It’s been two weeks since the Stop Urban Shield coalition rallied in Oakland, California against notorious SWAT-training and weapons expo, Urban Shield.

Check out our successful #StopUrbanShield press round up here!

But we’re just getting started. 

Tomorrow, September 29th, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors is set to sign off on an amendment to Sheriff Ahern’s two-year agreement with the Urban Areas Security Initiative (a Department of Homeland Security grant program) that funds SWAT trainings, including Urban Shield.

This year, one of the Urban Areas Security Initiative agreements is increasing to $6,289,697 for Fiscal year 2014-2016. We must let the Board of Supervisors know that we are watching Urban Shield, and all federal funding of militarized trainings more broadly (see sample text below.) 

1) Call and email Board of Supervisors today!

Supervisor Haggerty// shawn.wilson@acgov.org (510) 272-6691
Supervisor Valle//  christopher.miley@acgov.org (510) 272-6692
Supervisor Chan//  jeanette.dong@acgov.org (510)272-6693
Supervisor Miley// anna.gee@acgov.org (510)272-6694
Supervisor Carson//   rodney.brooks@acgov.org (510)272-6695

2) If you are near Oakland, visit the BOS general meeting tomorrow 9.29 at 10:45 am and make a public comment at

1221 Oak Street, Room #555
Oakland, CA 94612

“Dear _________
I am writing to urge you and all Alameda County Board of Supervisors to take leadership in putting an end to the militarization of police and disaster preparedness represented by the annual Urban Shield exercises and weapons display, funded by DHS through the Urban Areas Security Initiative. The emphasis on SWAT teams as the response to emergencies – including natural disasters – as well as the exclusive focus on worst-case violent scenarios, diminishes resources for responding to the ordinary emergencies community members face every day: inaccessible housing and medical care. It also reinforces an attitude that police are at war with communities, with people of color, poor and those with mental health issues bearing the worst brunt.Alameda County should not be hosting Department of Homeland Security funded events, which involve not only nine Bay Area counties, but teams from around the United States.That is why I ask you to not sign the amendment to increase the Urban Areas Security Initiative grant tomorrow, and to stand with Alameda County communities, and people across the nation, not federal agencies!

Regards,

_______“

Cyrus Farivar, author and senior business editor at Ars Technica, will deliver a talk titled “We’re All Being Watched: Local Surveillance.”

This event is sponsored by the Mellon Sawyer Seminar

COME SUPPORT A REAL ONE ! EAST OAKLAND 65TH & INTERNATIONAL #JUSTICE4RICH #fuckthepolice pic.twitter.com/o8YKVkIEuH

— Baby Trubble (@TR1GG4H4PPY_) September 29, 2015

There will be a vigil for Antonio Ramos, the muralist who was killed in West #Oakland today. Corner of 35th & West St, 9:30 am tmrw. #oakmtg

— David Colburn (@davidcolburn) September 30, 2015

The City of Oakland is facing a serious affordable housing crisis, with numerous residents being displaced from their homes. A hearing is scheduled on the housing crisis at Oakland City Hall (click this link for agenda calendar: https://oakland.legistar.com/calendar.aspx).

At Together We Rise, we will celebrate those who have sustained the Ella Baker Center’s work over the years and invite attendees to join our team.

Come and learn about our recent wins, and what’s coming up next for us. More details about Together We Rise.

There will be light appetizers, a photobooth, and entertainment from a soon-to-be-announced special guest. One drink ticket comes with admission.

If you become a sustaining donor of the Ella Baker Center today with a donation of $10 a month or more, you will receive complimentary admission to Together We Rise!

TAPPED is a beautifully filmed, compelling documentary in which Stephanie Soechtig and Sara Olsen explore the environmental consequences of bottled water. TAPPED does to bottled water what Food, INC and Super Size Me did to the food monopolies. The film begins with: By 2030, two thirds of the world will not have access to clean drinking water. The film also covers chemical pollution, plastic pollution, mile wide plastic soups in the ocean, water privatization and community water rights.
This event is a result of our partnering with Food and Water Watch, a national organization that champions healthy food and clean water for all. We will be joined by Liz Solorio of FWW, Juliana Gonzales of The Watershed Project and Matt Freiberg, chair of our own Berkeley Climate Action Coalition water committee for a discussion after the film.
Please bring finger food and/or drinks to share at 6:30 for Meet and Greet before the film. In keeping with the film’s message let’s try not to bring any plastic containers!

