Oakland and Berkeley Do Anti-Violence Themed First Fridays

Happy Saturday to all. There must have been tension about what to expect last night in Oakland. They have something called First Friday. A lot you probably have something like in your town. In Oakland, First Friday is literally the held on the first Friday of every month. It started in the city's growing arts community, but has broadened in other ways. On the first Friday of February in Oakland a young black man was shot and killed and three others were wounded. Never mind the reason, the violence was enough to douse enthusiasm for something positive in the city, and pile on to Oakland's nationally known reputation as a violent city.

First Friday went on as scheduled last night, but this time with more cops and fewer people. They tried to scare away the demeans of violence with homemade signs preaching peace, but that wasn't the first time the exasperated have pitted words against pistols. Complex underlying socio-economic reasons are causing the violence. So unless a sign can help solve hyper-unemployment, and a two-tier educational system, the only people acknowledging those signs as part of the solution, were the people who made or held them.  Oakland's First Friday may recover, but last night represented a step away from something Oakland was increasingly relying on as proof the city doesn't deserve its rep.

Having said that, another group of people marched and held signs in Berkeley last night. They too were protesting perceptions of evil, but their odds of succeeding are much longer than those of people living in Oakland. That's why when you look at what happened in Oakland on First Friday in February, you have to view it under in a larger context.