Tell Oakland, CA to Uphold The People's Rights To Free Assembly

Mayor Quan, Administrator Santana, and Members of Oakland City Council,

I watched the City Cuncil meeting on Occupy Oakland last night and I must say I am very disappointed in the rhetoric and misrepresentations I heard from the mouths of public servants, in particular Administrator Santana and the chief of police.
I watched over a hundred people speak last night. The ratio of people in support of Occupy Oakland vs. those against was roughly 20:1. Over 20,000 people showed up for the General Strike on very short notice. This should indicate more than adequately that the people of Oakland overwhelmingly support Occupy Oakland and wish for it to stay.

Complaints were made by the chamber of commerce and members of the council that people are afraid to come to Oakland and businesses are doing poorly. I submit that this is not because of Occupy Oakland per se, it is because of media misinformation and smear campaigns on the one hand – some of the stories I have investigated myself and it was revealed that the news stations were twisting words to generate fear and distrust of the movement – and on the other hand, because the police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and concussion grenades into a crowd of peaceful protestors that were decrying the destruction of the first Occupy Oakland encampment. This crowd included children, pregnant women, elderly people and disabled people. It included Scott Olsen, who is still in the hospital with a brain injury caused by police officers under the command of our own lying chief of police.

You tore down the first camp and 5,000 plus people protested. You gassed them, and 25,000 people went on strike. Tear down the camp again and what will happen? Another massive protest. And another camp will be built. The plaint was raised that Oakland cannot support the tent city as it is now, the infrastructure isn’t there. Will it be there for a protest of 100,000? Will it be there for a tent city many hundreds of tents strong? That is what will happen if you do not take the wise course.
The money being wasted is being wasted by you, the members of the city administration, on police overtime to violate our First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly. This is not our fault; it is yours. This is not our choice, it is yours.

How many portapotties can a million dollars rent and maintain? How many extra dumpsters on the plaza grounds? How much would a safe kitchen setup have cost? This is poor decision making on the part of you, our elected officials. Our public servants.

You say you are part of the 99% but I do not believe that your hearts are with us. I believe that you are in the pockets of the big banks and the port, who are the main members of the chamber of commerce. I believe that you think that money outweighs peoples’ right to protest.

It does not.

This is bigger than you, bigger than all of us. Support us or get out of the way because we are not going to stop. We can keep building our movement long after you run out of money to violate our rights. The expedient thing to do is to let the people assemble. We are going to do it anyway.

So many other cities are allowing their Occupations to assemble and camp. Oakland should be the leader in this – Mayor Quan keeps saying how progressive we are. The people are progressive – the city government is a tool of the 1%. If this is not true, then prove it by putting your money where your mouth is and passing Nancy Nadel’s resolution. Otherwise we see where your loyalties lie, and it is not with the people of Oakland. It is with the money.

Sincerely,

Kerie Campbell
Co-founder, Occupy Oakland Children’s Village