Citation: "Affidavit#2: Shoot-Out in Oakland" -Eldridge Cleaver (link)
This is the first non-fiction piece I am writing notes on this semester for this class. Its about Oakland shootings and the police brutality toward The Black Panthers and their movement.
Affidavit: a written sworn statement of fact under an oath of law. In this case, Cleaver is describing his experience of the Oakland shoot-out. His goal is justice for the murder of Little Bobby.
The entry starts off already on a sour note. Cleaver states that he is almost certain that the shoot-out was in direct attempts to "sabotage the Black Community Barbeque Picnic" (97). He backs this up by events in the past in which the cops or "pigs" would rip down fliers of the picnic or come up with rules to deter the event. He also provides insight on previous events in which the police have tried to ruin campaigns by accusing people of murder without proof.
This affidavit is Anti-Cop and its brave for Cleaver to write this to a jury, especially with what was going on at the time. It was the a time of racism and revolution, and African Americans were standing together and protecting each other. Even pre-shoot-out, Panthers never traveled alone, and during the shootout, they cared for each other.
I think this piece really shows how racism was shown in the police force at this time, and how hatred clouds judgement. These people were good people, supporting the community, but the cops tried to weaken their community standing,, and acted rashly and immorally, and the most important, unlawfully.
Its a shame that cops, people who we picture today as a representation of fairness and protection and truth can be the opposite.
I agree with you as far as the racism getting extremely heated. It was a dark time because this was a time when the African American society was building and wanting equality, but that bitterness kept building too. To an extent that an all blow out happens and innocent people end up suffering for the hatred on both sides.
ReplyDeleteIt is so interesting the detail that goes into this piece and I like how you point that out because it is a historical document giving the reader hard pieces of evidence of what the African American Community had to deal with.