The City has to get it together if we’re going to stop violence on the streets. Saturday Oakland cancelled a concert co-sponsored by Ella Baker Center and our Silence the Violence campaign. The City of Oakland and the Oakland Police Department shut down an event expected to draw hundreds.
Nicole Lee speaks out in this article from the Oakland Tribune:
Anti-violence rally canceled over safety concerns
Oakland officials cite lack of permit, police presence
By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND — Citing concerns about public safety, city officials Friday canceled an anti-violence rally and concert expected to draw 300 to 400 teenagers and young adults to downtown Oakland.
“Get Hyphy Against Violence,” featuring nine musical acts and testimony from victims of violent crime, had been scheduled to take place today at City Hall Plaza, but did not have the required special event permit or adequate security, officials said.
Police commanders said they were concerned that, without enough officers, the anti-violence rally could backfire and create a melee similar to one that erupted after the last Carijama festival, held on City Hall Plaza in 2004.
“It’s honorable what they are trying to do, and we’re not saying it will be violent,” said Niccolo De Luca, assistant to City Administrator Deborah Edgerly. “But because of the public safety concerns, we decided it was best to cancel it.”
Hyphy is a form of hip-hop native to Oakland and the East Bay that uses deep bass lines as a foundation, and is inexorably linked to sideshows, as well as alcohol and drug use.
Nicole Lee, political director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, an event co-sponsor, said hyphy “gets a bad rap” but is also about celebrating life.
Lee said cancellation of the rally and concert is another broken promise that fuels the frustration which often leads to violence.
“There are not enough positive things for young people to do,” Lee said. “I know they were looking forward to expressing themselves at the concert.”
Nika St. Claire, one of the organizers, said she first notified city officials about the event two months ago and it had been granted all necessary permits.
De Luca said the event had only a sound permit allowing speeches on the plaza at City Hall, not music.
St. Claire said she was disappointed and disheartened by the cancellation. The rally and concert have been advertised on radio station KMEL and on 4,500 fliers distributed to all Oakland high schools.
“Something scared the Oakland Police Department about this event,” said St. Claire, executive director of Dreamcatcher, an organization that works with runaways and homeless young people.
Police commanders said they were first notified about the event Monday and did not have enough time to review event plans and determine how many officers would be needed.
St. Claire requested that the police keep a “low profile” during the concert and rally but commanders said the implication that officers were not welcome at the event concerned them, officials said.
In addition, De Luca said only two officers volunteered to police the event, far fewer than necessary.
St. Claire said organizers hoped teenagers and young adults would come to the event because of the rap music and have a positive experience that would prompt them to get involved in the fight against violence in Oakland.
As of Friday afternoon, 115 people had been killed in Oakland since the start of the year, 21 more people than were slain in all of 2005. About a third of the victims have been younger than 20.
“It would have been a very thoughtful event,” St. Claire said.
Members of the Street Ambassadors, a new youth network, will be on hand this afternoon to turn hopeful concert-goers away.
St. Claire said she was not sure if the event would be rescheduled.
