Young Freedom Now Activists Build Altar for Stolen Lives and March in Oakland

[Photo: Children lead a march of hundreds up Broadway back to Oscar Grant plaza in Oakland.]


Organized by Abundant Summers to coincide with Freedom Now events across the country, dozens of children gathered for an event especially catered to them in Oscar Grant plaza in Oakland.

Kids were offered specific areas designated for age-appropriate activities. There was a table for ages 5-10, and another for 10 and up. A bike cart filled with books from the Oakland Public Library was on hand and groups of small children had books read to them.

Art supplies were readily available for the kids to contribute to an altar for those whose lives have been stolen by state violence. Over time, the altar filled out in the center of the amphitheater in front of Oakland City Hall.

A teach-in was held on the lawn of Oscar Grant plaza to discuss issues surrounding racism and police brutality. After the teach-in concluded, children, parents, and friends, gathered in a circle around the altar to close that portion of the event.

The children then lined up behind a banner reading "Sama Sama for Black Lives" and headed onto 14th Street for a lively march with the youths chants filling the air. ("Sama" is a high-level Japanese honorific.)

Another large group of marchers who had come from a concurrent rally at OPD headquarters, where activists had locked down that morning, met the children's march at about the midway point on Broadway. Together, with the children leading the way, marchers returned to the plaza for a rally that demanded divestment from police and the funding of Black futures.

While speakers were addressing a crowd that grew in size as the afternoon wore on, activists with ladders hung a large banner between the two primary columns at the main entrance to Oakland City Hall that read "#Bye Libby," in reference to the rising anger surrounding the mayoralty of Libby Schaaf and the new recall effort to remove her from office.


Abundant Summers is an inclusive all-outdoors camp combining social justice, nature education, arts and crafts, and free play in a mixed-age (2-10) setting. Making space for kids to be kids, loosely structured day and emergent curriculum is shaped by campers’ interests.
http://abundantbeginnings.org/summer


For more on the Oakland Freedom now actions: