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The first hearing of the Mehserle murder trial in Southern California took place on Friday January 8, 2010. The 7am gathering and press conference in front of the L.A. Superior Court Building was in many ways a meet-and-greet between the newly formed LA Coalition For Justice for Oscar Grant and representatives from Oakland.
The Oakland coalition originally formed itself out of a spontaneous rebellion when Mehserle, a BART police officer, shot Oscar Grant in the back execution style last New Year’s day. The coalition and the Oakland community insured, through a relentless effort, that the cop would be tried for murder and not a lesser charge.
When the trial was moved to Los Angeles after the Mehserle defense argued that he couldn’t obtain a fair trail in Alameda County, the Los Angeles community banded together in a show of strength to show solidarity with the Oakland coalition and the family of Oscar Grant in order to guarantee a conviction of the police officer.
From the Newswire:
1ST HEARING FOR OSCAR GRANT/MEHSERLE MURDER TRIAL by Anna Kunkin
LA Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant Press Conference, 1/8/09: photos and full audio by dave id
In Oakland, California, in the early hours of January 1st of this year, while Bay Area Rapid Transit passenger Oscar Grant III lay face-down on a BART platform with another officer's knee on his shoulder, BART police officer Johannes Mehserle drew his service weapon and shot Oscar Grant in the back, execution-style. This type of killing of an unarmed, young African American man by police is all too common in America. L.A. police are reported to have killed 310 people in the last ten years. Not surprisingly, the corporate media has done a terrible job reporting on the various hearings, generally parroting defense motions and testimony of BART cops verbatim with little to no critical analysis or reporting on evidence that refutes defense claims. Police accountability and media activists are currently organizing to ensure that the community is informed of the trial's proceedings and that justice is achieved for Oscar Grant.
From the newswire: Southern California: First Cop on Trial for Murder in History of State Is Headed Your Way by dave id
From the calendar: Planning meeting for Justice for Oscar Grant 5:00 Sunday, January 3, 2010 at Chuco's Justice Center | | Johannes Mehserle murder trial begins 8:30 AM Friday, January 8, 2010 at Los Angeles County Superior Court
UPDATE: Report Back: Organizing Meeting for Oscar Grant Justice Coalition by Michael Novick
This was the sixth consecutive year (a conservative count) that the Northeast LA Radical Neighbors have held vigils on December 25. The last several vigils have been a joint collaboration with the weekly Montrose Peace Vigil.
Locations of our December 25 vigil have changed over the years. Yesterday, we had it in Eagle Rock. Six of us turned out. While many passersby were non-committal, many others gave us peace signs (and we exchanged waves with a police car). A few even thanked us for being there.
Many of ours signs addressed the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, but support for same-sex marriage was also prominent.
Story and photos"Peace on Earth" vigil 2009 by R of the Northeast LA Radical Neighbors
Tesla management and the Google major stake holders Larry Page and Sergey Brin along with former owner of Paypal Elon Musk are moving ahead with plans to build a “green” auto assembly plant at the toxic downey dump site in southern California where hundreds of workers have been sickened.
They have also received a $465 million loan from the Obama Department of Energy DOE to build the non-union assembly auto plant. Why would these billionaire owners need a US government loan to build a green electric car plant if they believe in this product?
. . . The California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day and the Peninsula Raging Grannies will be having a press/education/musical event in conjunction with the Detroit Auto Show which opens in Detroit on January 8, 2009.
Story: Google/Paypal Owners Building "Green" Electric Car On Downey Toxic Dump Site?1/9 by California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day RELATED: Is Tesla Nuts? by by California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day | | IATSE Local 44 Movie Propmaker Steve Basile At Tesla Motors To Report On Downey Toxic Dump by Labor Video Project
In advance of his appearance this week at an L.A. screening of "Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier," Ben Carnes of the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee discussed that film, Leonard Peltier, and a variety of other Native American issues.
