Mehserle Trial Day of Verdict Yuppie Bloc Against Police Brutality!

I hope the anarchists are not trying to turn this event into another street party, because it is not! This is serious business and I don't know what to make of it when you say: " to impress the party later in the night" or " Oh the eternal question, what to wear for a night out on the town". You people better take this seriously because before the night is over, there might not be a party to attend! There might be a burnt down city, dead and wounded in the streets and people incarcerated in the jails. That does not sound like a "night out on the town" to me! Maybe you people should take a serious look at what the potential of unrest could be and quit trying to romanticize violence. This is not your moment to have fun out of making chaos. This is a moment to achieve justice and to make a decision as a community if we want to be as violent and out of control as the police. I don't think we should be and that we need to find disruptive but not destructive and violent methods to deal with a miscarriage of justice. I hope there those within the anarchist community who feel the same.

y'know, not everything has to be a clever meta-commentary on "protests" or "protest drag" or whatever the intent of this action is. Just participate.

I can hear it already "But I thought they were anarchists" and "I didn't know yuppies behaved so badly." hahahahahahahahaha

Next thing you know people will be dressing up in police uniforms mocking the riot police like police mock anarchists dressing up as in black bloc. WE'RE ON TO YOU!

If there's no one there to stop the police from dressing up like anarchists and breaking the law then there shall be no one there to stop the anarchists from dressing up as police and making total asses of our selves to embarrass what ever department we see fit.

How would you pigs like to be infiltrated? You do it to us all the time. Know you can dish it out but you can't take it in.

YEAH YOU BETTER SCARED!

This strategy has repeatedly worked for me and my progressive and anarcho liberal friends showing up at the various antiwar marches, Sacto and San Francisco WTO and G8 events. We sort of dress in what we wear to work- sweaters, plaid shirts, a purse, a nice sundress, a north Face jacket. Wouldn't wear heeled shoes though. The police have let us cross right through lines while they are rounding up the harsh mannered people in black.

I agree with 'chp' about how this strategy works, HOWEVER, it should also be pointed out (given that someone previously mentioned: "cops will stop those who are black and those dressed in black"), for any members of the "Yuppie bloc" that you all should also be self-reflective of the success of this strategy as one grounded in the fundamental problem here (and your actions not necessarily challenging that problem). And that problem is that while the second group in the quote above may have the possibility of yuppie-ing up to cross the police lines when necessary, the first group DOES NOT have the ability to change the color of their skin; and that is preciously "the problem of the colorline" and racialized colonialism that WEB DuBois and Frantz Fanon long ago addressed so eloquently.

In other words, while I agree with the Yuppie Bloc, and definitely encourage it as one among many strategies, I only reluctantly support it if it does not challenge the problematic above, so I also ask each of you to be very mindful of those of us who will be out there on the streets that can not "yuppie up" so that we truly have each others back through this... Otherwise, you leave the main issue of racism that led to Mehserle shooting Oscar Grant in the back right in place without a challenge in one of those moments that matter most, the criminalization of black/brown folks (usually regardless of attire). Perhaps this strategy merits more discussion (here or elsewhere) or more thinking through the dynamics above, before it can truly be a useful and successful strategy that does not run the risk of leaving black/brown folks behind enemy lines so to speak....

AND ALSO IMPORTANT FYI... I also like 'lmao' post, but here we need more creative satiric innovation as there are technically laws against "impersonating an officer" so any such idea/uniform would need to be at once cop-like, but also clearly "not-so" to prevent any of our folks getting taking in on charges "impersonating an officer" even if we know those to be bogus ass charges.

I would like to invite all concerned citizens to gather at Jack London Square for a silent/peaceful candle light vigil in honor and support of Bay Area law enforcement. Vigil will begin at 6PM at the day of the court verdict.

HEY BALECO, will you be remembering Oscar Grant and other innocent people the police have killed?

I've been to protests against the G8 and the WTO in SF and Sac too

sweet! rock on oakland! yuppies don't let the haters get you down...

be smart and dangerous!

A few cop cars burned in streets of Toronto. And even if Oscar Grant get as much justice as yhis system can provide, some can visit the Baleo event to do better than Toronto.

I'm sorry but WTF? It makes perfect sense not to wear the standard ninja gear we all love on the night of the verdict in downtown Oakland. On that night, this tactic will only play into the hands of the pigs, media and especially the forces of cooptation. So folks should wear nondescript clothes in muted and darker colors and have a way to conceal their identity. They should also be able to change profile quickly if possible. We all agree on this. But give me a fucking break, that does not mean that we should go around in the middle of an urban uprising flexing our privilege and perpetuating stereotypes of who are targets for police and who are not. Just look fucking normal and dress in a way that does not stand out at all. And finally... I'm sorry CHP but go fuck yourself. You actually just referred to you and your friends as anarcho liberals!?!? that's disgusting. Go dress up like a yuppie and hang out in the Marina. There is no room for anarcho liberal crap in this kind of shit. That kind of confused politics will only empower assholes like CAPE and Youth Uprising. In other words, our enemies. ok. be safe y'all...

I didn't even know what black block was still when I went to the Seattle WTO protests in 99. I rolled with homies from the bay, we went under the wingnut banner(though my smaller group was the stupids), and everyone was pretty much just wearing nondescript clothing. If anything we were all wearing raingear and had changes of clothing and bandannas to conceal our faces.

Flash forward to the anti-war protests post 9/11 and pre Iraq war... Folks started busting out the pink block, which seemed to be pretty effective for a while, but certain folks were still picked out of the pink bloc cuz of the color of their skin...

There are movements in other parts of the world where folks wear all white...White overalls...Tute Bianche(or White Monkeys in Mexico)in Italy and Wombles in the UK. I have heard different reasons for wearing all white, from the idea that they were to represent the unseen...to the idea that they were to represent ghosts in the ghosttown like atmosphere that police create in areas they know we will be protesting. At some point groups dropped the white overalls in favor of a padded block technique, which developed into large groups of folks marching together with padding to protect themselves from the police.

I have remembered talk of padded blocks in the bay area, especially after the OPD went apeshit on folks at the docks.

Regardless of what folks wear... Whether they actually have yuppie attire or could get away with wearing it...

The main thing is to be out there... and to have each other backs in solidarity. If crazy stuff starts happening to some folks cuz of clothing or their skin color... Don't just run away... Find a way to help...