Daily Archives: July 9, 2010

At 14th and Broadway, the community was invited to share what was on their hearts. No one was censored and all views were respected. People surrounded the speakers. No one needed to be alone on a day like today. In African traditional healing, the health of an individual is tied to the well-being of community. Oscar Grant’s relatives and friends called for love and respect for life and each other, as they named the enemy: this corrupt judicial system that allows killers to go free. I noticed another rally in front of City Hall. Just a handful of people were there.

Oscar Grant’s mother Wanda Johnson spoke unexpectedly, adding her thoughts at the close of the family’s press conference. “My son was murdered. He was murdered. He was murdered. He was murdered,” she said, calm but forceful, enunciating every word and looking straight into the dozens of news cameras that had gathered outside the courthouse.

The Scott Sisters received double life sentences each in an alleged armed robbery of $11 in which no one was harmed or injured, and for which they have steadfastly maintained their innocence.

With Arizona’s harsh new immigration law threatening to unleash a wave of racial profiling, Bay Area African-American clergy and community leaders traveled to Phoenix late last month on a four-day solidarity mission.