Guy Malary was murdered one month later.

Between the years 1991-1994, during the military regime headed by General Raoul Cedras, four to seven thousand supporters and activists of Lavalaswould be killed; others savagely tortured; rape as a political weapon was widespread; thousands fled or were driven into hiding. Poor neighborhoods were particularly targeted, as was the Ti Legliz (little church) – an important sector of the grassroots movement. Anti-coup journalists and radio stations were attacked. Haitian elites and the coup regime, with the support of US intelligence agencies, backed the formation of a violent paramilitary organization known as FRAPH, which emerged in August 1993. FRAPH operated as a death squad, and was responsible for thousands of deaths and human rights violations. Its leaders like Louis-Jodel Chamblain, associate of Guy Philippe, still operate freely in Haiti.

No commemoration of September 30th would be complete without remembering Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, a psychologist and leading spokesperson for Lavalas, who was kidnapped and disappeared in Port-au-Prince in 2007. Lovinsky founded the Fondasyon Trant Septanm organization dedicated to justice for the victims of the September 30th coup and the release of political prisoners. He remains forever present at the forefront of Haiti’s struggle for justice and democracy.

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland.  On every last Sunday we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over four years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally . Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

1. Welcome & Introductions
2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
3. Announcements
4. (Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv

T H E  N E W  C O M M U N I S M
The science, the strategy, the leadership
for an actual revolution, and a radically new society

on the road to real emancipation

Discussion with Bruce Neuberger

Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!

Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue

on all sides of these critically important issues!

What is this NEW Communism? What is new about it? Does communism provide an answer to the deep questions that people have about this society and its ability to deal with its problems — racism, class divisions, women’s oppression, ecological destruction, endless war? And if so, how could this new society (socialism on the road to communism) be brought into existence?

FOR ANYONE WHO CARES ABOUT THE STATE OF THE WORLD and the condition of humanity and agonizes over whether fundamental change is really possible, Bob Avakian’s new book, The New Communism, provides a sweeping and comprehensive orientation, foundation, and guide to making the most radical of revolutions: a communist revolution aimed at emancipating humanity — getting beyond all forms of oppression and exploitation on a world scale. Avakian scientifically analyzes the system of capitalism-imperialism and its unresolvable contradictions; confronts the challenges facing the movement for revolution; and forges a way forward to making an actual revolution in this country, as part of contributing to communist revolution internationally.

We are in a time of unspeakable and unnecessary suffering from one corner of the globe to the other: millions driven from their homes by unjust wars and environmental destruction, rampant violence and hatred against women, relentless murder and brutality against Black and Brown people by police in the U.S., vicious attacks on immigrants. It is a time of tremendous upheaval, with powerful resistance breaking out and people taking bold stands.

There is an urgent need for this new synthesis to be taken up, broadly, in this society and in the world as a whole: everywhere people are questioning why things are the way they are, and whether a different world is possible; everywhere people are talking about “revolution” but have no real understanding of what revolution means, no scientific approach to analyzing and dealing with what they are up against and what needs to be done. Everywhere people need a way out of their desperate conditions, but do not see the source of their suffering and the path forward out of the darkness.

— Bob Avakian

Avakian’s approach is one that has been thought through quite deeply and is based on a close examination of the previous attempts at a radical transformation of society from 1917 to 1976 (the Soviet and Chinese revolutions). We will begin a very initial discussion of a vast topic; a discussion in the spirit of open debate, in which different ideas and points of view can and should be aired.” — Bruce Neuberger

Announcements will follow. Donations to OccupyForum to cover our costs are encouraged;

no one turned away!

An invitation to a class on the

When the English first got to Virginia, in the early 1600s, they didn’t see themselves as “white.” It took a century for their colonialism to produce the concepts of race and white supremacy.

We’ve been fighting racism, white privilege, white supremacy, and institutional racism since then. And still, a Trump can come along with his “dogwhistle” politics, and get an instant white following at varying degrees of frenzy. Today even the most liberal cities cannot stop police racial profiling  – while thee illiberal ones officiate over “stop and frisk.”

Ø                 What are we missing?

Ø                 If racism is just a “divide and rule” strategy, why has it always worked so well? Why does it still work so well?

Ø                 How is it that new groups, like immigrants and Muslims, can be continually targetted for racial assault (victim de jour)?

Ø                 If race is a social construct, what is the structure that has been constructed?

Ø                 Is it an economic structure? A cultural structure? What?

