Occupy Oakland

At 4:30 am yesterday, October 25, 2011, the Occupy Oakland Commune was evicted. 105 people were arrested. 1 person was sent to the hospital, 2 people who were in jail reported having their hands broken. At&t hates the bay, so I didn't get a text about it until 4:45. By the time Joey and I got dressed and got down there, it was too late. The cops had tear gassed and arrested everyone, pushing the legal observers and cop watchers (I'm part of the latter) far enough away so that no one could do their jobs. We stood across the street and watched with a bunch of 14 year old lesbian juggalos. It was weird. We were told that the commune was tipped off at 3:30, nearly an hour before the cops came, by the garbage collectors who came to empty the dumpsters. The workers let the commune know that there were 500 cops gathering at the Coliseum, the big sports venue in town. Joey and I stayed til 7 am, trying to figure out how we could help but it was pretty futile so we went home to start figuring out jail support online. Snow Park was cleared too, which is where the hippies and the families with children were staying. No one has any idea if those children are accounted for; there have been rumors that CPS may have been involved but those are probably just rumors. I hope.

At 4 pm, after working for 6 hours on 3 hours of sleep, I picked up Joey, C, D, and L and we went to the emergency GA in front of the Oakland Public Library. The cops had asked the library to shut down so we couldn't meet, but they refused, because book people are the best people. It started out pretty slow; GAs are always rull boring to me. There were 150 people there at 4. At 4:30, it had doubled to maybe 300. By the time we started marching, we were at 500-700. The plan was to march past the jail where our comrades were being held, then to Oscar Grant Plaza, which was where we had been Occupying. It was an amazing experience. Families stood on their balconies watching us. In the Asian area of downtown, one man had his baby in his arms. He flashed us the peace sign and moved his baby's arm up and down to wave. I cried.

Within a half hour, the cops fired rubber bullets, sound cannons, and tear gas into the crowd. There were fucking children in that crowd. Joey and D had decided not to march and to stay at the library with the other unarrestables. C can't be arrested either, but zie couldn't resist going, and I promised my mom I wouldn't get arrested (lulz) so we stuck together. When we saw the crowd slow down, we knew it was trouble and we got a little distance from it. When we heard the bangs and smelled the gas, we ran. We ran fast. We got away easily because, all throughout the night, with the exception of that group of cops and the riot cops in front of Oscar Grant Plaza, there were no fucking signs of them. Yeah, there were 4 police helicopters following us (at 500 dollars an hour cost to the city for....8 hours, maybe more, so 500x8x4=16,000 dollars for a bankrupt city to spend on a peaceful protest but OK WHATEVER) and cops directing traffic, but it was eerily quiet all night. Except for when we got to the plaza.

C and I were trying to make our way back to the library to meet up with D and Joey. We ran right into the march. They were having some sort of stand down with the cops in front of the Plaza, and C and I watched as city workers freaked out and started running up the streets, screaming at the people to get inside the businesses and lock their doors. Like we were some sort of zombie apocalypse that would eat them. C and I were laughing so hard that we didn't even realize the crowd was on the move. They started to march in our direction and we mobilized. What I saw right then, in the dusk, I cannot explain it to you. Somehow from the time we lost the crowd to then, the march had expanded to one thousand people. Maybe even twelve hundred. There were banners everywhere, a hippie girl danced around in the very front with like a fucking ribbon dancer from the 90s. And the noise... the noise of unified chants from one thousand throats.

Whose streets? Our streets.
Si se puede.
Hella hella occupied.
No justice. No peace.

I made C dance with me so we could say we danced on the edge of social war. I like poetic shit. I sent a text to a friend because I promised him I would text him if the Rev came. "At the risk of sounding very young and naive," I wrote, "this may be the Rev."

We marched to Snow Park, the other park where people had been camped and subsequently evicted this morning. I cannot explain it. It felt like we had won. The cops were nowhere to be seen and there were 2,000 people in this tiny park. It was a feeling of such immense jubilation. Joey called and we met up. I dropped C off with them because I had had enough observing time. I wanted to be in that crowd. The desire to be a part of it was just too great. I was prepared to be in there alone, I figured I was alone at Bash Back 09 and didn't get beaten or arrested, I could probably handle myself now that I knew what I was doing even better than then. But then I ran into Ca, a guy I have been casually seeing. We were supposed to have a date that night, actually, but I canceled to do this and then we met up. So he and I decided to have each others' backs and march together. It was a great third date.

From Snow Park we marched back to the plaza. It had been like... 3 hours already. I'm a little shaky on the time because I was there for 5 hours and it felt like 20 minutes. People were so happy on that stretch. There is literally nothing like screaming "Whose streets? Our streets!" at the top of your lungs, surrounded by people of all races, genders, ages, and ability levels and know, just know, that in that moment, you are absolutely right. Those were our streets that night.

Ca and I stood back, about 20 yards away from the front line at the plaza. We could hear someone talking on a bullhorn but we couldn't understand what was being said. Ca told me to stay there and that he would check it out. 20 seconds after he disappeared into the crowd, they fired the tear gas canisters at us.



At 24 seconds, by the way, in this video, you can hear me screaming, "Come on, you have to move, let's go!" at the people who are just like, casually walking away and not realizing that this is not smoke, it's tear gas. You can also hear me screaming my date's name at 1:53 because we were separated. This was the worst time of all the 6+ time they gassed us. It burned. My eyes and throat burned like I had gargled hot sauce and then splashed some in my eyeballs for good measure. Tears were flowing down my face as I tried to move the crowd. When I yelled, "TEAR GAS MOVES SO YOU SHOULD TOO!" then they started running. An Iraq war veteran who served two tours was hit in the head with a canister. It fractured his skull and he crumpled to the ground. When people ran to help him, the cops threw another canister at them. A woman using a wheelchair was also stuck just 5 feet from the cops; her chair had stalled. People ran through the gas to push her out. People ran through the gas to help the man who had been hurt. The medics came and sprayed us with LAW and gave us water. Ca and I finally found each other. The march had splintered into two groups.

We reunited after another 20 minutes of marching through bad idea streets with no exits. When we found each other, it was like a celebration. We were yelling and hugging and morphing back into one cohesive group. And then we took the streets again. At one point, an older woman of color was driving home from work (we assume) and we had blocked her way. So instead, she just (very, very slowly and carefully) drove into the crowd, rolled her windows down, and blasted really good jamz and came with us. At one point, a guy climbed onto her roof. I saw her face as she realized he was on there, and this fucking sophisticated lady with some fucking pearls on smiled the biggest god damn smiles I had ever seen. More people climbed on. There was a dance party of mostly youth of color on and around the car. It was beautiful.

Finally after 5 hours, me and Ca had had enough. We met up with our friends and we walked to the car. I got a $60 parking ticket. Oh well.

Going back tonight.

All power to the communes. Anarchy forever.