October 22nd Coalition in the San Francisco Bay Area October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation

Bad Boys In Blue Whatcha Gonna Do... Bay Area Familes And Friends Protest Police Brutality
http://www.siliconvalleydebug.com/story/101205/story/Oct22rally.html

This past Saturday, October 22, about 80 people gathered at Emma Prusch Farm Park on King and Story Roads in East San José, CA for a march and rally against police brutality. In doing so, San José joined thousands across the nation on the 10th annual day of "Protest to Stop Police Brutality" for the first time. Although, the Bay Area event is usually held in San Francisco, it was held in East San José to draw attention to the escalation in deadly force that has been used by the San José Police Department in recent years. The day was especially meaningful because family members of victims were at the forefront in organizing this event, meeting up on weekends and after their work shifts to plan it out.

Bad Boys In Blue Whatcha Gonna Do...
Bay Area Familes And Friends Protest Police Brutality
Story By Elizabeth Gonzalez // Photos By G.Melesaine

People from as far away as Modesto, San Francisco, Redwood City, Oakland, joined folks from San Jose, in what they described as a day to honor the lives of those who were stolen from them by law enforcement. “It is a day of celebrating life and representing people who now can't speak for themselves,” said Pam Pam, a bay area activist.

The small, but loud crowd marched across from the park towards Story Road, catching the attention of bumper to bumper traffic on the popular intersection. King and Story Roads preserve so much history of their own and have a strong police presence any day of the week.

With chants that claimed the streets as theirs the crowd marched and urged folks to organize against police brutality. Onlookers responded in waves of honking horns.

The rally began with a moment of silence under the hot sun, followed by family members speaking of their loved ones, sharing their stories and supporting eachother, sprinkled in by some entertainment by local talent that reflected the messages of the day. To one side stood the black wall panels of the Stolen Lives Project with more than 2,000 names added to it since they were built in 1996. The walls serve as a way to memorialize those killed by law enforcement all across the United States. As family members spoke the names of the recently lost were added to two new black panels to commemorate the loved ones of those who attended the rally.

The families stood at the font, side by side and were called, “the heroes of our time” by Raj Jayadev , one of the organizers of the event and member of Silicon Valley DeBug. He went on to introduce the day as “a historic day of fighting, honoring, and healing lives that were broken by bullets and guns and uncaring police.”

Those in attendance included Bao Kim Tran and his two young children who lost their mother, Cau Thi Bich Tran. The petite, 25 year old woman was shot and killed by Chad Marshall of the San Jose Police while standing in her kitchen holding a vegetable peeler in March of 2003. In Cau Bich Tran's case the San Jose city attorney's office just filed a motion indicating an appeal to U.S. District Judge James Ware's Sept. 30 ruling, where he rejected one of the city's key legal arguments for dismissing the lawsuit.

Regina Cardenas, one of the daughters of Rudy Cardenas was also at Saturday's rally informing the community that the State Narcotics agent, Michael Walker, who killed her father in February of 2004 is currently facing manslaughter charges in a historic criminal trial as the first state agent charged for killing someone on duty. Regina also invited them to join her and her family in the courtroom.

One of the original founders of the “dream” as he called it, Danny Garcia, was present, helping to set up the walls that he helped build in 1996 after his own brother, Mark Garcia, was killed by law enforcement after being beaten, gagged, and hog tied. He addressed the group, saying that these “are not isolated incidents, but a nation wide epidemic.”

The parents and family of Julio Ayala, 26, who was beaten to death by police in South San Francisco also took part of the rally and said that they have not gotten justice, only a slap in the face when they received a denial from the DA to prosecute the officers responsible a day before what would have been Julio's 27 th birthday.

The sister of Samuel Martinez also addressed the crowd. Her brother, Samuel,34, was tasered and then shot and killed by a San Jose police officer after police were called during a domestic dispute in May of this year. The grand jury in the case found the officer not at fault. Despite of this news she thanked the group, saying that when this happened, “we didn't know and all of you helped us, came to us.”

That was the spirit of the day, a group brought together by necessity that came to each other's aid in their similar struggles because police can not continue to steal the lives and the futures of the people they are supposed to protect.

See photo essay at http://www.siliconvalleydebug.com/story/101205/story/SimpleViewer_v17/in...