Shortly before noon they gathered at Pacific and Cooper streets in downtown Santa Cruz, a dozen or so protesters, mostly college age. Two hours later they were still there under the white summer sun, holding crude homemade signs bearing slogans about racism and injustice.
The impetus, of course, was Thursday’s conviction of former BART officer Johannes Mehserle. The 28-year-old was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the Jan. 1 shooting of an unarmed black man, Oscar Grant, on an Oakland subway platform. He faces five years at a minimum. Protests in Oakland Thursday night grew heated, with vandals damaging 30 businesses. Oakland police arrested 78 people, three-quarters of whom had come from outside of Oakland.
Here in Santa Cruz, nothing of the sort was happening—just a lot of standing, a few congratulations from passersby and unenthused responses to a reporter’s questions. Article continues below slide show. Photos by Curtis Cartier.
“Mehserle’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter is an atrocious example of injustice and institutionalized racism,” said one young woman in dark glasses who declined to give her name. Asked who had organized the meeting, she shrugged coyly. “No organization,” she said. “Just social media.”
Tara, who didn’t give her last name but said she was from Santa Cruz, chimed in on the topic of institutionalized racism. “I think it’s a problem worldwide, but especially in America.”
Nearby, three cops leaned against the wall outside O’Neill’s and two others stood at the corner of Pacific Wave. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that officers were on top of the Cooper Building taking photos of the demonstrators.
“It’s an epic waste of taxpayer dollars,” Dark Glasses said of the police presence.
Santa Cruz police had steeled themselves for a possible repeat of the May 1 riots in downtown Santa Cruz, but Friday’s demonstration was uneventful. Around 2pm the only disobedience exhibited was by a late model sedan that made a right-hand turn from Pacific onto Cooper and drove into the wrong lane to get around a parking ticket cart. A female cop started from her spot against the wall. “Stop! You have to wait! You can’t just drive around them.” The car stopped, but the deed was done. It continued slowly down the street.
