"Popular Coercion From Below" - César "che" Rodríguez on Why Oscar Grant Did Not Die in Vain

This is the conclusion of our discussion with César “che” Rodríguez (part 1 is here), who works as a faculty member of Race & Resistance Studies at San Francisco State University, is a rank-and-file union member of the California Faculty Association, and organized with Change SSF.

Here we get into the actual history of the murder of Oscar Grant, trigger or content warning on that discussion for folks. It’s not needlessly graphic, but it is descriptive of the events as they took place. Then we get into how various types of citizen journalism, movement journalism, organizing, protest, popular mobilization, and rioting broke the cycle of police impunity for a moment in time.

We talk about that, weigh the limitations of the so-called reforms put in place and think about implications for future struggles against the relentless scourge of police terrorism in this country.

We’re getting closer to our goal for the month of September, with just 5 days left in the month we’re 10 patrons away from it. Shout-out to all of our new patrons this month and to the folks who have been contributing for years. You can become a patron of the show at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism for as little as $1 a month or $10.80 per year.

Links:

https://www.indybay.org

https://sfbayview.com

“‘Oscar Did Not Die in Vain’ Revelous Citizen Journalism, Righteous/Riotous Work, and the Gains of the Oscar Grant Moment in Oakland, California” - The essay we're discussing in the episode