For more info: info [at] transitionberkeley.com
website: http://www.transitionberkeley.com

This event is co-sponsored by Transition Berkeley, Food and Water Watch and BFUU’s Social Justice Committee.
Suggested donation $5-$10. No one turned away.
Wheelchair accessible.

“We have cancelled the event at the Alameda Coroner’s office this Friday because they have released the autopsy report. This is a victory and couldn’t of happened without your support! More details to follow.”

— APTP   https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=647064612099995&id=513658562107268

Nearly nine months have passed since Yuvette Henderson was gunned down by Emeryville Police on the Oakland Emeryville border and the Alameda County Coroner has yet to release her autopsy report.

The family and community of Yuvette Henderson have been seeking justice and closure only to be met with with a wall of silence from the various agencies involved. Crucial to getting answers on exactly what happened that day is a full release of the Coroner’s autopsy report. The fact that a full nine months have passed since since her death on February 3, 2015 and still no autopsy report has been released makes serious doubt about the State’s willingness to be transparent in the interest of justice.

Gather with us this Friday to demand that they immediately release the long overdue report.

THIS EXHIBIT CONTINUES THROUGH NOVEMBER 1ST.

Join us for our opening screening of the 2015/2016 season on October 2nd at 5:00pm!

Eyes on Oakland is a community-powered, art-meets-journalism initiative that seeks to inform and engage residents across Oakland about the different types of surveillance technology used by local police. A collaboration between the Mobile Arts Platform and The Center for Investigative Reporting, Eyes on Oakland featured two key venues: a participatory installation in the “Who Is Oakland?” exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California, and pop-up outings around Oakland with the Mobile Arts Platform, a classic Ford Falcon van retrofitted as a roving newsroom. The work was sourced by information from CIR’s reporting, and driven by creative insights gathered from Oakland residents. So far, Eyes on Oakland has directly incorporated attitudes on surveillance from hundreds of residents, and inspired a host of fact-based conversations on the balance between privacy and public safety in communities across the city and at the Oakland Museum.

Hope to see you there!

The Great Wall located on West Grand Avenue between Broadway and Valley Street, next door to Luka’s Taproom and Lounge.

Is it enough to “Feel the Bern?” Or do we need to build a movement that will last beyond 2016 and transform America and Mother Earth? Our Suds, Snacks and Socialism forum is inviting speakers from different political perspectives to join us discussing these are other important questions.

We are in a state of emergency. Law enforcement violence against black and brown communities is increasing at an alarming rate, and we need to be ready to respond.

At an early age we learn how to prepare for emergencies and natural disasters. We learn how to put out fires, how to board up our homes, or how to drop under a desk. Communities of color now need training on how to respond to more frequent incidents of violence both on the streets and inside of jails and prisons.

So the Ella Baker Center, in partnership with the ACLU of California, is organizing a #CaravanForJustice from October 3-10 that will travel throughout the state to mobilize communities against police violence and spread awareness about the Mobile Justice CA app.

The caravan willl launch at a rally in Oakland on Saturday, October 3 from 2-4 pm at Oscar Grant Plaza. The rally, co-sponsored by the Anti Police-Terror Project and Black Lives Matter Bay Area, will feature testimonials from Oscar Grant’s uncle, as well as from family members of victims of police violence in the United Kingdom, who are joining the caravan.

Come out and learn how you can get involved in local and statewide work to end police violence in California! RSVP here.

During stops in 9 counties throughout the state, the #CaravanForJustice will:

• Educate community members about how to use the Mobile Justice CA app
• Gain support for the Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 (AB 953)
• Highlight the presence of regional Justice Teams for Truth and Reinvestment
• Engage people in a global conversation about police violence

Join us and be part of a movement in motion to end law enforcement violence.

The Democratic primary campaign of Bernie Sanders has ignited a new enthusiasm among many who are fed up with the status-quo of politics in the United States. Tens of thousands have joined rallies to hear Sanders decry the billionaire class and call for an end to inequality. Many on the socialist left have embraced the campaign. Others have argued against support for Sanders, calling instead for socialists to organize independently of the Democratic Party.

Join the International Socialist Organization in a panel discussion on the question of support for the Sanders campaign and socialist strategy during elections. Speakers will represent both support and opposition to supporting the Sanders primary campaign.

Black is… Black Ain’t is a 1994 award-winning feature-length documentary by Marlon Riggs. It explores the multiplicity of expressions of African American identity with a backdrop of Creole cooking.

