Oakland calls for nonviolent verdict reaction

For all the worry over the upcoming verdict in the trial of the former BART police officer who killed Oscar Grant, there is just as much determination in Oakland to make sure the reaction remains peaceful.

From youth clubs and churches to City Hall and even groups planning protests, many people are working hard to keep the inevitable demonstrations from getting out of hand the way they did Jan. 7, 2009.

That evening, rioters damaged scores of businesses and torched several cars in the downtown business district in reaction to the shooting of Grant, who was black, six days earlier by former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle, who is white.

"We have been trying to let the youth know that in the case of a riot, you are affecting the very same people in your own community that the riot is supposedly for, and that is just senseless," said Chris Logwood, a director at Boys and Girls Clubs of Oakland. "What possible good is that? It's a sign of ignorance. It shouldn't happen."

The hope for a nonviolent response is not vain. Oakland has been down this protest road many times before, and it hasn't always been rocky.

In the early 1990s, demonstrations over the Rodney King beating verdict were relatively nonviolent and were held up as an example of how protesters could vent their frustrations without causing major trouble. Logwood and others think that can happen again.

Mayor Ron Dellums has teamed up in recent weeks with local organizations to turn five community centers into "Speakout Centers" where people can gather to talk and "cool off" on the day of the verdict.

On Oakland's Web site - www2.oaklandnet.com - the city is keeping a spot to give locations of the centers and to post updates about the verdict and reactions to it.

Ministers from several congregations will open their churches the day of the verdict to allow people in for discussions and prayer. Some have already been preaching for nonviolence from the pulpit for weeks.

'Positive movement'

"Maybe instead of burning down the city, a positive moment or even a full positive movement can come out of Oscar Grant's untimely death," said Bob Jackson, bishop of Acts Full Gospel Church in East Oakland. "I believe that would be justice for Oscar Grant."

As soon as the verdict is read, dozens of youth leaders, ministers, City Council members and others plan to be out on the streets to urge calm - particularly at 14th Street and Broadway, where a 6 p.m. rally is planned.

Police in Oakland and San Francisco have been crafting plans for months with departments all over the region to cooperate on the verdict day to keep order in their cities. Officials say they hope they never have to muster the extra manpower.

"We are a city with a long history of civil rights and free speech, and we really want to facilitate that free expression," said Oakland city spokeswoman Karen Boyd. "If there are problems that arise, we are prepared to deal with it, but we anticipate that people will express themselves peacefully."

Challenges to peace

Some fear that, with the judge in Mehserle's trial ruling this week that the former officer cannot be convicted of first-degree murder, there will be some measure of frustration no matter what the verdict is.

Also, police reported that more than 70 percent of those arrested on suspicion of instigating violence in the 2009 riot were from out of town. That sort of outside agitator presence could present an extra challenge for those beseeching people in the crowd not to destroy their own community.

"The outside anarchists are the ingredient I'm concerned with," Jackson said. "If that isn't addressed, they will draw our young people into destruction again, and then the anarchists will go back to their suburbs and our young people will be left with the mess and the blame."

'Safe zone'

Event planners say they believe that filling the gatherings with level-headed people and discussions will temper hot-headedness.

"We want to create a safe zone for everyone that day. Let's not let one person mess it up so that we cannot stay to say what we need to say," said Tony Coleman, a community organizer with New Years Movement 4 Justice for Oscar Grant, one of the lead groups planning the 6 p.m. verdict-day rally.

"We want our message to get across. We want killer cops off the street, we want more training for the BART cops, and we want justice," Coleman said.

Unrest, and the inevitable police reaction, would create bad media, he said. And "we want good media, not bad."

Food and talk

Leaders of Youth UpRising on MacArthur Boulevard, one of the five Speakout Centers, said their verdict-day event will begin at 5 p.m. and will feature food, music and spirited discussions.

"We are trying to send out the message that violence is not justice," said Youth UpRising outreach and events manager Jacky Johnson. "We work with young people who look like Oscar Grant and could have had the same thing happen to them as happened to Oscar Grant, and we want them to know they can be leaders.

"We want people to take action on whatever frustration they might feel, but to do it in a positive way that actually will make some long-term change," Johnson said. "Reacting in a negative way never has a lasting effect."

E-mail Kevin Fagan at kfagan@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 16 of the San Francisco Chronicle