At lunchtime on Wednesday July 31, Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant
Plaza in downtown Oakland hosted a protest rally in support of the CA prisoner hunger strike that began on July 8. The rally was followed by a spirited march
through downtown Oakland (view event photos here). This event was held in conjunction with other solidarity events around the world.
The rally's MC, Jerry Elster from All of Us or None, announced the upcoming protest outside the west gate of San Quentin Prison at 2pm on August 3, and introduced a wide range of anti-prison activists who spoke in support of the current hunger strike in California prisons. Featured here are video clips from three of the rally's speakers.
--Danny Murillo survived 14 years of solitary confinement in
California prisons and is currently a student at the University of California
at Berkeley.
--Janetta Louise Johnson from Transgender Intersex Gender Variant Justice,
where she works as Program Coordinator for Member Leadership Development and
the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People's Movement. TGI Justice, who recently made a statement of support for the hunger strike, describes itself
as "a group of transgender people--inside and outside of prison--creating a
united family in the struggle for survival and freedom," whose membership
includes "low income transgender women of color and our families who are in
prison, formerly incarcerated, or targeted by the police."
--Paige Kumm from Causa Justa -- Just Cause, where she works
as a San Francisco Housing Rights Counselor/Organizer. The groups mission
statement is to build "grassroots power and leadership to create strong,
equitable communities. Born from a visionary merger between a Black
organization and a Latino immigrant organization, we build bridges of
solidarity between working class communities of color."
Photo by Indybay.org
Photo by Indybay.org
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