Peninsula News

On March 18, climate activists targeted the nation's fourth largest bank for protest, just in time to crash its annual founding day celebration. They seized the entire block of California Street between Montgomery and Sansome for three hours, shutting down a major entrance at Wells Fargo headquarters during that time. The action was the culmination of the March for Fossil Fuel Freedom that started in Palo Alto days earlier, a trek of hundreds forming a human billboard to demand Wells Fargo stop funding the fossil-fuel industry.

The District Attorney of San Mateo County announced on March 1 that he found four deputy sheriffs and a sheriff’s sergeant did not violate the California penal code when they killed Chinedu Okobi with tasers on October 13, 2018. This is despite the fact that the coroner classified the death as a homicide. Civil-rights attorney John Burris, who represents the Okobi family, said that law enforcement actions needlessly escalated after their loved one committed only a minor infraction.

Three men of color were murdered by law enforcement using tasers in San Mateo County in 2018. On February 11, taser manufacturer Axon headlined a study session convened by the Board of Supervisors in San Mateo County. Nearly 200 opponents of tasers rallied in front of the Hall of Justice before attending the hearing. Jeers rang out during Axon's presentation, especially when the company showed photos of a black man grimacing as he was tased.

Chinedu Okobi was the third man to die after being tased by law enforcement in San Mateo County in 2018. He was unarmed and walking with shopping bags in Millbrae in October when five sheriff's deputies attacked him. More than two dozen people protested his murder in the District Attorney's office on January 23, then went to the county Sheriff’s office and the county Board of Supervisors to demand answers of the President of the Board and County Manager.

On January 19, at women's marches throughout the Bay Area, the focus was on unity rather than the rift in the national group. Optimism was abundant despite a slight decrease in attendance over last year. The marches were not without critics who cited a lack of attention to the plight of the underhoused and other issues effecting women. Unlike the city of New York where there were two separate marches, however, a spirit of solidarity ruled the day.

For the 5th year running, the Anti Police-Terror Project called Bay Area residents into the streets for the People’s March to Reclaim Martin Luther King Jr’s Radical Legacy. In Oakland, events ran from 8am to 8pm. San Francisco marched in honor of MLK and several labor unions spoke out against outsourcing and privatization. Fresno and Santa Cruz also marched. Other events were held in cities across Northern California.

The polling place at the Unitarian Universalist church was eliminated in November because of a “Black Lives Matter” sign. It was moved to the Cross City evangelical Christian mega church with three huge crosses out front. The 25,000 students of CSU-Fresno do not have a polling place on campus. Two thirds of the 3,000 inmates at the Fresno County Jail have not been convicted of a crime, yet are not provided a polling booth either.

US border authorities fired tear gas into a group of Central American asylum seekers on November 25. Shortly before the attack, over 200 people attended a rally in San Ysidro to support the caravan migrants. The violence of the attack is being condemned worldwide. In Northern California, protests were held on November 25 in San Francisco; November 26 in Palo Alto; December 1 in Oakland, El Cerrito, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz; and December 2 in San José.

The country was transfixed when Christine Blasey Ford testified against Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh on September 27. On the same day in Palo Alto, neighbors, friends, and colleagues of Dr. Ford rallied to her support. Actions in Berkeley, San Francisco, Mountain View, and San Mateo demonstrated the Bay Area's commitment to supporting victims of sexual assault and protested what they called Republican rape culture. A major demonstration in the nation's capital will be held with a sister rally in San Mateo on October 6.

In Palo Alto and San Francisco, demonstrators joined a national call-to-action by Movimiento Cosecha, a movement working for the protection of undocumented persons. The campaign targeted institutions that have contracts with ICE and profit from family separation. On July 31 in Palo Alto, protesters demonstrated in front of Palantir. From July 29 to 31 in San Francisco, a 48-hour vigil was held at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building.

Demonstrators decrying Trump's policy of separating immigrant children from their parents were in the streets throughout the month of June. An even larger wave of protest hit on June 30, a national day of action, with rallies held locally in dozens of Northern California cities. One of the largest protests was at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond, the only ICE detention center in the Bay Area.

On June 4, digital privacy rights activists demonstrated at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park. Facebook is under renewed scrutiny after it was revealed that smartphone manufacturers were given access to the private information of Facebook users and their friends. Apple, Samsung, and Huawei are among dozens on the list of companies with access to personal data, including user religious and political affiliation.