Campaign for Community Power to Decide OPD’s Military Equipment

Community Town Hall
Thursday, October 3, 7:00 pm program

First Congregational Church, 2601 Harrison St., Oakland

Many communities are concerned about police departments’ acquisition and deployment of military-grade equipment in events ranging from public protests to parades and service of drug warrants. In Oakland, the use of grenade-like projectiles, armored vehicles, and military-grade assault weapons by OPD officers has resulted in harm to residents, controversy, and costly lawsuits. In March 2018, Oakland police used the tank-like BearCat armored vehicle as a shooting platform and AR-15 rifles in the killing of Joshua Pawlik.

Oakland PD uses force disproportionately against black residents. And several studies conclude that police departments that acquire military-grade equipment are more likely to use violence and are no more successful in reducing crime.

Yet Oakland has no policy for the acquisition or use of militarized equipment. Oakland PD can acquire and use military equipment of all kinds – anywhere, at any time, with no policy for its use or public reporting of what is has or how it is used.

Now Oakland has an opportunity to exercise community control over the militarization of policing in Oakland, by adopting an ordinance that will require approval by the City Council for the acquisition of military equipment, and use policies and reporting for military equipment that OPD has or obtains.

The proposed ordinance will require that the civilian Oakland Police Commission review proposed acquisitions and use policies for armored vehicles, assault weapons, weaponized aircraft, battering rams, sonic weapons, and flashbang grenades. This will apply to equipment that OPD acquires with grants or with purchases from the city budget. The proposal is modeled on Oakland’s surveillance equipment ordinance.

Supporting organizations (list in formation): 67 Sueños; ACLU; American Friends Service Committee; Anti Police Terror Project; CURYJ; Human Impact Partners; Oakland Privacy Working Group; Restore Oakland; Secure Justice; Urban Peace Movement; Urban Strategies.

Contact: John Lindsay-Poland, American Friends Service Committee,
510-282-8983,
jlindsay-poland@afsc.org.

You can examine the draft of the proposed ordinance here. You can download libreoffice for free if you can not read the open document format.

This is the sign-on message being sent to the Oakland City Council.

To: Members of the Oakland City Council and members of the Oakland Police Commission

Dear Council Members and Commissioners:

We urge you to support a local ordinance that empowers the Oakland Police Commission and City Council to protect our communities against unnecessary police militarization and requires transparency for the equipment that the Oakland Police Departments acquires and deploys.

The acquisition and use of military-grade equipment by civilian law enforcement agencies does not reduce crime,1but it does contribute to substantial fear in the community and a warrior mentality among officers. Several studies conclude that police departments that acquire military-grade equipment are morelikely to use violence.2

Last year, Oakland police used aBearCat armored vehicle as a “shooting platform” for officers armed with AR-15 assault rifles. Police used this equipment to kill an unconscious man. During the 2011 Occupy protests, the OPD fired “specialty munitions” atScott Olsen and other activists.Olsen suffered a fractured skull, and his injuries prompted a lawsuit that the City resolved with a $4.5 million settlement. The OPD deploys military-grade equipment during public protests, parades, local street festivals, and while serving warrants.

There is almost no publicly-available information about what military-grade equipment OPD possesses or how it is used. There is no established process for community representatives to set policy for the equipment OPD should use moving forward, and there is little policy in place to provide oversight for the military-grade equipment that the OPD has already acquired.

It’s time for the community to know what equipment OPD has and have a say in whether and how it will be used. The proposed ordinance empowersthe Police Commission to review and approve OPD requests for military-grade acquisitions, and mandates that the OPD submit use policies to the Commission for equipment that the department already has. Oakland has an equivalent ordinance for surveillance equipment that functions well. A similar ordinance on military equipment will provide the City Council, Police Commission and the public with important tools to oversee the police working in our neighborhoods and to place appropriate restrictions on counterproductive uses of militarized equipment.