Synopsis: Riggs uses his grandmother’s gumbo as a metaphor for the rich diversity of Black identities. The film traverses the country interviewing African Americans young and old, rich and poor, Northern and Southern, rural and urban, gay and straight, as they discuss the numerous, often contested definitions of Blackness. Riggs mixes performances by choreographer Bill T. Jones and poet Essex Hemphill with commentary by noted activist Angela Davis, and cultural critics bell hooks, Cornel West, Michele Wallace, Barbara Smith and Maulana Karenga to create a flavorful stew of personal testimony, music, and history.

While Black Is…Black Ain’t looks at Black diversity, many speakers tell of their pain at having been silenced or excluded because they were perceived as “not Black enough” or conversely “too Black.” Black Is…Black Ain’t also provides a critique of sexism, patriarchy, homophobia, colorism and cultural nationalism in the family, church and other Black institutions.

Riggs himself is a participant in the film. He is shown in a race against time to finish the film, struggling with his precarious health and mortality. Riggs died of AIDS in April 1994 at the age of 37 before the film was completed. Adhering to Riggs’ notes, his colleagues on the production team completed the film.

Sponsored by Optik Allusions. Doors open at 6, screening at 6:30. Suggested donation of $5, and there will be complimentary popcorn as usual!

Lessons from the Landless: Food Sovereignty, Occupation, and Public Universities

What is the connection between occupations, food sovereignty, and public education? The Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil has some answers! As important educational spaces, their occupations challenge the capitalist orientation of agricultural education in the conflicts between agribusiness and agroecology, private property and the public good. A leader from the MST will facilitate a discussion on how occupations of University farmland in Brazil and California can create bridges for important exchanges of experience and help build the Food Sovereignty movement.

Joelci Dannacena has been a militant organizer with The Landless Rural Workers Movement of Brazil (MST) sector of the MST for over twenty years, with degrees in economics and cooperative administration. Her main tasks have been the organization of agroindustries for the produce of agrarian reform settlements. She is currently hosted here in the Bay Area as one of several young organizers sent by the MST to deepen relations with US-based movements for food sovereignty, agrarian reform, and anti-oppression.

Joelci will introduce the MST and explain why they struggle for land, agrarian reform, and the transformation of society. Then she will talk about the current MST occupation of farmland owned by the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. (http://www.mstbrazil.org/news/students-declare-support-landless-families-occupying-esalq-area).

She welcomes and invites all those interested in food sovereignty and justice to join in discussion, especially those who have participated in Occupy the Farm and the local food sovereignty struggle over the Gill Tract Farm at UC Berkeley.

Also present will be:
– Gustavo Oliveira, a PhD candidate in geography at UC Berkeley. He has worked as translator for La Via Campesina since 2009 and currently participates in the Friends of the MST solidarity network in the US.

– Rebecca Tarlau, part of the national coordinating committee of the Friends of the MST in the United States and also a scholar of the MST Education system. She is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar in Education at Stanford University.

There will be a hearing on the joint motion for preliminary approval of the settlement agreement in Ashker v. Brown before JudgeWilken.

Her order for the hearing stated that she was leaning in favor of issuing a preliminary approval.

Everyone is welcome to attend.  It’s a public hearing.

Worksession:
Stanford Study: Electronic Control Weapons Study (e.g. Tasers ©)
Public Comment – Items on this agenda only

Here is the Stanford Criminal Justice Center Report on Tasers, which will be discussed:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35320626/2015-10-06%20Agenda%20Packet.pdf

TASING MINORITIES, HOMELESS, AUTISTIC, MENTALLY ILL AND ANY OTHER HUMAN IS NOT THE SIGN OF AN ENLIGHTENED SOCIETY.

NO TO TASERS FOR THE BERKELEY POLICE!
YES TO DE-ESCALATION AND POLICE DE-MILITARIZATION.

Come speak out against the madness. Tell the City Council no to police tasers at Old City Hall, Allston & MLK.

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Taser Fact Sheet

TASERS CAN CAUSE DEATH

Police say that Taser use saves lives because they don’t have to shoot someone if they use Tasers effectively. However, Tasers are NOT AN ALTERNATIVE to using lethal force. Sure, it would be nice, but police are trained to meet a lethal threat with a gun-not a taser. In fact, Tasers are mostly used against unarmed people, not people who could really kill or injure an officer!

From 2001 until February of 2014, the ACLU and the website www.electronic village.blogspot.com have documented 547 Taser related deaths. There have been even more since then.

