"As the march wound around Lake Merritt, it turned sharply to the left, a shortcut to BART headquarters. This seems to have thrown off the police, who were clearly unprepared for what came next. A single police car, parked sideways at 8th and Madison to prevent access to the BART headquarters, became the target of the crowd’s increasing fury. Sensing the tone of the crowd, a cop reached in and grabbed her helmet before scurrying away. Within moments, the police car was destroyed and nearly flipped over, and a nearby dumpster was burning.

A few seconds later, the air was thick with teargas. Evidently, seeing their own property destroyed was too much for the police to stomach. I get a noseful of teargas, and a protester near me is shot in the stomach with a rubber bullet, and needs to be helped off, as the crowd quickly sprints north toward downtown. Passing through Chinatown, dumpsters full of fresh produce are emptied into the street to slow the march of a line of riot police."

(Oakland Rebellions, January 7th, 2009.)

I love what you've done with light in this drawing.

it's a really great painting;Lake Merrit is in Oakland,or Berkely,I think.I know Oakland just had riots,lately,and they called out the troops to mash em.People are all saying"there's going to be huge race riots,and race wars,blacks against white,and civil war in the future of the US." unfortunately,people who say this are not stupid,they're smart.--good at predicting stuff.So,the future of the US does not look rosy at all.Course,if they did this in Oregon,the white people,civilians,would all get their rifles and handguns out,cause we all own guns here,and you do not even need a license.--not to keep one at home. And now,if someone burglarizes you here,now,since the crime is so bad here,they just shoot the burglar,and kill him,cause the criminal courts are all f____ up. Nobody wants a wounded crip wandering around,out of prison,ready to come back and get you,some night!or,one of his gang. So,there may be more paintings like this and more photographs,too.Hope not.

Interesting. I'm white and I spent a lot of time handing out Oscar Grant fliers to people who were mostly working class blacks, yet I didn't run into anybody who was apprehensive about me. In fact, most people expressed they were very excited and relieved to see whites getting involved.
When it came down to the recent, second wave of rebellions you are talking about--where dozens of bank windows and businesses were smashed (and which I attended). I did not feel at any point feel threatened by the people around me. Instead, I felt an electrifying feeling of unity; the feeling of collectively becoming actors within the evolution of a multi-racial social struggle--and also a feeling of great relief because so many people are hungry--starving--for a genuine racial unity.
Nobody talked about it as a "race riot", and I have never heard anybody in Oakland of any race say that's what they want.
On the other hand, there were people I was very wary of at the protest. From the beginning of the event, (well before all the property destruction) as I watched a policeman carelessly back his car into a deaf woman, it was abundantly clear the police were there to "serve and protect" somebody else.
Somebody who wasn't us.
And that's the reason we were all in the streets in the first place, isn't it?

To me, this painting of a photograph represents the evolution of a multi-racial class struggle which--if it got strong enough--could overturn a system which excludes us all.
I hope there are more of them soon.