Feature Archives

On July 8th, former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for shooting and killing Oscar Grant on January 1st, 2009 in Oakland, California. Mehserle was led away from the courtroom in handcuffs and is now in custody. His sentencing was expected on Friday, August 6th, but has now been delayed at the defense's request. Involuntary manslaughter can carry 2 to 6 years, with up to 10 added for a gun enhancement. Sentencing and other motions are now on the court calendar for Friday, November 5th at 8:30 a.m.

In Oakland, thousands of people took over the intersection of Broadway and 14th for a protest which started shortly after the 4PM verdict and lasted until late in the evening. Over fifty protesters were arrested. Protests also took place in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Palo Alto, Fresno, Portland, Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, Bloomington Indiana and elsewhere.

For weeks, as the trial of Johannes Mehserle for the murder of Oscar Grant has progressed, city leaders have been stirring up fears of "outside agitators" bringing trouble to Oakland should Mehserle be acquitted or found guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter rather than the maximum now available, second degree murder. Corporate television stations have been running near daily coverage of Oakland police preparing to quell riots, while local non-profits have been disseminating talking points geared toward "inoculating" Oakland youth from their own feelings of anger. In Oakland, a community gathering has been called for 14th Street and Broadway at 6pm the day the verdict is announced. For further updates, see the next related Indybay feature.

Northern California’s status as the home of high-quality marijuana didn’t need much reinforcement, but the region dominated the competition at the first High Times Medical Cannabis Cup on June 19th and 20th in San Francisco. The event featured a presentation by internationally renowned, best-selling author Jorge Cervantes during his first U.S. appearance. There was also an expo, cultivation seminars, an activism session with leaders of the medical marijuana movement and much more.

On June 1st, family, friends, and community activists gathered in front of Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malleys office in Oakland to demand a vigorous prosecution of Johannes Mehserle for the murder of Oscar Grant. The next day jury questionnaires were handed out in Los Angeles Superior Court, and after numerous motions have been heard in pre-trial hearings and a jury which includes no African Americans was selected, the long-awaited trial began with opening statements on June 10th. On June 14th, the LA Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant made a call — "All Out to the Courthouse" — and hundreds rallied for justice. In Oakland, a mass community gathering has been called for 14th Street and Broadway at 6pm the day of the Mehserle verdict.

After more than a year in a Tel Aviv hospital, Bay Area activist and photo-journalist Tristan Anderson has returned home to California. Tristan was critically injured when he was shot in the head at close range with a metal high-velocity tear gas canister at the Israeli Separation Wall on March 13, 2009, while taking photos following a demonstration against the apartheid wall in the West Bank village of Ni'lin.

The International Cannabis and Hemp Exposition took place at the Cow Palace in Daly City on April 17th and 18th. The expo, which had the first permitted area for the use of medical marijuana, was the largest event of its kind to hit Northern California. Prominent members of the cannabis community discussed a wide-range of topics, however the main buzz, on and off stage, was the initiative to "legalize, control, and tax cannabis in California," which is to be decided by voters in the state during the November 2010 elections.

After the recent uprisings in Portland in response to two police murders, a call has gone out for "West Coast Days of Action April 8th and 9th, From the Bay to the Sound: No More Police Killings!" The call to action reads in part: "Organize protests and autonomous actions in your own city!" Announced actions include non-violent civil disobedience at Embarcadero BART station in San Francisco on April 8th and an Anti-Police General Assembly in Portland and a march against police brutality in Seattle on April 9th.