Just got this from our guy Greg Lewis, who was there:
Peace all, On February 14th, 2008, Dead Prez with Umi, Sis Hailstorm, Alpha-P, DJ B-Girl, Project Mayhem, and two other DJs from Olympia (sorry, I can't remember their names) performed at Evergreen State College in Olympia. During Dead Prez's set, Olympia Police came in to the venue and arrested a black male, who was being accused by a white male of punching him and his girlfriend during a fight outside the venue approx. 30 minutes earlier. I didn't see the fight, I just heard about it. I was told by another student that the white male started it. Except for this incident, the actual show was completely peaceful! Everybody who took the stage was dope. Slap yourself right now if you missed it. ;)
The local media, specifically [FOX affiliate] KCPQ-13, and [Cox Television affiliate ] KIRO-7 has been claiming on television that Dead Prez told the crowd, in essense, to attack the police. THIS IS A LIE and A MAJOR DISTORTION! If you follow the link, you'll see that KIRO-TV in particular couldn't even get the group's name correct, let alone give complete and accurate details of what really happened.
M1 of Dead Prez specifically told the crowd, who were already shouting "cops are in the building" and "fuck the police" on their own, to "make sure the brotha was safe" and to "handle the situation responsibly". They then went back to doing their set. Once the police got the black male outside and into the car, the mostly white crowd of Evergreen students started chanting, "let him go!" and surrounded the car. They also shouted slogans denouncing capitalism and white supremacy. As more police arrived, more students started surrounding the car. I estimate the number at about 400, plus many onlookers; including alot of people with cameras. The police pepper sprayed a few people, myself included, and then tried to penetrate the ring of people around the police car. When they did that, people in the crowd started throwing rocks, garbage cans, etc. Then, a small group in masks ( I was told they were anarchists) bum rushed the car and opened the back door where the black male was seated in handcuffs. The police stopped the rush, and then announced they were leaving. Then more students surrounded the car, shouting "when he is free, you can leave!".
According to a witness near me ( I couldn't see so well, due to pepper spray in my eyes and more people joining the crowd near the car) the police opened the door, uncuffed the black male, and he walked away!
The police then started a hasty retreat. One officer and his car got separated from the group and he was pelted with objects until he ran over with his fellow officers. The crowd scooted the car away from the wall and then turned it over. The gas tank was punctured and the computer was taken out of it. Calls went out to open the trunk and take their weapons, but no one did. After the police left, some in the crowd started taking the car apart, while others tried to set it on fire. Olympia police returned and everybody started leaving and the police deployed more pepper spray.
End note: Before people outside of Seattle and the hip-hop scene start thinking this was just a bunch of 'drunk college kids' or 'outside agitators', keep in mind that at the tail end of last year, Evergreen students laid their bodies on the line in an attempt to stop shipments of war materials (like Armored Personel Carriers and Tanks) coming back from Iraq at the Port of Olympia, in an effort to do something direct and tangible to stop the war (as they saw it). At that time, police were accused of using excessive force, and the fall out from all of that hasn't really resolved itself yet; so many people are still very angry; I was told this by more than a few different people present last night. Someone else suggested that the students were attempting to assert community control over the police using direct action. Hopefully, a positive resolution can come from all of this that everybody can be at peace with.
Greg
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5 comments:
Hey Greg,
Just a few more things that happened to make your account complete.
When the suspect in custody was first taken out of the gym a group of students followed him and tried to gather more students.
An Evergreen housing student returned to the Dead Prez merch booth that I was working at and asked for dp's manager to make an announcement that they were arresting someone outside and that everyone needed to go outside. I was the one who really could hear what he was saying. I told him that it was a terrible idea and he had to stop immediately. Interfering with Police Services at a DP show in large #s, especially getting DP to rally everyone to do it, was just about the worst thing he could do for his community. Apparently he went to the front stage and tried the same thing (the DP responses you listed probably came from the same kid that was not thinking). Another student working the show told him something similar, like, get out of here.