The free showing of "Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier" will take place on December 17 at the National Center for Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo at 7pm. Carnes, who will present the film, believes it is one of a few documentaries that explains and clarifies the circumstances surrounding Peltier's imprisonment. (Another film he mentioned was Incident at Oglala by Michael Apted.)
At the time of Peltier's alleged shooting of an FBI agent (June of 1975), Carnes said that "they just wanted to arrest a group of AIM (American Indian Movement) people and have a big media riff because there was such a propaganda campaign that was going on against the American Indian Movement—that they were being trained by communists in Cuba, all kinds of derogatory things to help discredit them. But on the day of that shootout there were just strange things that happening that day that screwed their plans up. When the agents went in, there was another agent."
Interview: Ben Carnes on the film "Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier" by RP
Right: The table for the Open Source Voting Consortium at the L.A. Linux Expo '09.
In the spring of 2008, after years of getting p.o.'d at Microsoft on almost a daily basis, I switched over to Linux (free, non-proprietary software). I had just gotten a new computer, and a friend who was setting it up for me, offered Linux as an option. This seemed a bit risky since Linux sounded less user-friendly than Microsoft, and I am not a technically-savvy person. Yet I loved the idea of being free of Microsoft and proprietary software. I took a chance and went with Linux. In the ensuing year, my computer sessions became markedly less stressful--it was usually at zero.
. . . On February 19th of this year, I attended the 2009 Linux Expo in L.A. Below are conversations I had with a few of the vendors.
Story and photos: Transitioning to Linux and a (Late) Report on the 2009 Linux Expo L.A. by RP | RELATED: LA IMC 10th Anniversary - Technology Workshop by Mallory Knodel
Over the last several years the Northeast L.A. Radical Neighbors ("bad-asses who care"), often in collaboration with the Montrose Peace Vigil, has held one-hour peace vigils on holidays such as and Easter and Xmas. However, this was our first Thankstaking demo.
Obviously, vigils such as this are not stopping America's many wars, but they seem to be reminding people that horrible things are going on. (Personally, I grew up during the Vietnam War totally unaware of that abomination. Had there been community vigils such as this, my world view would have been different.)
We got a lot of positive response from adults and children. One city employee read all of our signs aloud over a p.a. system on their vehicle. As we have done in the past, we brought food for the local homeless people. It was alarming to see how much the local homeless population had increased. There seemed to be about 10 people in addition to the ones we have known over the years. Fortunately, a church group came after our event ended and distributed much more food. Read Full Report by R of the Northeast L.A. Radical Neighbors
WEST HOLLYWOOD, November 20, 2009 - Friday night's dedication of the Transgender Memorial in West Hollywood culminated years of planning and struggle to build a permanent monument to the dozens of Trans identified persons who are murdered each year by hate criminals.
The new plaque is now at Sheppard Triangle in West Hollywood. Dedication speakers, included Bushnell, Jarez, Chaz Bono, West Hollywood Mayor Abbey Land, City Councilmen John Duran and Jeffrey Prange. This author was impressed how tidy each speaker's remarks were, contrasting with the lengthy ones we remember from past Days of Remembrance. It was as if everyone knew that this year was special and that we should not any longer delay the unveiling we had struggled so long to achieve.
The audience was particularly moved by the humbleness of Chaz Bono, who thanked us for inviting him, and said he was new to our community, and did not feel he should take up too much time merely because his celebrity might invite more attention to his personal transition, which was the similar to what all of us face. Full Story: Dedication of Transgender Memorial Ends Years of Struggle by Carolina | | Photos: Dedication of Transgender Memorial Photos By Robert Stuart Lowden
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Jan 20 Obama After1 Year in Year: No More Broken Promises
Jan 20 LA Green Party meeting
Jan 23 Community Forum
Jan 24 LA Anarchist Bookfair
Jan 24 L.A. Anarchist Bookfair: Actions + Conversations +
Jan 24 The Emancipation of Women and Communist Revolu
Jan 27 The Pernicious Effects of the Current War on Drugs
Feb 6 La Angry Xicana?! featuring Adelina Anthony
Feb 8 FNB Convergence/Keith McHenry
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