Feature Archives

APTP writes: The people of Oakland moved one step closer to realizing the goal of refunding resources to the community. After weeks of sustained protest and direct action, City Council unanimously approved a resolution to create an official task force to determine how to cut the Oakland Police Department’s budget by 50% next year. In recent weeks, thousands of Oakland residents have joined what has become an international call to invest in services that truly keep people safe by divesting from police.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to surge, Native Americans are manifesting resilience, from the San Carlos Apache running to protect their sacred land from copper mining to the Kumeyaay standing to protect their sacred land from the border wall construction. Lakota are cooking hot meals for relatives in quarantine, while Dine' and Hopi raise their own funds and deliver food, water and supplies to those most in need. On the Navajo Nation, volunteers are the only ones bringing supplies to those in quarantine.

On July 20, as part of the national Strike for Black Lives, protesters marched on a McDonald's restaurant in Oakland. The demonstration was part of a nationwide action called “Strike for Black Lives.” McDonald's and other fast food restaurants were targeted for not taking adequate precautions against Covid-19 for their workers, predominantly Black and Brown people. Protesters marched up Telegraph Avenue and into the parking lot at the McDonald's at Telegraph and 45th Street.

Since April 24, homeless advocacy groups have been raising money to move unsheltered Oakland residents into hotels, in an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Through crowdfunding and social media, the volunteer-run effort has raised nearly $123,000 in donations to house 43 unsheltered Oakland residents. The program currently has a waiting list of unhoused residents interested in moving in. Fill Hotels Not Graves is a collaboration of The East Oakland Collective, Love and Justice in the Streets, and The Village in Oakland.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf's Oakmore estate was hit with graffiti and a noise demonstration in the early morning on July 21. A communiqué posted to Indybay states, "We left a note on her garage, and treated her to a nice fireworks display and the musical notes of pots and pans and assorted noisemakers. Our message to Libby and other elected officials is simple: You have the power to take the boot off our necks — so we have the duty to struggle against you until that boot is lifted. You can't hide from your responsibility!"

Demonstrations continue around the Bay Area in the name of George Floyd, who was murdered by Minneapolis police on May 25, with tens of thousands taking to the streets. Police force has met protests in every corner of the Bay Area. Demonstrators say they won’t be stopping despite the risks posed by police attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out the full feature with coverage from across Northern California.

On a warm Memorial Day with California slightly relaxing its lockdown, a Code Pink caravan of decorated cars delivered an anti-war plea to the steps of Senator Diane Feinstein's Pacific Heights $10 million mansion. Later the same afternoon in San Jose, another peace caravan focused on the demand for human rights to health, housing, education, a living wage and all the components of a dignified life. Those participants delivered money to volunteers at a local homeless encampment. Organizers of both demonstrations said their goal was to counter the usual militaristic Memorial Day rhetoric.