Remembering Oscar Grant, Political Prisoners
Operation Small Axe DVD Release Party w/ Emory Douglas
A night with the iconic artist Emory Douglas and the screening of Operation Small Axe documentary set the tone for National Anti-Police Brutality Day over the weekend.
Documentary Operation Small Axe highlights the anti-sentiment that Oakland residents have towards the Oakland Police Department and goes as far as describing the City of Oakland as a “war torn prison state.”
“The police have been so vicious and so brutal to our black brothers in this society,” stated the documentary’s producer, Adimu Madyum.
The documentary hosts a series of revelations including the state of neutrality the black Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and city officials have taken, the mainstream media downplaying the significance of the possible martyr Lovelle Mixon who killed four police officers a few months after the death of Oscar Grant, the slaying of DeAndre Brunston and the fight journalist JR is facing to drop charges that claim he was participating in the Oakland city riots while in actuality he was reporting on the event.
The fact that former Black Panther and Minister of Culture, Emory Douglas and the grandson of the influential Malcolm X, Malcolm Shabazz were in attendance added to the importance of holding the police accountable for brutality against African American men in particular.
“Its unfortunate that we are still fighting for the same thing that my grandfather was fighting for during the civil rights era,” said 26-year-old Shabazz. “But at the core of the police system there is still bigotry and racism.”
If one ever doubted that the cops have very little disdain for black youth all confusion was cleared up when the documentary clipped to the scene of the tragic murder of Deandre Brunston, 24, that was caught on tape. Brunston’s standoff with the police, on August 24, 2003, lasted about 20 minutes before they released a dog to attack him, when Brunston threw a shoe at the dog the police began shooting. He was shot 22 times and a few bullets hit the police dog as well. The backward and inhumanity of the police force allowed for the police dog to be airlifted in an emergency helicopter while Brunston was left to die. You can see in the video that Brunston was still moving after the police shot him. His aunt, Keisha Brunston was never released from the back of the cop car to calm him to down or make him surrender. She has been present in the Oscar Grant case and has supported the family through the trail.
“Stop killing us,” said JR in reference to police brutality. “We want police to know that we are watching them and we are holding them accountable.”
The night ended with revolutionary artist, Emory Douglas, providing commentary and insight into his prolific drawings during his time with the Black Panther newspaper. He also spoke about artivism, defining a political agenda by the means of art. He put emphasis on the fact that Black Panthers were all over the world in places such as Israel, Australia and New Zealand. He explained why he depicted the police as pigs and cleared up the myth that the Black Panthers were not against all white people but the racist police system.
“We shall survive without a doubt,” “Freedom on my mind,” and “all power to the people” were just a few slogans that were emblazoned on Douglas’ colorful pieces depicting the struggle that black people went through in every day life.
Douglas got started in the Black Panthers while attending rallies at San Francisco State University and City College of San Francisco where he studied commercial art, art geared toward advertising. He remembers learning from one of his professors that “you should be able to draw in a way that a child will understand.” Instead of going a route that some commercial artists go by advertising cigarettes or alcohol Douglass chose a righteous path of arming people in low-income neighborhoods with knowledge as he provided kids with clothing and free vegetables. Children are representative quite often in Douglas’s artwork.
“The Black Panther Party was formed to defend our community and put a stop to police atrocities,” said Douglas during his presentation. “Currently, our black youth are still marginalized and unable to get a job so they are doing what they have to do to survive.”
The evening took place at the Twin Space Continuum at 17th and Mission on October 22, 2010.