Ø                 How deep culturally does it reside in this country?

Ø                 Is “race” a noun or a verb?

This class will look at the the structures of policing today, of segregation yesterday, and of colonization and slavery the day before that. If the “modern concept of race” was constructed socially at a particular moment, does that imply an ending we can programmatize?

This class will be mostly discussion and dialogue. We will have to address our prejudices about prejudice in order to get to the issues of structure. There will be non-mandatory readings on line for the class. It will also be open to other texts that class members wish to propose.

Facilitator:         Steve Martinot

Omar Shakir is a brother who was arrested during a pre-dawn paramilitary OPD raid for an assault on a police officer that the cops KNOW Mr. Shakir did not commit. People are encourage to attend to show support and encourage the prosecutor to drop the charges.

Read more about this travesty.

SEIU Local 1000 employees are holding informational pickets in San Francisco and Oakland. We are looking for physical support and solidarity from our local labor and community groups at both of these events as we strive to uphold union labor in public service.

We are State employees represented by SEIU Local 1000, standing along with our brothers and sisters of IUOE Local 3, State division, who have turned down insulting offers from Cal HR on behalf of Governor Brown that disrespects and devalues the important work that we do for our great state of California.  We are toll collectors, janitors, legal secretaries, public utility regulators, bank auditors and planners providing valuable services to our communities and our fellow Californians.  We work to protect our beautiful coastline, marshes, and various other habitats for endangered and other species; we are teachers who provide education to the students of our schools for the blind and the deaf; we monitor traffic and dispatch emergency aid 24 hours around the clock; and we provide services and care to those with acute medical and psychiatric needs.

It is only right and just for us to expect fair compensation during our current contract bargaining as Governor Brown touts the strength of California’s great economic recovery from the recent recession.

Especially in light of the fact that State employees experienced forced furloughs that compromised our ability to provide for our families during that recession and in some cases continue to plague those of us who live and work in high cost regions such as the San Francisco Bay Area.  Don’t think for a second that State employees escaped evictions, displacement and homelessness.  For thousands of us who work for the State in the Bay Area, living here is not a lifestyle choice – we were born and raised here and this is our home – the only home many of us have known.

But for others, being displaced to areas such as Tracy, Manteca, Stockton, Merced, Elk Grove, Patterson, Jackson – was a vital choice for affordable housing for those families.  Those commutes add to the gas emissions Governor Brown wants to reduce but his poor salary structure and his disparaging proposed salary increase leaves us angry and resentful.

Thank you!

Reba Maestas
Jobsite Steward
Caltrans District 4

City Council is set to give final approval to a $1.2M settlement with the family of Demouria Hogg, a 30-year-old father of three shot to death last year by Oakland police, the first in a new spate of questionable OPD homicides.  The victim was unconscious in a car on a freeway offramp.  He could not be roused by sirens, loudly amplified commands, the firing of beanbag rounds, or even the breaking of windows in his car.  A pistol was on the passenger seat, but police could have finished clearing out the window over it, which they had partially broken, and grabbed the gun or kept him from reaching it.  They could have simply waited until he came to, with a negotiator ready in case a standoff developed.  Instead, those in charge decided to extract him.  They assigned a 28-year-old officer with 18 months’ experience to provide “lethal cover.”

When officers started breaking the driver’s side window to pull Mr. Hogg through it, he, predictably, twisted his entire body towards the passenger seat, i.e., away from the glass being shattered near his face.  This movement led to his being successfully tased by the cop providing non-lethal cover, but the near-rookie charged with making an instantaneous life-or-death decision fired too, killing him.

OPD called this a “standoff”;  immediately showed videos to the lawyer for the shooter, who told the press they showed Mr. Hogg going for the gun, but refused to release the videos publicly;  and put out the usual irrelevant smears about the victim’s character.  Eight months later — having waited until attention died down — D.A. Nancy O’Malley exonerated the shooter without even considering whether her commanding offcers did anything wrong.  After another three months the Citizens’ Police Review Board concluded no one was blameworthy.

Clearly someone told City Council that a jury could well disagree — it doesn’t take a million dollars to settle a meritless nuisance suit!

Please come and support our call for (a) accountability on the part of command staff, (b) requiring officials to decide whether charges should be filed as quickly as they would if one of us shot an officer and claimed self-defense, and (c) an end to selective release of information by OPD.

This is on the consent calendar so it should come up fairly early – unless it is pulled from consent, which is possible but not likely.