“Burners Torched Over Native Party,” Music, 4/1
An Opportunity Missed
The intention of this letter is not to further fan the flames of the
conflict that has arisen over Visionary Village’s party theme “Go
Native” but rather to express concern and disappointment in the East
Bay Express for allowing such a slanted, inaccurate, dismissive,
and historically ignorant article to be published in your paper, hidden
in the April Fools issue. While the article thoroughly chronicled the
“lecturing,” “blasting,” and “excoriation” of the young Visionary
Village representatives, it does little to uncover the reason behind
the anger expressed by Native American and allied non-native community
members. This lack of understanding, and apparent lack of interest in
understanding why fifty or more Native American people would take five
hours out of their Saturday evenings to speak to a gathering like this,
highlights the very ignorance that angered people in the first
place.
The dispute is depicted as though some foolish youth made a simple
mistake and were then forced to endure strict punishment that
outweighed the original infraction. However the “go easy on them”
sentiment expressed by the author seems to only extend one direction.
It is not easily disputed that this country was founded on the genocide
of Native American communities. And while Native Americans in this
country continue to face the calculated cultural genocide of
relocation, destruction of sacred lands, poverty and marginalization,
they are expected to take lightly the further dismissal of their human
rights by flattening their lives into party themes akin to aliens,
cartoons, and fire dragons.
Regardless of the direction the party planners intended their party
theme of “Go Native” to take, there must be some responsibility taken
by the planners for its contribution to the pervading racist
stereotypes of Native Americans common in this country. The article
failed to recognize the tremendous restraint and compassion from the
Bay Area Native community in generously taking time out to address this
oversight with Visionary Village and instead depicted the “real
Natives” as hyper-sensitive or over-reacting.
Where are the hordes of outraged people asking Peabody Coal Company
or Newmont Mining Corp to “go easy on ’em” as they destroy the
ancestral homelands of the remaining Native Americans who have survived
over 500 years of genocide? In addition to the historical facts of
small-pox blankets, massacres of men women and children, broken
treaties, Indian Schools, and relocation, the current struggles Native
Americans face were not researched and presented as essential
background information for the outrage at being dismantled and
romanticized into a “four directions” party theme. Without this
information, the anger expressed at the event cannot be understood. It
is irresponsible for East Bay Express to publish such an
inflammatory, unprofessionally researched article.
The Visionary Village’s party theme was a narrow-minded mistake. In
all of the web wars that have resulted from this mistake being brought
to Visionary Village’s attention, little has been done to educate
themselves to understand the Native American community’s perspective,
accept responsibility and apologize for the obvious ignorance, and move
on to a place of greater understanding and true support for one
another. This article did nothing more than provide a platform for
further distortion of the facts by yet another unaccountable
contributor to this growing conflict. East Bay Express reporters
should accurately cover the history behind the anger, giving a balanced
coverage of the tears and frustration on all sides, as well as offering
solutions such as supporting the ongoing struggles of Native American
communities like the Western Shoshone to defend their sacred places
from Barrick Gold Corporation. How many Emeryville residents know they
are living on sacred Ohlone ground where developers destroyed a shell
mound and named a mall after it? The East Bay Express can spread
awareness of the Shell Mound Walk that happens each year and provide
links to for concerned people to get involved at websites like VallejoIntertribalCouncil.org,
BSNorrell.blogspot.com,
and BlackMesaIS.org. The article
also failed to cover the greater awareness and responsibility that is
now being held by courageous and humble non-native individuals who
stopped defending their ignorance, and have benefited from this wake up
call.
Conflict can serve to transform peoples’ understanding dramatically.
Though the article represents a missed opportunity for that
possibility, further pieces that delve deeper and honor the wisdom and
experience of Native voices might perhaps offer some remedy to the
oversights and misrepresentation in the article that was printed.
A group of Native and non-native allies concerned with holding
the community accountable for acts that perpetuate racism
“Agent Provocateur,” Feature, 4/8
Valrey Is Responsible
This is the problem with Oakland: White cop shoots and kills black
male, riots ensue. Black male kills four cops and is considered a hero
by some. On the surface to the untrained soul, the five deaths appear
to be about skin color but underneath it all there is a spiritual
conflict between good vs. evil, compassion vs. aggression and love vs.
hate.