Oakland has a chance to set a precedent for transparency in the use and acquisition of military-grade weapons for civilian law enforcement. We urge you to advance this legislation.

Sincerely,

Attachment: Draft Proposed Ordinance on Military Equipment

1Jonathan Mummolo, “Militarization fails to enhance police safety or reduce crime but may harm police reputation,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 11, 2018 (37) 9181-9186.

2Casey Delehanty, Jack Mewhirter, Ryan Welchand Jason Wilks, “Militarization and police violence: The case of the 1033program,” Research and Politics, April-June 2017, 1-7; and Edward Lawson Jr., “Police Militarization and the Use of Lethal Force,” Political Research Quarterly, 2018, 1-13.

Three documentaries will screen outside on the plaza at National Nurses United headquarters .
The art exhibition “Recognition: Labor Meets Art in Explorations of Social Justice and Identity,” will be open to the public during the screenings.

The films feature three locations where Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN) volunteers have deployed to provide direct relief and response to humanitarian, environmental, and social injustice: Post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, Standing Rock, and rural Arizona. RNRN volunteers will introduce the films with stories of how RNs have intervened to provide direct care in support of social justice.

Undeterred: Border Militarization and Community Resistance

Undeterred is a documentary about community resistance in the rural border town of Arivaca, Arizona. Since NAFTA, 9/11, and the Obama and Trump administrations, border residents have been on the frontlines of the humanitarian crisis caused by escalating border enforcement. This intimate portrait shows how Arivaca residents have mobilized to provide aid to injured, oftentimes dying people traveling across the desert. Directed by Eva Lewis, an Arivaca resident and member of People Helping People in the Border Zone (PHP). Screens as part of “Recognition and Response,” National Nurses United’s fall outdoor documentary film series.

A big event involving tiny houses is coming to Richmond this fall.

The Tiny LIVING Festival California is set to bring tiny homes, vintage campers, con­verted buses (skoolies), tear­drop trailers and more, along with live music and all sorts of family-friendly activities.

The festival will include live music and entertainment, a kids area that includes fun activities with Circus for Pur­pose, speakers, presentations and notable members of the tiny house community.

The event will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Founded by John and Fin Kernohan, the festival serves two main purposes: to raise awareness about the tiny house movement, and to help raise funds for good causes in com­munities where the festivals occur.

This is the 14th tiny house event by the United Tiny House Association that has thus far given over $600,000 in proceeds to over 70 charities, nonprofits and other causes.

For the Richmond festival, the United Tiny House As­sociation has partnered with Richmond-based Tentmakers Inc., a nonprofit that creates innovative affordable housing solutions in the Bay Area.

For more than seven years, the Kernohans have been liv­ing in a 304-square-foot, off-grid home and travel the coun­try their towable 148-square -foot tiny house, called “Tiny Firehouse — Station No. 9,” which is a tribute to firefighters and emergency responders and supports fire station fundrais­ing.

Join Abby Martin for the one-night-only theater screening in San Francisco! Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see Gaza Fights For Freedom on the big screen. (Doors open at 5:30; film starts promptly at 6pm)

This debut feature film by journalist Abby Martin began while reporting in Palestine, where she was denied entry into Gaza by the Israeli government on the accusation she was a “propagandist.” So Abby connected with a team of journalists in Gaza to produce the film through the blockade.

This collaboration shows you Gaza’s protest movement like you’ve never seen before. Filmed during the height of the Great March Of Return protests, it features exclusive footage of demonstrations where 200 unarmed civilians have been killed by Israeli snipers since March 30, 2018.

The documentary tells the story of Gaza past and present, showing rare archival footage that explains the history never acknowledged by mass media. Victims are heard from the ongoing massacre, including journalists, medics and the family of internationally-acclaimed paramedic, Razan al-Najjar.

