This footage was taken on Saturday, January 28th, by an Occupy Oaklander videographer who goes by the moniker Oheresy. I don't know exactly where or when, but it was most likely shot after the abortive attempt by Occupy Oakland marchers to take the Kaiser Convention Center as the police were pushing us back towards City Center.
Watch as an unknown man gets grabbed by two policeman for no apparent reason, is dragged and then beaten with multiple baton blows to his legs (four by a single officer, more by others). Or don't watch, if you tend to throw up.
People wonder why there is violence in Oakland; why a few "hotheads" can't control themselves. Why those who advocate non-violence resistance can't control or convince the few.
Perhaps part of the answer can be found in a question asked by the song "Ohio" from 1972:
What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?
Perhaps another part of the answer is that no one of Gandhian stature has stepped forward in Oakland or the nation. Gandhi was able to motivate his followers to be calm and non-resistant in the face of such brutality and much worse. Is such motivation possible now, in the age of livestream and twitter and instant rage?
Protester violence is what the Oakland Police want. Anyone with any sense watching the actions of the police on January 28th now realizes this. They want people to hate them with such intensity that they trigger people to do things in retribution that allow politicians to justify and the police to continue theirs attacks and beatings; they love it when people do stupid things like break into City Hall or burn a flag, or break a window, so they can have the politicians talk endlessly about protester violence and therefore justify their ongoing brutalization. And watching over it all the one percent smile, pet their OPD attack dogs, throw them raw steaks, and have a hearty laugh.
As our own allie123 put it so succinctly at the Oakland City Council meeting last night:
It's just like the banks got bailed out: the police beat the shit out of us, and we went to jail.
At tonight's City Council meeting, allie123, tweeting as alyssa011968, spoke to the City Council. Alyssa has been arrested twice, once on October 25th as the police were tear-gassing the encampment (she was not a camper, she came down in the middle of the night to stand in solidarity with the campers), and again in the kettle on January 28th, again for no reason whatsoever. She's been tear-gassed, dragged, insulted, humiliated, threatened by guards, and denied her medications in jail.
The video of her speaking is not yet available, but, once again, the tweets tell the story. In chronological order.
OakCityCouncil Occupy City Council
@alyssa011968 up to speak about police brutality and how "you magically have the money for security but never have it for social services"
OakCityCouncil Occupy City Council
She says OPD threw her down and tried to humiliate her. #oakmtg #oo
hyphy_republic Jaime Omar Yassin
@alyssa011968 's up, talking about how they humiliated and brutalized, how city's got magic chest 4 police repression, not social services
hyphy_republic Jaime Omar Yassin
banks got bailed out, we got sold out = cops broke law, we went to jail @alyssa011968
OakCityCouncil Occupy City Council
"it's just like the banks got bailed out, the police beat the shit out of us and we went to jail" #oakmtg #oo
OccupiedOakTrib Scott Johnson
.@alyssa011968 "Just like how banks got bailed out, we got sold out. Well, the police beat the shit out of us but we went to jail."
hyphy_republic Jaime Omar Yassin
You're paying police to follow me on twitter @alyssa011968 yeah. sez, me you're all idiotic assholes!
hyphy_republic Jaime Omar Yassin
Did ii ever tell you you're my hero @alyssa011968 ?
OakCityCouncil Occupy City Council
"I don't see a lot of different bw the way that the police get away with their brutality...just like Pacific Care gets away w denying meds"
OccupiedOakTrib Scott Johnson
.@alyssa011968 "That's why I Occupy, because you guys failed me." #OO #OakMtg
oo_media Occupy Oakland Media
alyssa 'you guys fail to represent us... that's why i occupy, because you guys fail me'
oheresy Beau
@alyssa011968 You were awesome!
WPHillbilly WP Hillbilly
@
@OakCityCouncil My favorite line in the mtg was the woman who said "They beat us = we went to jail" using the bailed out = sold out analogy.
OccupiedOakTrib Scott Johnson
@hyphy_republic @alyssa011968 I told her first!
Truth be, I told her first, in Kossacks Have Another Hero Amongst Them, back after her October arrest. When she, getting up in the middle of the night to stand in solidarity with campers, got arrested, spent six or seven hours in jail, got out of jail, went home for a hour, and came back to join in the march and protests that went on until late into the night; the protests that resulted in Scott Olsen nearly being killed.
A working class An Occupy hero is something to be.
Perhaps the answer is more people like her.