Hate is merely energy, a vibration. It doesn’t care what skin color
you are and like a disease it seeks a host. It’s apparent that hate has
found a hospitable home in the heart of JR Valrey. If Oakland learned
to love more there would be less space for hate. JR Valrey is adding
fuel to the already burning fire and is just as responsible for the
anger and hatred that thrives in Oakland. He’s no better than the
system he claims to hate.
[name withheld by request, Berkeley]
Living Up to the Title
As far as I’m concerned JR is indeed an agent provocateur and I can
site several instances of his reactionary actions. Firstly, he was with
me on 9/11 in New York, actually we were in Newark watching the twin
towers fall from our hotel window. JR interviewed me with the twin
towers in the background. He has refused to give me a copy of this
footage. I asked community brothers to intervene but to no avail. I
have wanted to give him a beat down, but how would that look —
Marvin X beats down youth he’s supposed to be saving. Anyway, we then
go down to Broad and Market where an agent is awaiting us. As I
interviewed people while JR filmed, the agent followed us inch for
inch, toe to toe. When we moved up the street, he moved with us. When
we crossed the street, he crossed with us. I think JR told this agent
to meet him/us there. Again, JR has this footage and has refused to
give me a copy of my and his work. Then when we return to the Bay a
friend of mine was approached by some black Muslims who told him I had
been saying some things about the Muslims and he should stay away from
me. Now the only person I was talking with about Muslims was JR on the
plane to New York. I don’t know if he was bugged or not, but only JR
could have told the Muslims what I said.
Also, JR has been recording important events for years but has not
released the tapes, such as the Tupac Conferences, thus is guilty of
withholding information, which is why I call him the Minister of
Misinformation. He has also taken pictures of me at events with other
radical brothers but when the pics appeared in the Bay View, he
had cut me out of the picture. This I call the sin of omission or
Misinformation.
He has tried to provoke me into kicking his ass on several occasions
in the public but I have resisted because I know he is a sick puppy on
a mission from the devil.
Most importantly, his calls to Bey IV on the morning of Chauncey’s
murder must be explained, otherwise we can only think he was involved.
How can he say he was Chauncey’s friend when he is on the phone talking
with the murder suspects in front of Chauncey’s house a few hours
before the murder? If he were Chauncey’s friend, why didn’t he inform
Chauncey about what was getting ready to go down?
Again, my main fear has been of his association with Chairman Fred
Hampton Jr., that JR would set him up as the agent set up his father,
Fred Hampton Sr.
I am happy he has been exposed. Maybe the devil is setting him up
for disposition. Perhaps he has outlived his usefulness.
Lastly, Attorney Walter Riley, lawyer for Paul Cobb and the
Oakland Post, informed me he received a phone call from JR
threatening him to not write negative stories about the Bakery. If JR
was a friend of Chauncey’s why would he make calls on behalf of the
murder suspects?
Furthermore, he was kicked out of Paul Cobb’s office for demanding
he replace Chauncey Bailey his so-called friend, but again, if he were
Chauncey’s friend wouldn’t he call to tell him there were murder
suspects parked outside his apartment? Instead, he’s in repeated phone
conversations with the suspects while they are parked in front of
Chauncey’s apartment. As my friend in DC says, “It just doesn’t make
sense!”
He was also kicked out of KPOO radio by Terri Collins when he came
in acting like he was going to take over the radio station. The boy is
a sick puppy and in serious need of a mental health program. He
believes in Revolutionary Suicide and thus wants someone to take him
out. He tried to provoke me on several occasions but I refused to kill
a dead fly that is already dead.
Marvin X, Berkeley
Throwing Blame
JR Valrey is quoted as saying “I did a very shallow
investigation.”
True indeed if he believes that foul-mouthed, divisiveness-fomenting
blamethrowing has improved life for anyone in the East Bay over the
last 40 years.
Sociologists doing a more-than-shallow investigation looked for any
factors that were meaningful in predicting whether a kid was likely to
grow into a violent felon or a drug-abuser. Across ALL LINES of race,
economic status, gender, and educational background, they found exactly
one meaningful factor: growing up in a home without a father.
Oakland’s cops neither force teens to get pregnant nor force males
to abandon their offspring.