Watch the trailer. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/gazafights/353967955?autoplay=1

Purchase advance tickets $15 to $75
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gaza-fights-for-freedom-sf-film-screening-w-abby-martin-qa-tickets-71936962391?aff=efbeventtix&fbclid=IwAR2jbDHFvcDPwbiLizZLx0IAb_rljoZ_rcy8ySFdGuvPPgNIDE3rpBxiHew

Sponsored by Empire Files and ANSWER Coalition.

Sea Level Rise: Fact and Fiction

Speaker: John Englander, Oceanographer and Climate Expert

–Three minutes walk from the Lake Merritt BART Station.
–Parking at Laney College lot on East 8th Street; $2 all day.

Have you ever wondered how sea level rise will impact Lake Merritt, and all of Oakland? Are you aware that existing heat in the oceans will cause the seas to rise for centuries, no matter how much carbon emissions are reduced today? Do you have an inkling of why ocean levels are rising but want to know more, and how we can prepare for it?

If so, join The Lake Merritt Institute and co-sponsors, the Frederick E. Hart Foundation for Educational Opportunity, and St. Paul’s Episcopal School for a rousing presentation by John Englander, an expert on sea level rise and its societal and financial impacts.

A considerable range of estimates have been made regarding how high the tides will rise, and when. These projections are based on periods of rise in the geological past, current measurements, and projections based on computer models incorporating our growing knowledge of how fast the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps are melting.

Unfortunately, most model projections have greatly under estimated the rate of melting. Even though we cannot predict how much and how fast the waters will rise, we can, and must, begin to plan for the future. To not do so is to subject our children, and theirs, to unconscionable expense, loss of property, and questions about why we did this to them.

Flatlands Threatened by Sewage: To learn about how sea level rise impacts sewage overflows, read this report by Climate Central: https://www.climatecentral.org/news/sea-level-rise-oakland-sewer-17567

Poorest Communities most Threatened: https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/oaklands-poorest-neighborhoods-will-the-most-susceptible-to-flooding-due-to-climate-change-and-sea-level-rise/Content?oid=6401808

To hear John Englander’s TED talk, go to https://www.johnenglander.net/

Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library

Gentrifying Paradise?  A handbook for fighting gentrification.

Actually, the book’s subtitle is Resistance and Removal in 21st Century Venice California, and Democracy Now’s Juan González described it as follows: “This is a captivating people’s history of the battle to preserve one of America’s iconic neighborhoods, Venice, California, from the claws of real estate developers, downtown politicians and the merchants of mass consumerism. Author James R Smith weaves together his own personal memoir, his many muckraking dispatches from one of the few surviving 1960s alternative newspapers, the Free Venice Beachhead, and unforgettable sketches of scores of grassroots activists who banded together over many decades to defend their beloved ocean side town from outsiders with money and power.” Author Jim Smith will join us to discuss his new (2019) book. Copies will be available for purchase and signing.

About Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library
A weekly discussion series inspired by our respect for the work of Karl Marx and our belief that his work will remain as important for the class struggles of the future as they have been for the past.

https://twitter.com/crustyrustyMAD/status/1179785823064952832

Michael Diehl, whose work with the homeless and poor on Berkeley’s streets earned him the nickname “the Mayor of Berkeley streets,” was killed Sunday when a driver struck him around 8:30 p.m. in Newark, according to authorities.

— Berkeleyside

Rest in Power Michael Diehl. All our gratitude and respect for your tireless, grounded, on the ground, lived work and shared wisdom in this world. #HousingIsAHumanRight #SolutionsNotSweeps #HousingIsHealthcare @StSpiritNews https://t.co/D7vBFifi7E

— Stolen Belonging (@StolenBelonging) October 3, 2019

Join EBDSA’s Labor Committee on as we read A Short History of the U.S. Working Class: From Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century by Paul LeBlanc and look into the history of the struggles and achievements of the working class majority as we have fought for our ability to live full, dignified, developed lives in the face of a dehumanizing drive for profit. We will seek to understand why employers appear to be so singularly united against unions, how appeals to racism among other oppressions have divided working people from coming together to fight for their shared interests, and what happened to the militant labor leaders and socialists that drove the labor movement and working class forward from the 1870s through World War II.

