As Zimmerman Verdict Released...
Outrage in San Francisco Bay Area
July 15, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Oakland, California, Sunday, July 14. Special to Revolution.
July 13-14: A call for day of/day protests after the Zimmerman verdict came down—for 4 pm at Powell and Market streets in downtown San Francisco and 14th and Broadway in Oakland—had been circulated by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network-Bay Area for the last several weeks. When the verdict came—a little before 7 pm Saturday night—a crew of supporters of Revolution Books Berkeley and the Stop Mass Incarceration Network (SMIN) headed to 14th & Broadway (Oscar Grant Plaza) with a "We Are All Trayvon" banner and other SMIN and revolutionary materials. Some people had already come—one from some 20 miles away. A crowd of 30 gathered, many shocked and sickened by the verdict. After spreading the word and making plans to return on Sunday, some of the people drove and rode bikes to the Grand Lake Theater—several miles away—and held the banner and a rally outside the theater where the movie Fruitvale Station, about the murder of Oscar Grant, had opened. Hundreds of people going into and coming out of the theater snapped video and photos of the banners, responding to the agitation. People coming out of the movie with tears in their eyes, nodded their heads, embraced us and many said they would be at the next protest and were posting on Facebook to their friends.
Oakland, California, Sunday, July 14. Special to Revolution.
Later that night, over 200 also gathered at 14th & Broadway and marched through downtown Oakland, with members of the Revolution Club carrying a banner. That same night, the ANSWER Coalition called an impromptu rally in the Mission District of San Francisco, and over 500 people turned out for a spirited march and rally.
Rallies were called for Sunday at 4 pm in both San Francisco and Oakland. In Oakland, SMIN and the Revolution Club gathered people in Oscar Grant Plaza. Other groups had also been calling for the protests, and one of them was incorporated into helping lead the rally. Soon hundreds had gathered—the crowd was very diverse, in terms of people's nationality and politics. For an hour we held a speak-out with many taking the bullhorn—and a number of powerful spoken word pieces and a song. Speakers from Revolution newspaper and the Revolution Club drew on Carl Dix's statement "Zimmerman Walks Free—How Long Will This System Continue to Get Away With Murder?" to expose the criminal nature of the verdict and the whole system and sharply pose the need for revolution based on Bob Avakian's theoretical work. Hundreds of copies of Dix's statement, along with SMIN palm cards featuring the prisoner hunger strike and copies of Revolution were distributed.
Oakland, California, Sunday, July 14. Special to Revolution.
About 5 pm, a powerful, energetic march took off, led by a beautiful banner—with a picture of Trayvon on one side, BA's "No More Generations..." quote in the middle, and a photo of prisoners from revcom.us on the other. The march went through the historic Black community of West Oakland all the way to the BART station. The crowd grew as we marched, stretching three to four blocks long. People were estimating that over 1,000 people, perhaps over 2,000, had taken part. When we got back to Oscar Grant Plaza in downtown Oakland, hundreds decided to take the intersection at 14th & Broadway and held a speak-out that lasted more than an hour.
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