RTC Racial Justice March to State building

What's with the gear, there was no chance for a riot here...

For more info see -
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2200&category_id=12

CHP helicopter flying over protest and State building, kept an eye on protests all week long.
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People also took their clothes off in a guerrilla theatre skit at the end of the rally in front of the State building,
but I did not feel comfortable taking pictures of the action. The following press release sent out by Reclaim the
Commons folks explains more about the overall action and the the guerrilla theatre skit specifically.
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HUNDREDS PROTEST PRISON ABUSES AT HOME & ABROAD
Activists Strip to Dramatize Torture at California Youth Authority, Abu
Ghraib, Guantanamo
Racial Justice, Peace, and Global Movements unite issues
Monday, June 7, 10am--12 - Rally, SF Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate;
March to State Building, Van Ness & McAllister

San Francisco. On Monday, June 7, 2004, from 10:00 am to noon, the Reclaim
the Commons Biotech/G8 Mobilization and the Ella Baker Center will launch a
day of Racial Justice Actions with a "No Taxes For Torture at Home or
Abroad" demonstration at the Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue
followed by a march to the State Building at Van Ness and McAllister. The
demonstration will highlight the connections between the torture of
prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the torture of incarcerated youth
in the California Youth Authority prisons, and call for the shut-down of CYA
prisons and an end to the Occupations of Iraq and of Palestine. Speakers
will include Samina Faheem of American Muslim Voice, Van Jones of the Ella
Baker Center, former wards of CYA, and parents of CYA wards. There will also
be a special commentary from political prisoner MUMIA ABU JAMAL, recorded
especially for Reclaim the Commons and the Racial Justice Day of Actions.
Hip Hop, spoken-word, and a NUDE TABLEAU poignantly dramatizing abuses at
CYA, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo Bay cap the program.
"The horrific images of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq shouldn't come as any
surprise-- just look at how we treat children in prisons right here in
California," says Mike Molina of the Ella Baker Center's Books Not Bars
project. "Whether it's in Iraq, California, or Guantanamo Bay we need to
call these abuses what they are: torture, plain and simple."
The torture and inhumane treatment at CYA has recently come under public
scrutiny with the release of a video tape showing CYA guards beating and
kicking a youth on the ground. Books Not Bars launched their "Alternatives
for Youth" Campaign in March of this year to push California towards
sweeping reforms of CYA.

This demonstration kicks off a "Day of Racial justice Actions" organized as
part of the Reclaim the Commons Mobilization (RTC). "With this mobilization,
the Peace, Global Justice, and the Racial Justice Movements are going much
further toward creating one single, unstoppable movement," said Luna Pant, a
single parent from Oakland, California, and a spokesperson for the
Mobilization. Pantera stated, "The links are obvious: What's happening in
Iraq is happening here everyday, in US prisons and in low-income communities
of color--it's happening to our children at youth authority prisons. The
same corporate power-brokers who are defining international military and
trade policies that exploit poor countries of color, are also responsible
for domestic policies that institutionalize poverty and racism--like huge
tax breaks for the rich, staggering inequality in public education,
unbridled prison spending, racist police brutality, and open season for big
developers-policies that favor Big Business over the common good."
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