October 10, 2011: 12 years ago, Oct 10 2011, activists inspired by the Occupy Wall St [...]
12 years ago, Oct 10 2011, activists 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 Early in the afternoon, a group of …
September 28, 1966: Hunters Point Uprising Begins After Police Murder
September 27 1966, a black 17 year-old teen, Matthew “Peanut” Johnson, Jr., was murdered by white SFPD officer Alvin Johnson in Hunters Point, sparking nearly five days of rioting and unrest known as the Hunters Point Uprising. Matthew Johnson was killed while fleeing a crashed, reportedly-stolen car in a ditch …
September 12, 1971: Alameda Sailors Organize Stop Our Ship for USS Coral Sea
52 years ago, September 12 1971, sailors stationed at Naval Air Station Alameda began a petition demanding that the USS Coral Sea aircraft carrier not deploy to Vietnam, escalating the Stop Our Ship movement begun by antiwar sailors in San Diego. Radical antiwar activity at NAS Alameda began the previous …
September 11, 1970: Gay Liberation Front begins picket of the White Horse Inn
54 years ago, September 11 1970, the Gay Liberation Front began picketing Oakland’s White Horse Inn after the iconic gay bar banned a number of GLF members and stopped them from distributing their newspaper on the premises. GLF soon won a number of demands from White Horse management. The Berkeley …
September 11, 1974: Weather Underground Bomb the Anaconda Mining Company in Oakland
50 years ago, September 11 1974, the Weather Underground bombed the Oakland offices of the Anaconda mining company in retaliation for their “decisive role in the US-sponsored fascist coup in Chile” one year earlier, after the socialist Allende government had nationalized copper mines.