November 03, 2011 Mark Pritchard After watching this video a couple times, I noticed something. At 0:14, just to the right of the man in the white shirt holding a phone to his ear, a man in a wool cap and plaid jacket hurls something into the street -- presumably at the cops who are passing by. He retreats, then at 0:21-0:23 surges forward holding a camera phone. If this video is meant to show police brutality, it also seems to show this man throwing something at cops in an unprovoked manner, with the cops reacting to chaotic effect. Is this apparent ambivalence part of your pitch, i.e. part of your intentions for the project? Or is it something incidental to your intentions for the project?
@Mark - I can't speak for Susie. But I don't think the "apparent ambivalence" is part of her pitch. If you read over the pitch - what she is working on is an illustrated history of Occupy Oakland. She was the person holding the camera - not the person throwing something at the police. She is there collecting moments of history and will provide a kind of illustrated look at the Occupy Oakland movement when it's done. So again, I don't speak for Susie - but I'd guess it's incidental.
@Mark I think Occupy Oakland is an incredibly complex story with many angles and gray areas. It's ambivalent by nature. That is why, given the recent police actions, I am rewriting the story and attempting to synthesize more of these complex details into a more complete picture. The video is not "meant to show police brutality;" it is a document of my personal experience as a journalist covering an extremely chaotic event.
Thanks, I appreciate your response.
Hi Susie, First of all I think what your doing is phenomenal and were I not at around the bottom 13 percent or so of the 99 percent I would happily donate money to your creativity. I can't wait to see it when when it's done. Though that is not completely why I'm writing this. My name is Brett, I'm a 26 year old Occupy supporter from NY and have been to Liberty Plaza for a couple nights with plans on going to support Occupy Albany in the near future. I have closely followed the movement with live stream and youtube, and have several friends who are also participating. I'm a writer,*of sorts* and have been trying to support the movement by sending letters, usually to the media for spreading misinformation or censorship against Occupy. Anyway now that I'm not a nameless internet troll getting to the point:
I read about what happened to you when you were arrested on the Guardian website and it shocked me. There have been numerous instances of police abuse throughout the country, but this was truly despicable. If you were ok with it, I wanted to ask you about your experiences. As I said I am trying to write letters of support for Occupy in my spare time. As you may know the Oakland PD has been under federal scrutiny since 2003 for their many day to day abuses, long before Occupy existed. If you were curious here's the news link - http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13115
I was considering writing a letter to the official who heads the court currently charged with keeping tabs on the OPD, detailing to him or her many of the crimes that police department and it's neighbor Alameda have committed against citizens. And I don't just mean the tear gas but the standard practices of intimidation they seem to be typically treat women protesters with. I'm not sure how much this will help but I do mean to at least try to raze awareness to these officials if nothing else and perhaps send the letter elsewhere in the hope more will read it. What they did, how you were treated was outrageous. I'm not sure what actions you have taken against these corrupt police, but I would love to help a little, if I could.
Sorry for writing so much, I just didn't know of any other way to get in contact with you. If you wanted to talk with me on facebook chat or just send emails that would be cool. If you don't, that's alright as well. Just respond on here and let me know. - Brett from NYC
Hi Brett, You can reach me at susie.cagle at gmail. Thanks!