If Valrey were more interested in our community than in his own
glorification, he’d use his pulpits to address that very real
problem.
David Altschul, Berkeley
Going Where the Mainstream Won’t
Halfway into Benjamin Taylor’s radically un-revealing portrait of a
reporter as a news-bit curiosity, a little of his journalistic creed
comes out: “[R]eporting the news,” he suggests, is properly a process
of “adher[ing] to the same journalistic standards embraced by
mainstream journalists,” whereas those who stray from the mainstream
can be categorized as ones who “have less interest in reporting the
news than in giving voice to the perceived underdog.” Well, Gary Webb,
the San Jose Mercury News reporter who broke the story on how
the CIA brought drugs to the inner city — and then lost his job
and career for doing so, even though no one could ever deny his basic
facts — was, I guess, according to Mr. Taylor’s division, just
one of those curiosities who perceived underdogs in this world. The
problem is, police brutality is brutally real, and has been so for
decades in Oakland, and we’re all supporting it with our tax dollars,
even the victims. The rage and fear of the police by youth and adults
in Oakland is also real — because nothing has been done about
police violence since at least the Black Panthers organized to bring
about some change but were instead targeted by local political leaders
as terrorists for putting forward possible solutions like real
accountability to the community. Working with Oakland youth for a year
and a half, I have heard countless stories of surprising disrespect,
routine misconduct, and even killing by Oakland police — yet
these stories barely get a blip in the mainstream news if they weren’t
caught on camera. I certainly think JR Valrey is deeply mistaken to
suggest there was anything heroic about Lovelle Mixon’s killing of four
police officers, but I deeply appreciate his reporting which has
brought to me eyewitness accounts, for example, of the police shooting
of unarmed 17-year-old Gary King not long ago in North Oakland. Two of
the young people I have worked with knew Gary, and one of them actually
witnessed the shooting himself — and likely still suffers PTSD
from the event as a consequence, not to mention the effect such
witnessing has on his view of his own life’s possibilities. I’ll
continue to subscribe to the SF Bayview to find news that
goes where the mainstream media won’t: for example, into the lives of
Oakland youth.
Jonas LaMattery-Brownell, Oakland
Editor’s Note
Actually, Gary Webb’s “basic facts” are highly disputed and many
were retracted by the San Jose Mercury News.
Promote Peace
After having read Benjamin Taylor’s Feature, I must say that it is
amazing to me how a “Reporter” can easily capitalize on a trajedy such
as the death of the four police men and a young man who died in the
Bart station for deflecting wrongful acts to distorting them as justful
ones for equal rights. In my opinion, Mr. Valrey needs to go and live
in third world countries especially in India where his predecessor,
Martin Luther King became enlightened with using “nonviolence” as the
ultimate tool for the obtainment of human justice. At least Mr. Valrey
admits to have capitalize on the vulnerability the public displays to
the media. Proposition 8 is a good example of this type of distortion.
When has one have to think on saying “Yes” meaning “No”? As I read his
comments and his association with Yusuf Bey IV with another entity, the
UHURU organization, I can only say that they are no different then the
men who rape the women and young girls in Africa as a substitute of
using expensive artillery as a form of winning their battles. If Mr.
Valrey and his affiliates are in deed for human justice for the people
of color, then they would adopt Martin Luther King’s messages and be
proactive in enhancing peace and education. Look how far Mr. King’s
message has gone compared to “Tookie” Williams and Leonard “Deadeye”
McKenzie’s messages. One cannot compare the type of energies that
derive from these parties. My message to all of you, Mr. Valrey, Vey
IV, and the UHURU folks: Become proactive in education and peace.
Education is what qualifies one to the opportunities that get
encountered throughout one’s life. As adults, we are the curators for
our children in this world.
Elsa Monroe, Oakland
Corrections
The April 22 Full Disclosure, “Measure Y and the Oakland Budget
Mess,” used out-of-date figures to describe how much Measure Y produces
in annual revenues for the City of Oakland. According to Mayor Ron
Dellums’ 2009-11 budget, Measure Y, which pays for community policing,
some fire department services, and several anti-violence programs, is
expected to generate about $20 million in annual tax revenues for each
of the next two years — not about $12.5 million, as the story
stated.
