The longshoremen’s union kicked off a day of renewed protests in the Bay Area, shutting down the Port of Oakland for speeches by famed civil rights activist Angela Davis and actor Danny Glover, a San Francisco native. The action was in coordination with the closure of 29 West Coast ports. In San Jose, several protests were anticipated to celebrate Juneteenth, which commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved Americans in Texas learned of the Emancipation Proclamation, which had set them free two years prior.
The marches come after three weeks of sustained demonstrations against racism and police violence in the Bay Area, which was sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than 8 minutes, and Breonna Taylor, a Black emergency room technician, shot to death in her own home in Louisville, Kentucky, by police officers who forced their way in with a no-knock warrant.
The protests have already moved the conversation around policing in the Bay Area. Menlo Park’s police chief announced his retirement during a town hall meeting where residents called out unequal treatment for residents of color, saying he had “lost the trust of the city council.” And in San Leandro, the city council voted earlier this week to pull $1.7 million from the city’s police budget.
Follow this live blog for regular updates of protests and marches throughout the Bay Area:
Update: 1:45 p.m. — Oakland crowd marches to city hall
A jubilant crowd of marchers made their way down Broadway toward city hall, lead by motorcycles — including some members of the legendary East Bay Dragons, the Bay Area’s first black motorcycle club. After a moment of silence on 7th Street and Broadway in memory of people killed by police officers, the march resumed with chants of “no justice, no peace.”
In front of Oakland’s city hall, a couple of dozen drummers played in front of protesters, and elsewhere marcher’s played remixes of “Blow the Whistle” by Oakland rapper Too $hort.
Thousands march during the West Coast Port Shutdown held at the SSA Terminals in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, June 19, 2020. #BlackLivesMatter #oakland #GeorgeFloydProtests #blm @EastBayTimes
#ICantBreathe #protests2020 pic.twitter.com/WdbljQN3jW— Jose Carlos Fajardo (@jcfphotog) June 19, 2020
That mood matched the feeling in San Jose, where speakers in front of city hall decried over-policing of Black Americans.
“I’m here because Juneteenth is a celebration. I want this to be joyful. I want this to be fun,” said rally organizer Adia Hoag. “This year I think it’s even more resonant because people are paying attention. Normally it would be a block party, this is a citywide party.”
YouthHype’s LaToya Fernandez: “When black and brown kids are acting up in schools, they’re responding to trauma that comes from systematic racism. So when you lock them up, what’s you’re saying is the ‘what’ is more important than the ‘why.’” #sanjose #JuneteenthDay pic.twitter.com/yOM6bcVkzQ
— Maggie Angst (@MaggieAngst) June 19, 2020
Update: 1:00 p.m. — Activists and civil rights leaders rally at the Port of Oakland and in downtown San Jose
Addressing a crowd of a few thousand from her dark grey Mini Cooper, activist, college professor and philosopher Angela Davis praised the International Longshore and Warehouse Union for their port work stoppage. She spoke from her car wearing a mask to maintain social distance, and union leaders monitored the crowd to make sure participants kept on their masks.
“We are still on the long road to freedom,” she said. “Whenever the ILWU takes a stand, the world feels the reverberations.”
Davis, who has long written about prison abolition and spent time in jail after being wrongfully charged with kidnapping and murder, said Juneteenth was a time to “renew our commitment to the struggle for freedom.”
“Yes to abolishing the police as we know them, reimagining the meaning of safety and security,” she said.
Actor Danny Glover called in to the protest, urging young protesters to “use this power and get it done. It’s not going to be tomorrow, it’s not going to be next month, it’s going to be a long time.”
Meanwhile, about 100 protesters on bicycles gathered in West Oakland with plans to gather downtown, where other protesters were playing music and setting up water stations ahead of anticipated demonstrations.
In the South Bay, about 100 people gathered for a Hype the Youth rally outside the Santa Clara County building against the incarceration of young people. Speakers included a formerly incarcerated person, a local community education activist and a student whose Milpitas High School teacher wore blackface to school late last year to imitate rapper and activist Common.
Check back on this page for regular updates
