William J. Bratton | Hip-Hop and Politics

5 Oakland police officers surround one lone women who expressed outrage at the City Council voting to extend a contract to former LA and NY police chief William J Bratton

Oakland—After a marathon meeting that saw an attendance of more than 500 Oakland residents and nearly 4 hours of public testimony, the Oakland City Council voted in the early hours of Wednesday morning to move forward with spending $250,000 on a contract to hire controversial police consultant William Bratton. Bratton’s notorious policing methods—including stop and frisk, gang injunctions, and curfews—remained center stage, as countless residents called for an end to harmful, divisive policing policies in Oakland. Despite several Council members turning out pro-Bratton elements of their districts and a strong police presence in the chambers that heightened tension among participants, many residents stuck the meeting out to the bitter end, calling for public safety strategies that were more inclusive of community input and participation. Toward that end, Oaklanders recommended broader and better after school and restorative justice programs, job training, and services for residents returning from prison and jail.

Desley Brooks

Noting how the Council seemed to be playing into people’s fear, Councilperson Desley Brooks took a strong stand against the contract asking questions about what had been delivered on the existing contract and suggesting that the Council had been sloppy in considering the proposal to amend it. “Rejecting this contract tonight,” Brooks stated, “isn’t about not addressing crime. It’s about doing the hard work that needs to be done.” Brooks offered the lone voice of dissent on the Council.

“Sure it’s frustrating that the Council is moving ahead with the contract and Bratton despite all common sense, but many residents seem more ready than ever to band together and fight for a smarter, more sustainable way of dealing with harm in Oakland,” said Rachel Herzing of the Stop the Injunctions Coalition. “Our work will continue to fight Bratton-style zero tolerance policing however and whenever it comes to our neighborhoods—to carve out wider and wider spaces for the real innovation and creativity in implementing strategies that are viable, that take into account the knowledge and experience of the community itself, and that are effective in making our city healthy and strong.”

That above piece came courtesy of Stop the Injunctions Coalition

Below is the interviews we did with City Council women Desley Brooks

Here is our interview w/ Isaac Ontiveros of Stop the Gang Injunction Coalition..

I attended this marathon meeting and wrote an open letter to Oakland City Council and the Mayor Jean Quan…You can chime in by hitting this link..http://on.fb.me/VZGSAk

Dear Oakland City Council members Rebecca Kaplan Pat Kernighan Desley Brooks Lynette Gibson McElhaney Libby Schaaf Larry Reid Noel Gallo for City Council Dist. 5 Oakland Mayor Jean Quan…….

Stop and Frisk in NYC

After 5 hrs of testimony and over 500 people from all over speaking out against Chief Bratton and his infamous Stop and Frisk policies, y’all decided in a 7-1 vote to go ahead and vote for him anyway last night..During the discussion we heard some of you note that you wanted strategies from Bratton to make Oakland policing more efficient but not have racial profiling and Stop and Frisk.. Well if Bratton coming to consult Oakland is not going to lead to racial profiling and Stop and Frisk, will you all put that in writing and make that crystal clear? How about putting in his contract Stop and Frisk and similar profiling tactics like the nicknamed ‘Jump Out Boys‘, ‘Open Halls‘ , ‘Run Up and Freeze‘ etc WILL NOT be used by police in Oakland?The point was made at the meeting that in order for crime to come down in Oakland, trust between the community and police is needed. How is the community supposed to trust OPD if they have a consultant who may recommend intrusive policies like Stop and Frisk?

Last night speaker after speaker expressed concern about this.. Why not ease those fears? This is especially important now that the judge who prohibited Stop and Frisk in NY has just reversed her position on many of the tactics used in this procedure..You can read about that here—–> http://nydn.us/WV8cws

In NYC which many like to point to, you still have large scale protests against NYPD..around this issue including last springs march of silence that brought out close to 40k people… You even have police officers in NY objecting to stop and frisk because of the pressure to meet quotas.. You can see that here—-> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KeuRilK51c

Again why not put this in writing and take Stop and Frisk off the table if its not about that in your 7-1 decision to bring in Bratton?

We await your response Thank u
Davey D

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fred Hampton Jr

Apparently the State is not happy with the fact that Chairman Fred Hampton Jr of the P.O.C.C./BPPC is building bridges and doing work in Oakland with like-minded community organizations dedicated to improving life conditions for oppressed, repressed and terrorized citizens in the city of Oakland and beyond.

Tonight, at approximately 4pm, The Chairman and three of his comrades were trailed by police into the Target shopping center in Emeryville, just outside of West Oakland. Initially, they were stopped by two Oakland Police vehicles (IN EMERYVILLE). The police flashed their lights and ordered the passengers to both put their hands up and roll down the windows. As this was occurring, another 10-12 police cars arrived and blocked off the entire parking lot.

The passengers were separated and one of the sisters in the vehicle was pulled from the car, slammed against a police SUV and her arm twisted. Her arm was so badly injured that an ambulance later took her to a nearby hospital. BEFORE THE COP HAD EVEN OPENED THE CHAIRMAN’S WALLET HE SAID “Are you still at the same address in Chicago?” THEY KNEW WHO HE WAS BEFORE THEY PULLED HIM OVER. THIS IS A CLEAR INDICATION OF HARASSMENT IN RESPONSE TO POLITICAL ACTIVITY.

When asked why they were being pulled over, it was explained to them that a robbery had occurred in which a cell phone was stolen and the phone had been tracked to the Target parking lot. NOT THEIR CAR BUT, THE PARKING LOT. The Chairman pointed out that there were some 300 additional cars in the lot and so why their car but, received no answer.

The police then brought the supposed ‘victim’ of the robbery to the scene and paraded each one of the passengers in the Chairman’s vehicle in front of a bright light for the ‘victim’ to look at. S/he identified no one.

Following this, the police attempted to just walk away as if nothing had happened. The Chairman and additional passengers requested and received the Sergeants name and are planning to file a formal complaint.

It should not be overlooked that last month, The Chairman sat on a panel examining the MXGM report “Every 36 Hours” that focused on the execution of Black men, women and children by police, security guards and vigilantes every 36 hours in Amerikkka. Additionally, last week, The Chairman joined hundreds of community members in speaking out against the hiring of William Bratton as consultant to the OPD at a City council Public Safety meeting. It should also not be overlooked that a follow up City Council meeting to address the Bratton issue is being held tonite (Tues Jan 22 2013).

For more info and updates on this please go to http://chairmanfredjr.blogspot.com/2013/01/please-spread-widely-apparently-state.html

Here’s a recent intv we did w/ Chairman Fred about the plight of political prisoner Leonard Peltier, Gun Control and killings in Chicago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qu8Cl0sfRQ

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Oakland City Council Votes for William J Bratton….Community is Outraged

Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. Assaulted by Oakland & Emeryville Police on Eve of Chief Bratton Hearing