and they'll eat you too

Photo

Tue, 07 May 2013 18:47:07 -0400

Majestic Son

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:18:00 -0400

Majestic Son

Alameda sunset photo shoot.

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 14:11:31 -0500

Alameda sunset photo shoot.

Industrial Oakland decays.

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 13:22:01 -0500

Industrial Oakland decays.

Snippet

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 12:14:49 -0500

I’m well aware that editing is still needed, but here’s a snippet of a section from my thesis which deals with the common wisdom in Oakland that officers were recruited from the South in the 1950s and 1960s.

However staffing and the organization of the police force was wholly inadequate for the task. For years, rumors in Oakland have asserted that given the shortage of police officers during the war, OPD actively recruited southern whites into the force. This makes for a good argument because it explains the brutality and discriminatory policing of the force. This rumor, however, is only half true.

As the Oakland City Charter contained language that restricted the department’s ability to recruit new police officers to those who lived in Oakland for at least five years, OPD and city officials claimed that the department was unable to expand fast enough to keep up with the local population boom.¹ To get past these restrictions, the department began recruiting volunteers from the community to what it termed “Auxiliary Police Squads” in 1945. These new volunteers would undergo the same training as officers and were given the full authority of normal OPD officers. While their tasks were menial in nature, the addition of these volunteers freed up officers to take care of more important duties.² However, such measures were only temporary and if the force was to continue its expanded duties due to the increased population, another stopgap measure would be needed. By 1948, city council members began questioning the restrictions placed on the department and claimed that the city would have to rewrite subsections within the City Charter. It was subsequently altered and the restriction expanded to allow any person who lived in the state for at least 5 years.³ Many of the subsequent recruits included white southerners who had migrated to the Bay Area during the war.

In 1943, responding to several high profile crimes in West Oakland, president of the West Oakland Improvements Association and other prominent black business leaders demanded that the city hire more African American officers to help belay crime.⁴ The city responded by hiring two black officers, Adrien C. Bridges and Leon Daniels, to temporary positions as duration officers.⁵ Despite this initial hiring of African American officers, OPD continued to remain white and decidedly southern throughout the postwar period; so much so that in 1966 only 16 of the 617 officers on the force were black.

1Oakland Tribune, “Council Rejects Revised Police Residence Law.”

2Oakland Tribune, “Oakland to Employ 150 Civilian Auxiliary Police to Ease Shortage.”

3“Council Acts to Add Positions.”

4Johnson, The Second Gold Rush, 167.

5Murch, Living for the City, 39.

Krispy and Kreamy.

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 19:24:29 -0400

Krispy and Kreamy.

At Rest. (more)

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 10:08:00 -0400

At Rest. (more)

Photo

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 22:47:29 -0400

The Painted Desert.

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 10:18:14 -0400

The Painted Desert.

Birthday Boy.

Sat, 26 May 2012 17:11:30 -0400

Birthday Boy.

2012 Apoceclipse.

Mon, 21 May 2012 01:50:14 -0400

2012 Apoceclipse.

Mon, 21 May 2012 01:47:51 -0400

2012 Apoceclipse.

Photo of the flyer that was dropped at last night’s...

Sat, 05 May 2012 14:30:50 -0400

Photo of the flyer that was dropped at last night’s solidarity dance party.

Gender Rebels dance party that took over the streets in...

Sat, 05 May 2012 12:07:00 -0400

Gender Rebels dance party that took over the streets in solidarity with CeCe, Brandi, and all those arrested in Oakland. Banner reads: Oakland Rebels || Gender Rebels || FUCK OPD. See video of the event here.

Dancing on the riot line.

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:51:00 -0400

Dancing on the riot line.

Photo

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:50:00 -0400

ACAB.

Thu, 03 May 2012 11:43:20 -0400

ACAB.

One of the many small businesses in the downtown area that...

Thu, 03 May 2012 11:23:00 -0400

One of the many small businesses in the downtown area that supported the strike.

Shortly after the first volleys of teargas, the crowd...

Thu, 03 May 2012 11:18:59 -0400

Shortly after the first volleys of teargas, the crowd wasn’t having it.

Photo

Thu, 03 May 2012 11:09:36 -0400