57 years ago, October 30 1968, a bomb exploded at the office of Oakland lawyer and civil rights activist Donald Warden. Warden, the founder of the Afro-American Association and an early influence on the Black Panther Party, blamed "white radicals," while the BPP blamed the police
All twenty seven men were charged with mutiny that day. After a long and arduous legal battle, they had their convictions overturned by a military appeals judge
One of the twenty seven, Richard Gentile, was thrown in the stockade for being just eight hours AWOL just two days before the event for violating a post-wide restriction and joining the GI & Vets March for Peace
On the morning of the Oct 14, twenty seven prisoners broke formation from their work details and walked to the lawn floating "V-signs," singing "This Land Is Your Land" "We Shall Overcome." One of the demonstrators, Walter Pawlowski stood up and shouted out a series of grievances
Tensions mounted on October 11 when Richard Bunch was killed by a guard after jogging away from a shotgun work detail. The murder was quickly declared a "justifiable homicide." Agitated prisoners confronted guards that evening and rumors spread that they would burn the stockade
Stuffed into dilapidated cellblocks, the prisoner population (mostly consisting of AWOLs) drastically rose in the summer of ‘68. Incessant abuse from guards, two hour bathroom waits, and frequent suicide attempts were a few of the grievances prisoners voiced
57 years ago, October 14 1968, 27 prisoners at the Presidio stockade in San Francisco took part in a sit-down demonstration to voice grievances about the horrific conditions at the military prison. The Presidio mutiny resulted in one the longest courts-martial in U.S. history
Two years later, Santa Cruz joined Berkeley as the second American city to officially recognize Indigenous People's Day. It would be another two decades before more cities and the federal government would follow
The holiday began with a sunrise ceremony on Alcatraz, after which the American Indian Movement disrupted a planned reenactment of Columbus's landing. Later, hundreds gathered on Sproul Plaza where Indigenous rap group With0ut Rezervation performed
Dozens of organizations affiliated with Resistance 500, from the liberal Green Party to the radical Prairie Fire Organizing Committee. While the campaign to recognize Indigenous People's Day was active across the Bay Area, only the government of Berkeley was receptive
33 years ago, October 12 1992, the country's first officially-recognized Indigenous People's Day was celebrated in Berkeley. The holiday was planned by Resistance 500, a Native-led group that formed to protest upcoming celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Columbus's landing
Oakland soon established itself as the Occupy movement's militant edge, placing a much greater weight on anti-racist, anti-police, and anti-state politics than most other camps. Many participants had been active in the 2009 anti-police movement following the murder of Oscar Grant
Early in the afternoon, a group of Ohlone activists who had recently occupied Sogorea Te’, a sacred site in Vallejo, spoke: "This land isn't the city of Oakland's... it's not just Ohlone land anymore, it's all of our land, and we have the right to be here, to occupy this land”
14 years ago, October 10 2011, people inspired by the Occupy Wall St movement set up camp in Oakland's Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, which they immediately renamed Oscar Grant Plaza. The founding of Occupy Oakland was timed to coincide with Indigenous People's Day
14 years ago, September 17 2011, over 200 protesters set up camp outside the Bank of America building in San Francisco's Financial District in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. Occupy FDSF (soon renamed Occupy SF) was followed by camps in San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, and beyond
57 years ago, September 13 1968, a black powder bomb ripped through the Naval ROTC office on the UC Berkeley campus. This was just one of several attacks on the building that same year. Radical newspaper the Berkeley Barb responded with the headline "Berkeley Bombs Can Do Better"
51 years ago, September 11 1974, the Weather Underground bombed the Oakland office of the Anaconda mining company in retaliation for their "decisive role in the US-sponsored fascist coup in Chile" which occurred one year prior, shortly after the socialist Allende government nationalized copper mines
HOs UP PIMPS DOWN!
In 2013, the club closed its doors. Lusty Lady dancers, sex workers, and supporters held a theatrical funeral procession, parading through North Beach to celebrate their decades of work and struggle
With vastly improved working conditions, one workers said she felt that she "had died and gone to hooker heaven." In 2003, the club was turned into worker owned cooperative, and became known as the “World’s Only Unionized Worker Owned Peep Show Co-Op”
28 years ago, August 29 1997, after over a year of organizing, workers at The Lusty Lady in San Francisco officially unionized under the sponsorship of the Exotic Dancers Alliance and Service Employees International Union, becoming one of the only union strip clubs in the US
You can see footage from the funeral here:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=eYpn...
The Weather Underground coordinated bombings on three California Department of Corrections facilities on the day of Jackson's funeral, doing about $100,000 in damage in Sacramento, San Mateo, and San Francisco. In a communique, they quoted Jackson's call for "war without terms"
At the funeral, statements from organizers and incarcerated people from across the country were read by Bobby Seale, who remarked: "Love for the people is the love that is often paid for with life itself. Every soldier for the people knows this is what revolution is all about"
Jackson founded the San Quentin Branch while serving an indeterminate 1-year-to-life sentence for stealing $70 in 1961, during which he published his highly influential bestseller Soledad Brother, a foundational text in the prison abolition movement
54 years ago, August 28 1971, over 2,000 people attended the funeral of George Jackson, slain leader of the Black Panther Party's San Quentin Branch, at St. Augustine's Episcopal Church in Oakland. Jackson was killed 7 days prior by prison guards during an alleged escape attempt
Although the police claimed Denovo had been shot while charging them with her machete, autopsy reports showed that she had been shot in the back. Her death set off several days of rioting around People's Park, during which at least one police officer was beaten with a trashcan
The 19-year-old anarchist had become active in the fight to protect People's Park from development by the University. At the time of her death, she was awaiting trial on an explosives charge stemming from 1991 riots against the effort to construct volleyball courts in the park
33 years ago, August 25 1992, anarchist People's Park activist Rosebud Denovo was shot to death by police in the home of UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-lin Tien. She had broken into the house with a machete and a note reading "We are willing to die for this piece of land. Are you?"
Due to the work of his wife, Federika Newton, and the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, a bust of Huey was placed in the location where he was killed, and a portion of 9th Street was commemoratively named Dr. Huey P. Newton Way