We will be launching the reading group on Sunday, October 6th. In this meeting, we will put participants into reading groups of six to eight people, distribute books (for a small suggested donation), and talk about what we hope to get out of our reading. Participants should expect to read roughly 37 pages per week for a four week period. After the four week period, we will meet back up as a large group to share our thoughts and perspectives on the reading and on labor today.

Accessibility Information: Entrance and bathroom are wheelchair accessible

Maggie Haberman has been covering Donald Trump for much of her decorated career as a political reporter – from his decades in the New York City tabloid headlines to his current contentious presidency. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, New York Times White House correspondent, and CNN political analyst shares her observations about the Trump administration’s combative relationship with the press, and the changing perceptions of journalism throughout the country. Haberman also discusses her award-winning investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential campaign, and offers a bird’s-eye view of our divided political landscape, outlining where opportunities exist for compromise and cooperation across the aisle.

“I get it from both directions. The left and the right, which I tend to think it means we’re doing our job. But I also think my job is not to be trusted by the politicians. I think the job is to be trusted by readers.”    

�Maggie Haberman, ABC News

Tickets and information can be found at calperformances.org
or by calling the box office at 510.642.9988.
Get Tickets

Half-Earth Day 2019 Evening Lecture

Half-Earth is a clarion call to protect half the land and sea in order to safeguard the bulk of biodiversity, and ourselves. At this critical moment for our planet, the Half-Earth Project is bringing together the unique expertise and experience of scientists and thought leaders from around to world to achieve this important moonshot and solve the current environmental crisis. Join visionary biologist and naturalist E.O. Wilson and other special guests for a discussion moderated by Sally Jewell about the core science and common humanity that is driving the success of this grand ambition, and how we can all work together to save the natural world.

Edward Osborne Wilson is generally recognized as one of the leading scientists in the world. He is also recognized as one of the foremost naturalists in both science and literature, as well as synthesizer in works stretching from pure biology across to the social sciences and humanities. Wilson is acknowledged as the creator of two scientific disciplines (island biogeography and sociobiology), three unifying concepts for science and the humanities jointly (biophilia, biodiversity studies, and consilience), and one major technological advance in the study of global biodiversity (the Encyclopedia of Life). Among more than one hundred awards he has received worldwide are the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Crafoord Prize (equivalent of the Nobel, for ecology) of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the International Prize of Biology of Japan; and in letters, two Pulitzer Prizes in non-fiction, the Nonino and Serono Prizes of Italy and COSMOS Prize of Japan. For his work in conservation he has received the Gold Medal of the Worldwide Fund for Nature and the Audubon Medal of the Audubon Society. He is currently Honorary Curator in Entomology and University Research Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, Chairman of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation Board of Advisors, and Chairman of the Half-Earth Council.

This year’s lectureship is co-sponsored by the Horace M. Albright Lecture in Conservation and the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation Distinguished Lectureship in Biodiversity.

EVENING LECTURE TICKETS

Questions about the Half-Earth Day Evening Lecture featuring E.O. Wilson?
Contact UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources at (510) 642-4902 or cnr@berkeley.edu

If you require an accommodation effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) or information about campus mobility access features in order to fully participate in this event, please contact cnr@berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible.

Join us for a conversation about the history of BART and the system’s impact on the Bay Area. East Bay Yesterday podcast host Liam O’Donoghue will interview Michael C. Healy, who served as the agency’s spokesperson from 1972 until 2005 and shared his memories in the book, “BART: The Dramatic History of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System” (Heyday Books). Expect to hear stories of epic political battles, scandals, “ghost trains,” and even a baby born on BART.

This event is free, so we recommend arriving early to guarantee seating. There will be an audience Q&A following the interview. To hear about other upcoming East Bay Yesterday events, sign up for the e-newsletter: https://tinyletter.com/eastbay_yesterday

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP) invite you to a special community steering committee meeting in West Oakland about “Owning Our Air: The West Oakland Community Action Plan.”  This plan lays out a series of measures to be implemented over the next five years by local, regional, and State agencies to reduce air pollution in West Oakland.

