On Monday, Dec 15th 2014, members of newly organized all-Black groups, including The Blackout Collective, #BlackBrunch and #BlackLivesMatter, joined with Asian allies in #Asians4BlackLives group and white allies in the Bay Area Solidarity Action Team to lead an occupation of the Oakland Police Department and demand an end to the war on Black people in Oakland and everywhere. Approximately 50 people participated in the action and were joined by a crowd of around 200 supporters.
Protestors blocked entrances into the police department and the busy downtown intersection outside for 4 hours and 28 minutes. The 4 hours honor the memory of Michael Brown, whose body lay in the streets of Ferguson for more than 4 hours after he was killed by a police officer. The 28 minutes represent the startling fact that every 28 hours a Black person is killed by police, security or vigilantes in this country. Simultaneous to the blockades, a protestor climbed the flag pole directly in front of the police headquarters to fly a banner with the faces of Black people who have been killed by police: Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Oscar Grant, Alan Blueford, and Renisha McBride.
The newly released video captures the protestors during the four and a half hour action and features short interview clips with representatives from #BlackBrunch, #Asians4BlackLives, Alan Blueford Center for Justice, and the Bay Area Solidarity Action Team.
There were approximately 40 arrests, with some misdemeanor charges. The action attracted national media attention, resulting in 30 media hits, including major outlets such as AP and LA Times. The hashtag for the action, #ShutDownOPD, rated the second most popular hashtag during the day.
The Black, Asian and white groups joined in solidarity to call for an end to racist police violence and the immediate implementation of the Ferguson Action demands: fergusonaction.com/demands.
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