In May of 2012, the American Heart Association’s premier journal, “Circulation” published a study by Dr. Douglas Zipes, of Indiana University’s Krannert Institute of Cardiology. He found that a shock from the Taser “can cause cardiac electric capture and provoke cardiac arrest” as a result of an abnormally rapid heart rate and uncontrolled, fluttering contractions. Yes, Taser shocks, especially to the chest, can kill.

TASERS DON’T REDUCE IN CUSTODY DEATHS OR OFFICER INJURIES

According to a recent study published in the American Journal of Cardiology, the main reason to employ Tasers is the belief that they reduce officer injuries and in custody deaths. After a comprehensive study involving 10 years worth of data from over 100 departments from across the country, this myth was disproved. “In conclusion, although considered by some a safer alternative to firearms, Taser deployment was associated with a substantial increase in in-custody sudden deaths in the early deployment period, with no decrease in firearm deaths or serious officer injuries.” (Am J Cardiol 2009;103:877� 880)

MISUSE OF TASERS

After completing an analysis of Phoenix Police Department use-of-force reports, The Arizona Republic found 377 incidents involving the use of a Taser. In nearly nine out of ten of the incidents, the subjects had posed no imminent threat to officers with any weapons.

As of May 28, 2014, the ACLU has called on Baltimore Police to put a moratorium on the use of Tasers since their use by police has DOUBLED since 2009.

According to Gabriel Russell in Law Enforcement Magazine (September 2013), Tasers are so “safe” and “effective” that they are “overused” by police. “So much so that over-dependence on it has resulted in an avalanche of use-of-force lawsuits and unfavorable court decisions across the county.”

TASERS CAN INVITE LITIGATION

Courts have found Tasers constitute the use of “excessive force” and thus violate the Fourth Amendment, provided the Taser was used in an instance when its deployment was unjustified. Victims of Taser use can seek compensation, but only if an agency’s use guidelines are deficient and if training is so poor that it could be considered “deliberately indifferent.

In September, 2009, Taser changed its product warnings. Taser’s ECDs weapons are now branded as “less lethal” instead of “non lethal,” and its training materials warn that “exposure in the chest area near the heart � could lead to cardiac arrest.”<

80-90% of those who are tasered, were unarmed when they were arrested and tased. Most policies guiding Taser use allow police to follow a “Continuum of Force” that directs officers to use Tasers as an alternative to the use of hands, feet and a baton. It also instructs them to use Tasers to overcome “active resistance” by an individual, including behavior that does not pose a physical threat to anyone. This is basically giving police license to use Tasers against little old ladies who ask too many questions (as happened recently in Texas and elsewhere across the country).

POLICE CHOOSING ALTERNATIVES TO TASERS

As taser-related deaths and injuries have continued to rise (as well as the amount of Taser litigation), many departments are starting to abandon the weapon in favor of other means of suspect control. Currently, Memphis, Tennessee, San Francisco, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada have opted to ban the use of tasers by law enforcement. Additionally, a federal court has ruled that the pain inflicted by the taser gun constitutes excessive force by law enforcement. The courts don’t want police to electrocute people with their tasers unless they pose an immediate threat.

TASERS CONSTITUTE A FORM OF TORTURE

In 2007, The United Nations Committee on Torture declared that TASER electronic stun guns are a form of torture that can kill. At the time, it was recommended that Portugal “should consider giving up the use of the Taser X26,” as its use can have a grave physical and mental impact on those targeted, which violates the UN’s Convention against Torture”.

TASER STUDIES BIASED AND SAFETY OVERRATED

Peyman N. Azadani, MD, research associate at UCSF’s Department of Medicine and senior author Byron K. Lee, MD, associate professor of medicine in UCSF’s cardiology division, set out to gauge the accuracy of 50 published studies on the potential dangers of using TASER® products. The new study’s authors report that among the product safety studies they analyzed, the likelihood of a study concluding TASER® devices are safe was 75 percent higher when the studies were either funded by the manufacturer or written by authors affiliated with the company, than when studies were conducted independently.

PEOPLE OF COLOR AND THE MENTALLY ILL EXPERIENCE PROFILING

A 2011 report by New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) found widespread misuse of tasers. Albany police disproportionately deployed Tasers on blacks compared to whites. In the Albany incidents analyzed, 68 percent involved a Taser being used on a black person, while 28 percent of the city’s population is black. (10-18-14 The Times Union)

Approximately 30% of Taser incidents are against a people with mental illness.

In addition, the June 2014 issue of “The Psychiatric Bulletin” explains that”… the psychological effects of Taser use have not been investigated.”