The Oakland Riots -
Things were pretty calm yesterday. Daniel and I made it home without a problem, and there was only one helicopter circling overhead. Nothing got set on fire.
Best commentary I've seen on the whole mess yet:
http://cityhomestead.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/thoughts-on-a-fractured-city/
An excerpt's underneath the cut, although for anyone interested I'd really recommend you go over to read the whole thing. It's well worth it.
I never expected what followed, though. The protests and vigils made sense: BART’s leadership was remiss in their initial response to this tragedy, I think, and in the months to come, the agency will probably dissect these days one by one, trying to determine what might have been done differently. And given that the shooting happened in Oakland and BART’s headquarters are here, it was only logical that gatherings should be here as well. But the riots stunned me. How can the destruction of our neighborhoods possibly further the cause in any way? What’s worse is that the riots do not even seem to have been wholly Oakland-grown-many of the media reports and images profile young people from San Francisco and Berkeley and places farther afield attacking OPD cruisers, torching dumpsters, smashing windows. “I feel like Oakland should make some noise,” one protester from San Francisco told a reporter. “This is how we need to fight back.” And of the Oaklander whose small business had just had its windows smashed: “She should be glad she just lost her business and not her life.” This is the way to fight back? The killing of a young black male is avenged by the destruction of black-owned businesses-and in someone else’s city, no less?
Oakland does need to make some noise. But Oaklanders should make it. We should be asking the hard questions about this tragedy-not who or how, but why. Why is there such deep distrust in our community? Why is there such fear of one another? How do we work together to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again in this city? Hold the officer and BART accountable, yes. But hold one another accountable, too-how do we build a city in which this culture of violence is only a distant memory?
There will be no easy resolution to this crisis. There’s a deep fury burning here, particularly among the many Oaklanders who have watched this cycle of violence and distrust go on for generations. Where do we go from here? I couldn’t say. There will, I’m sure, be a trial, and it will probably entail more frustration and more anger-and hopefully, by its end, peace
I close the paper. I close my eyes. I think of Oakland as it is in my mind. Dodging Canada geese along Lake Merritt on a Sunday afternoon. Dim sum in Chinatown. Boating along the Embarcadero, watching the cranes in action. Outdoor movies on 49th Street. Summertime beers on our neighbors’ front steps. The Oakland Rose Garden. Dancing in the streets on Election Night. Picnics at Lake Temescal. Biking along Skyline, coasting down the hill into Orinda. Vintage movies at the Paramount. Cable cars over the Oakland Zoo. Coffee and tamales at the Temescal Farmers’ Market. Tasting feijoas in the Kaiser Rooftop Garden. Dia de los Muertos celebrations at the Oakland Museum. Discovering the Cleveland Cascade. Late night taco stops at the taco trucks in Fruitvale. Children’s Fairyland. Seeing the Mormon Temple lit up in the distance. Sitting at an ironing board eating sticky buns outside Bakesale Betty’s. Dragon boats on the lake. Listening to the organ before the Saturday night movie at the Grand Lake. Neighborhood block parties. The holiday parade through Downtown. Hiking with the dog through Redwood Regional Park. Cocktails at Flora. Powdered sugar-coated beignets at the Fruitvale BART station, just feet away from the platform where our community would be rocked. My Oakland-your Oakland-our Oakland.
To the world: we are not trapped here in this city; we are here because we choose to be. We are here not because it is the only place we can afford living, but because it is the only place we can imagine living. I believe in this city, in its vast potential and its vibrant communities-and I love it, with all its imperfections. As a community, we will work through the anger and the violence, unearthing the roots of it. Then, together, we will rebuild trust across the city and create from the fragments a single unified community. There’s a long road ahead, but I have faith that it is one that the people of this city will travel together.
It is Oakland, after all.