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OAKLAND — Shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday, passing cars’ honks began to fill the air along Park Boulevard, and they sounded like encouragement and support.
At the corner of Park Boulevard and Wellington Street, Penny Rosenwasser wore a T-shirt that said “Black Lives Matter” and held a sign that said “Another white Jew says stop killing black people” on one side, and “George, Brianna, Ahmaud” on the back.
“All lives will matter when Black lives matter,” Rosenwasser said. “People are standing here almost every day. A lot of neighbors here are very concerned and upset about the white supremacy in this country. We’ve got to end it. We’ve got to defund the police. We’ve got to have a fair and just life for everybody.”
That interest animated Allan Brill, who co-founded Glenview Area Groups for Action shortly after the 2016 presidential election, and said sign-holders along Park began showing up daily June 3 and were likely to continue into the near future, shifting to specific days. He said about 600 people had participated so far, with as many as 300 on its first day.
“I would say Park Boulevard hasn’t been a hot spot for protest, but then again neither have the small towns across the country that are majority-white but are having Black Lives Matter protests on their streets,” said Brill, who also mentioned health concerns around protest.
“We can bring our children and grandchildren, everyone will wear a mask. If someone doesn’t, we can ask them to put it on,” he said. “It’s a gathering place for folks who might not want to put their fates in the hands of the Oakland Police Department or protesters that aren’t being cautious.”
Rosenwasser, who has lived in the Glenview neighborhood since 1992, said what drew her out Thursday wasn’t just the weeks of protest following the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
“A lot of organizers have been working for a lot of years to make this happen. This didn’t just happen. But I think George Floyd’s horrific death, you know, on video, being held down by policemen for eight minutes. […] That makes what happened to George Floyd resonate.”
Sarah Blain stood nearby with her daughter Audrey Byrne holding signs and waving at passing vehicles on Park.
“Last Wednesday, we just saw people walking by,” said Blain, who has protested with groups like Neighbors for Racial Justice on Saturdays at Fruitvale Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard.
“I think saying that it’s a wake-up call is sort of wrong because I don’t know why people have been asleep,” Byrne said.
Thaki Chowdhury said he came from his North Oakland home to join out of a sense of galvanization by events, felt similarly by friends.
“We realized we couldn’t just sit back and complain about something and not do anything about it,” Chowdhury said. “It wasn’t up to people in government or people that control the levers of power, it was up to each and every one of us to go out there, to show our solidarity.”
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.
