By George Miller
Local militant rights group Todo Poder al Pueblo held its own version of a George Floyd protest this evening at Plaza Park in Oxnard, attracting hundreds of attendees- see Richard Linares Facebook live video: https://www.facebook.com/RichardLinares316/videos/10156813441576148/
They started in Plaza Park, then marched around downtown, with special attention to the Police HQ on C Street. The police were monitoring the event and described it as peaceful, but sometimes blocking roads in their march, as you can see in the video.
The group takes the position that police, including the Oxnard Police Dept. are racist & violent. They attribute deaths of several Oxnard residents to police racism. One was killed when he walked into the crossfire of an attack by gang members on policemen. The family settled for $6.7 million, plus promised police reforms and statements. Two died in custody. One was killed when she charged an officer with a knife, intoxicated, while he was responding to a domestic violence call.
Drone’s eye view:
Local community leaders such as former mayoral candidate Miguel Lopez, Manuel Herrera and Assistant Police Chief Jason Benites opposed the event in advance, because of its promised hostile and threatening nature. Lopez described the group as “agitators.” Hundreds of social media comments were mostly unfavorable, but they do have their constituency. While the event was peaceful, some of the rhetoric and signage were not, even calling for “revolution” and abolition/defunding of the police. We even saw “Cops + KKK go hand in hand.”
Oxnard Police Department
But it didn’t last. Look what they did after dark:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1268401154200760321
Event announcement:
Added 6-4-20- Police event summary: https://www.citizensjournal.us/oxnard-pd-statement-on-june-3rd-protest-event
6-4-20- Editor’s note: We see that some people took exception to the word “militant” in this article title referring to the sponsor, who we understand was Todo Poder al Pueblo. Let’s take a moment to see how that was arrived at:
Dictionary definitions:
mil·i·tant
/ˈmiləd(ə)nt/
adjective
- combative and aggressive in support of a political or social cause, and typically favoring extreme, violent, or confrontational methods.
“a militant nationalist”
A review of sponsor literature reveals pretty hard, even “militant” rhetoric, by that definition, demonizing the police and making broad accusations of racism, and addressing it by strong, even revolutionary methods. Even the event invitation is militant, featuring a banner with the words “COMBAT POLICE TERROR WITH REVOLUTION”. Those are strong words. Let’s see what they mean:
Dictionary definitions:
rev·o·lu·tion
/ˌrevəˈlo͞oSH(ə)n/
noun
- a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favor of a new system.
-
1.extreme fear.“people fled in terror“
-
the use of terror to intimidate people, especially for political reasons; terrorism.“weapons of terror”
-
a person or thing that causes extreme fear.“his unyielding scowl became the terror of the Chicago mob
-
-
the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.“the fight against terrorism”
Now keep in mind that the group is not just accusing individual officers of that, but all police and seemingly all white people of racism and silence in either supporting it or allowing it to happen. We do not think that most of the event attendees are on board with all of that. If the sponsor doesn’t want to be considered militant, then maybe it should modify its rhetoric and modus operandi- their call.
George Miller is Publisher/Co-Founder of CitizensJournal.us and a “retired” operations management consultant residing in Oxnard.
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Blocking traffic is not “peaceful”. It’s an illegal, and provably dangerous, seizure of citizen’s rights. The organizers claim they are justified in blocking their fellow citizens because “their inconvenience is not as important as our message.”
The First Amendment entitles citizen ONLY to “peaceably assemble.” Anything else is un-American. This protest wasn’t “mostly peaceful,”, because the vast majority of the protesters blocked the streets. Under the law, that’s violence. That the OPD didn’t enforce equal protection for all citizens under the law is to their shame.
Greg, did you read the headline? “Militant Rights Group Protests in Oxnard”. Why were they called “militant”. Comprehension:confusing!
Read the dictionary definitions of “Militant” and “Revolution” in the Editor’s note at the end of the article. Should help eliminate the confusion.
Look at the title and the first sentence.
“COMBAT POLICE TERROR WITH REVOLUTION.”
LOL- nothing militant about that, huh? Just what are they teaching the kids in what passes for schools?
I have seen no violent protests in the coastal cities of Ventura County. Labeling groups as “militant” without a basis for it (and more to the point, providing sourcing for such a label) is hyperbolic and potentially inflammatory in the current environment. I strongly encourage better reporting, complete with full picture instead of half-measures.
As Matt O wrote, please re-examine the views posted in this article.
This article is a staunch misrepresentation of the peaceful civil rights protests that took place. The lack of cited material and clear bias represented here is a real miscarriage of journalism.
Did you actually read the article, describing the peaceful protest, accompanied by multiple videos?
The article specifically says that the demonstration was a peaceful protest. I was there for just the first part of it at the park and it was. I didn’t hang around for the vandalism afterward. Part of the speeches that I could hear and most of the signs were OK, some were misguided and some were downright scary.
Some idiot was dissing Trump for being “racist,” which is absurd. Our President, and yours, too, whether you like it or not, has done more to actually help black people than his several immediate predecessors.
I think that the majority of people there were good and sincere, from what I saw and heard. I didn’t see any errors in the article. If you don’t agree with the single word “militant,” then you need to ponder whether advocating “revolution,” demonizing the police and white people are at all “militant.”
Sorry, but I have watched the Poder group for years and it does not help unify us at all. Fortunately, most of the attendees did not appear to be of that ilk.
Citizens Journal is a right wing rag posing as journalism in order to promote conservative propaganda in the local community.
Simpson: Are you are a left wing bot posing as a human? This article didn’t seem very Conservative at all. If it was, it would have pointed out some of the absurd propaganda and erroneous implicit assumptions behind some (not all) of the signs and oral rhetoric.
The killing of Floyd was abominable, but to indict all police and all white people for it is absurd, unfair and highly divisive.
As a former journalist, the stories I’ve read here are balanced reporting.
If you’re looking for opinions and propaganda passed off as “news,” watch any mainstream channel/read any mainstream newspaper.
I see a small, peaceful assembly in protest of police violence both nationally and locally. Putting “militant” in the headline is either clickbait or deliberate misinformation, or both. Please consider a correction.
This story in inaccurate and portrays the peaceful protesters as militant. The Marchers had no weapons and just want the same rights and opportunities as white people. Whoever wrote this take, please reexamine your views.
Matt- there is not a single word in the story that portrays the peaceful protesters as “militant.” Don’t they teach reading comprehension in your intermediate school?