8.365 Speak

For Theme of the Week - Copycats!

As a congratulations for finishing her 365 and for being a just plain awesome FuGgeR, I'm paying tribute to the one and only Amadika. She is the definition of badassedness! :)

For FGR - Live Free or Die

Freedom of speech - bitches!

On a more serious note about free speech, there's a bunch of speech goin' on in Oakland, California right now, and if you haven't heard about it, read on.

On New Year's Day, a black man from Oakland was shot and killed by a BART police officer. The victim, Oscar Grant, was handcuffed and on the ground when the shot was fired. Oakland has a high population of African-Americans, and has had several civil right issues in the past. It's a rather volatile place, and last night it went up in flames. Literally. Oakland is about 45 minutes northeast of here, so Joey and I were watching all this live on the news.

Last night was the memorial service for Oscar Grant (he was 22), and afterward a large portion of the African American community confronted the city's mayor at City Hall. The demonstrations started out peacefully, but by the end of the night the crowd was roaming the streets, bashing in storefronts, setting random parked cars on fire, and destroying anything they could touch. Cops threw teargas into the crowds and arrested several people.

It's heartbreaking to me. All of it. The news stations here acquired video of the shooting and showed it during their broadcasts. I watched it a couple days ago and was horrified. I think they're stepping on the line of propriety by showing the video. And frankly, I wish I hadn't seen it. It's haunted me for a couple days now. The man who was shot was defenseless. There was a struggle, then he was on the ground, handcuffed. There were three officers surrounding him, and in the video, one can see the officer pull out his weapon and point it at the victim. But in all the confusion, in the struggle, I don't believe the officer shot him point blank - intentionally. I do believe it was an accident. But he's stonewalled by his attorney now, and we won't know for a while, if ever, what really happened.

In the meantime, the community has grown restless and the chanting of "stop police brutality" is going to continue for some time.

So our freedom to speak our minds is a double-edged sword. The people deserve the right to express their anger toward the BART police. But, their speech has done more damage to their community than good.