Oakland, Occupied

I’m not sure that Occupy Oakland will have any lasting political ramifications. Unlike Occupy Wall Street, the Oakland movement doesn’t have a list of demands. Truthfully, I think this is for the better: leaving the Occupation open-ended has attracted a broad swath of people from the community, each bringing their own concerns, experiences and resources. 

I know I haven’t spent that much time in Oakland, but while I’ve been here, I’ve seen how segregated the city typically is: black people in the west, Mexicans in the east, Chinese in Chinatown, white people by the lake. Occupy Oakland has upended that, bringing people together from across the city. You’ve never seen heterogeneity like this. We’ve got brown people, black people, white people, Black Panthers, Gray Panthers, squat kids, Ohlone, queer people of all types, ex cons, indigenous homeless, native Oaklanders and people off the boat from every goddamn place imaginable. We’re cooking food together, washing each others’ dishes, sleeping next to one another, and seriously communicating across cultural lines. Groups that never worked together are putting bickering aside because we’re all here in the same place, in the same struggle. 

If nothing else comes out of Occupy Oakland, at least we’ll know our neighbors better. It’s possible that this will do more to break down classism and racism and power dynamics in Oakland than any single demand or protest. There’s so much respect and learning going on at Oscar Grant Plaza. To me, this is powerfully revolutionary in itself.