San Francisco Bay Area demonstration on Jan. 30. Urszula Wislanka for News & Letters.

Oakland, Calif.— On Jan. 30, a day of solidarity with the general strike in Minneapolis, many actions took place around the San Francisco Bay Area: businesses were closed, many demonstrations were organized, some almost spontaneously. 

A call for a demonstration at Fruitvale Bart station—accepted as one of the centers of Latine neighborhoods in Oakland, and also the site of Oscar Grant’s 2009 murder by BART police—was expected to be answered by 100-200 people. At least several thousand came! Many were youth who respected the strike and chose to participate rather than attend school. One young woman reported that only students who had scheduled rehearsals or other extracurricular activities went to her school that day.

YOUTH SPEAK LOUD AND CLEAR

Speakers were fired up, repeating not only their appreciation of immigrants, but the urgency to recognize everyone’s humanity. There were moments of levity, for example when one young woman ended her remarks with “Hot people melt ICE!” to great applause. But it was mostly a deeply serious event. One sign, held by an Asian woman, was a picture of the Japanese internment order with “Never again” written above it. My favorite sign, held up by a very young Black woman, read “Privilege is thinking something isn’t a problem because it doesn’t affect you personally.”

San Francisco Bay Area demonstration on Jan. 30. Urszula Wislanka for News & Letters.

On the way to the demonstration we passed a kindergarten where the children were drawing their NO ICE signs and practicing chanting “STOP ICE!” On the way from the demonstration we saw school after school completely empty. Pre-schoolers at a different facility lined up at the fence facing International Boulevard all holding their own “Stop ICE” signs. To cap it off, at a freeway overpass a protester hung a huge “VIVA FREE SPEECH & PRESS” sign in solidarity with Don Lemon, who was arrested at 11:00 PM the previous night for reporting on a protest. The sign was well received by motorists: there was almost continuous horn-honking in approval. 

Coming home, I was greeted by my neighbor—who got me involved in the Bay Resistance pod—saying she would like to have a serious discussion at the next pod meeting about facing the question I have been raising: That we not only react to daily horrible acts of cruelty and inhumanity by the government, but how we work out what are we for.

–Urszula Wislanka

San Francisco Bay Area demonstration on Jan. 30. Urszula Wislanka for News & Letters.

San Francisco Bay Area demonstration on Jan. 30. Urszula Wislanka for News & Letters.

San Francisco Bay Area demonstration on Jan. 30. Urszula Wislanka for News & Letters.

San Francisco Bay Area demonstration on Jan. 30. Urszula Wislanka for News & Letters.

San Francisco Bay Area demonstration on Jan. 30. Urszula Wislanka for News & Letters.

San Francisco Bay Area demonstration on Jan. 30. Urszula Wislanka for News & Letters.

San Francisco Bay Area demonstration on Jan. 30. Urszula Wislanka for News & Letters.

San Francisco Bay Area demonstration on Jan. 30. Urszula Wislanka for News & Letters.