I later noticed a bigger crowd of students leaving the gym. It was the kid, he had just gone around and rounded up students.
That seems to be where the core group of 25 kids came from that surrounded the cop car.
HERE IS THE BIG MISUNDERSTANDING, all of the other students really began to pour out because the show ended, duh. And I believe the estimate is more like 200, and a large amount of them were watching.
Awesome job.
Im compiling footage from every media outlet that covered this event, all the cellphone digicamera video picture content, we have a lot of footage from the hours that followed the riot as we cleaned up the mess all the assholes made and attended the press conference. We are setting up some more interviews with members of police services, student event security, and the events organizer. today we got about 30-40 minutes of footage of a conversation between all of DP and some of the event organizers including myself, and hopefully we will be able to include some of that footage.
Spread the word, lets get all the footage we can get.
Oh, and I think I found the stolen laptop, apparently it was kicked in half, which im sure will make the deputy happy due to its "secret" content. ive confirmed with police services that its broken, and im attempting to finish tracking it down this week... something tells me the radar shit is probably near by. Now that only leaves the $30,000 for the cop car: and if you ask me, I have no qualms having the authorities spread the cost of the damage amongst all those who fucked it up, instead of students who were made sick by this bullshit. anyway, i think as soon as the laptop and radar get back, everybody with footage of the cop car destruction should pass it on to me/us. It looks like there must be at least 3-5 different copies/versions.
Is it better to remain silent on this issue and choose to fuck hip hop in the name of protecting people who don't respect it enough to be smarter than this? and anyone who is not an idiot probably covered their face.
i would be impressed to see if even just 1 participant turned themselves in.
but news flash, you are going down either way...the lights were flashing like the superbowl and sooner or later they are going to start identifying people, especially with DNA tests.
that fucking riot has compromised so much for our community.
the least any fuck face can do is do themselves a favor and come forward, apologize, and start to rebuild our community and relationship with those who dedicate their lives to keeping students safe.
and best of all, then all that great footage of the roll over can be used.
and seriously, you anarchy symbol tagging mother fuckers, THE HIP HOP CONGRESS COULD HAVE TO PAY TO HAVE ALL OF THAT REMOVED.
you are all going fucking down, or just man up, and start moving on: you have created a ton of bullshit for dead prez(they lost their UPS show tonight) and have tons of bullshit press that been going out, you threatened the hip hop congress, and you fucked over the whole evergreen community.
just a thought. dont fuck with hip hop,
There's something lost in your enthusiastic encouragement for people to aid police in arresting protesters and rioters. What could it be, I wonder?
Oh yeah, an analysis. You have none. You just insult people and play into mainstream media's hands as portraying the riot as mindless destruction. Original perspective.
Any attempt to reduce the actions of a large, diverse crowd to a single motive or state of mind is overly simplistic. As noted in the original post -- and in some of the commentary that acknowledges the ongoing turbulence between students living on campus and the Evergreen police in recent months -- AND the belief of some participants that the arrest was a product of racial profiling...I believe the riot was in part a legitimate act of political rage and frustration. Yet still others were caught up in the moment, perhaps having drank too much before the show. Yet others may have simply been reacting to being pepper sprayed, shoved and hit with police batons.
In other words, don't oversimplify the motives and intentions of the crowd involved in the event by reducing it to a matter of X.
Having listened to Dead Prez for many years, I will say that I'd be somewhat surprised and completely done with the group (politically and musically) if they did not support the riot. Otherwise their politics prove hollow and hypocritical. I'm interested to hear/read your interview footage with DP to see what their perspective is.
Account of event from Seattle Indymedia:
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2008/02/264735.shtml
From The newspaper in Olympia:
http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/360206.html
Don't talk to the police, don't help the police. If you snitch on some kids by turning over evidence, there will be trouble for everyone including yourself. You don't want to testify do you?
Keep the video on the down low unless you have some proving the cops started the violence and the other people involved are left out.
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