All local allies and friends of clean air are urged to come and support the plan and to remind CARB that money is needed to actually implement the actions the plan calls for.  We’ll also talk about how CARB staff will review the Action Plan and present it to CARB’s Governing Board for consideration.

Please share you thoughts about the plan’s key strengths, and what you want CARB’s Governing Board to know about it.  Any questions on the CARB strategies in the Action Plan?
What “lessons learned” would you like us to share with other communities or CARB’s Governing Board?

The meeting will be conducted in English, with Spanish interpretation available.

Full agenda here.

Of possible particular interest:

V. Raheem: A Proposal to Gather Community Feedback to Inform Use of Force Policy
Brandon Anderson, Founder of Raheem, will share the organization’s proposal on working
with the Commission to gather community feedback regarding a revised OPD Use of Force
policy. The Commission may vote to proceed with the proposal. This is a new item.

VIII. Draft Ordinance on Militarized Police Equipment
The Coalition for Police Accountability will present a draft ordinance for review. This is a
new item. (Attachment 8)

X. OPD Towing Policy
Discussion of OPD’s automobile towing policy towards victims of suspicious circumstances
or victims of crime and low-income persons and the effect of those policies on those
communities.

🕯️TONIGHT!!! VIGIL at @PGE4Me 🕯️

1425 Clay Street, Oakland, CA
7:30pm

PG&E's negligence has significantly harsher impacts on:

🏥The sick
👴🏾The elderly
⛺️The poor

The #poweroutage is a climate justice issue and we will call it out as such!https://t.co/cn9tTla0LO

— East Bay DSA 🌹 (@DSAEastBay) October 10, 2019

Each day, bikeshare workers at Facebook climb in an unmarked van and set out to recover bikes ridden off the company’s sprawling campus. Their recovery missions are one of the few real interactions between the hyper-wealth of the tech giant’s headquarters, where the median salary is $240,000, and the surrounding impoverishment of East Palo Alto and the Baylands’ homeless encampments. After a coworker was assaulted on a recovery mission, bikeshare workers decided to begin organizing, tired of being asked to put themselves in danger for poverty wages.

Their fight to change the power structure in their work place spanned more than six months, drew international media attention, and found organizers facing off against social media’s biggest tech titan and every union busting trick in the book. Now that they’re finally past the bureaucratic hurdles and welcoming a union into their shop, the campaign rank and file have insights to share on what the frontline of the labor movement looks like in the heart of Silicon Valley’s stratified caste-based tech economy.

We’re excited to host the lead organizers from Bike Workers United to hear their story of struggle and organization in conversation with journalist Padmini Parthasarathy.

Help us imagine the next decade of social transformation with food, dance, and art.

For the past ten years, Sustainable Economies Law Center has been supporting movement changemakers with the legal expertise needed to transition from destructive economic systems to innovative and cooperative alternatives. Our story is the story of our partners, clients, volunteers, and staff. It is the story of the movements we uplift for a more just, joyful, and resilient world. It’s the story of you! It’s the story of us!

And the next ten years are even more important. We believe we have the tools, resources, and communities needed for social transformation! This celebration is about the spirit, wisdom, and solidarity that already exists and will continue to deepen over the next ten years. Come celebrate with us and imagine the future that we need, together!

We want all of our communities to join us! If you are unable to afford a General Admission ticket and would like to request discounted admission, please email Ricardo at ricardo@theselc.org. We have a limited number of reduced price tickets. Also, children under the age of 5 get in free!

Meet us in the sunshine on the 7th West patio for delicious Filipino food by Jeepney, drinks, games, art, and a dance party courtesy of DJ Baagi!

Join us on October 12th to celebrate 10 amazing years of cultivating people power and community resilience.