This critique is divided into three sections. Part 1 deals with some problems with the report in general. It mostly concerns information omitted, along with an ignoring of the historical context. Part 2 deals with disparities in traffic stops, not only between black drivers and white, but between black drivers and others in the category of “people of color,” which raises the issue of a police “recognition factor,” and certain implicit “search functions” overlaid on racial profiling. Part 3 relates these factors to the question of harassment as a political project. And that has ramifications for the concept of "race" itself. The suggestion is made that race is not inherent, but is more properly understood as a verb, something one group of people does to others. If you would like to read ahead, Part 2 can be found here [https://tinyurl.com/ya6asd5b], and Part 3 can be found here [https://tinyurl.com/yb96pw2u].

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Part 1 – Some problems in the report

In 2015, the City of Berkeley commissioned the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) to do a study and report on racial profiling in the Berkeley Police Department (BPD). It was done in the wake of years of complaints about police comportment, which came to a head after special hearings on how the BPD had handled certain large demonstrations (about police brutality) that occurred in December, 2014. Those demonstrations were in solidarity with others across the country protesting the failure of Missouri and New York to charge the officers who had killed Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The Berkeley police assaulted these political demonstrations using tear gas, pepper spray, beanbag rounds, beatings with nightsticks, and the "kettling" of people for the purpose of mass arrest. A number of lawsuits resulted from BPD use of force. And hundreds of people came to City Council to testify about police behavior, putting the issues of police violence, militarization, and racial profiling on the table. -more-

We have just celebrated on the 4th of July the struggle by the American colonies for independence from England. This remarkable anti-imperialistic doctrine, the Declaration of Independence, explained why the colonies should declare their independence from Great Britain. Especially important and moving about the document is the following line -- "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." -more-

We live in dark times. President Trump’s lies, fabrications, and racist tweets are finally having an adverse impact on his popularity and support. -more-

Donald Trump’s elusive tax returns might finally see the light of day if New York State Attorney General, Barbara Underwood has her way. On June 14 she filed a civil complaint against President Trump and his three oldest children accusing them of “persistently illegal conduct” using the Trump Foundation as their “checkbook for payments regardless of their purpose or legality.” -more-

Can the President pardon himself or others, to free himself from criminal investigation? Can the president be compelled to testify before a grand jury? Can a sitting president be criminally indicted for obstructing justice? What is the legal consequence for Trump's violations of the Emoluments Clause? These are some of the crucial questions that the next Supreme Court Justice may decide. The man whose legal and political jeopardy is at stake should not be the one to select that Justice. -more-

I am writing to tell you of Mable Howard: -more-

Mayor Jesse Arreguin’s abrupt announcement, at the June 18, 2018 Ad Hoc Council Sub-Committee on NCRIC and Urban Shield, that he was withdrawing his vote to ban Berkeley police from 2018 Urban Shield because “I’m not here to break laws…I don’t think I took an oath to do that” reaches the height of hypocrisy . (Also, Councilmember Wengraf’s interpretation of the Berkeley City Charter’s Powers of the City Manager is not founded. –see paragraph 11 below.)

Mayor Arreguin and the majority Council’s violation of Federal, State and Berkeley laws dates back to February 2012. The Coalition for a Safe Berkeley (an organization which met with Councilmember Arreguin in City Hall in its early stages, and at least once in his office) on February 10, 2012, sent a memo to Mayor Bates and City Councilmembers urging the Council “Not approve the agreement with the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC)” and “Not approve the agreement with the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI).

The Coalition expressed their concern that these programs may violate our First Amendment right to free speech and assembly and our Fourth Amendment right to privacy. (SuperBOLD* distributed to Councilmembers at their 2/14/12 meeting, a copy of the City of Berkeley Oath of Office to which each Councilmember had sworn to defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of California against all enemies both foreign and domestic.)

However, despite these expressed concerns of the Coalition, of which Councilmember Arreguin was a member, Arreguin at the 2.14.2012 City Council meeting, distributed a last minute revision changing his position to encouraging the Council to approve both NCRIC and UASI. The Coalition for a Safe Berkeley followed suit with a hurriedly crafted memo to the Mayor and Council canceling their previous call for No approval on NCRIC and UASI. This Coalition memo actually made reference to Berkeley Municipal Code (BMC) 2.04.170 and 2.04.190 but did not spell out in detail what these Berkeley laws require and encompass.

At the February 14, 2012 City Council meeting, and thereafter every year, often late in the fiscal year for which they are considering renewal of UASI and NCRIC, the Council majority which included Arreguin (until 6.20.17 when he voted no on renewal of NCRIC) voted to approve renewal of the Department of Homeland Security UASI program which funds the Berkeley Police Department’s (BPD) participation in Urban Shield, and the FBI’s NCRIC program. NCRIC calls for the FBI deputizing three Terrorism Liaison Officers (TLOs) in the BPD who are sworn to secrecy. Arreguin (with the exception of 6/20/17 when he voted no on NCRIC) voted for renewal of these programs despite the fact that in doing so, he violated the Oath that he had sworn to defend the U.S. and California Constitutions that protect our First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as Berkeley’s own laws BMC 2.04.170, 2.04.180 and 2.04.190: -more-

Editor's Note: The latest issue of the Pepper Spray Times is now available.

You can view it absolutely free of charge by clicking here . You can print it out to give to your friends.

Grace Underpressure has been producing it for many years now, even before the Berkeley Daily Planet started distributing it, most of the time without being paid, and now we'd like you to show your appreciation by using the button below to send her money.

This is a Very Good Deal. Go for it! -more-

We've just learned via a well-researched story on berkeleyside.com that Hill Street Realty is asking the CIty of Berkeley for its third extension on the so-called "Berkeley Plaza" development that they proposed for the corner of Harold Way and Shattuck, in the space originally Hink's Department store and more recently Shattuck Cinemas. They've been trying unsuccessfully to flip the project, which depended for its approval on an obviously undeliverable list of supposed community benefits. The current progressive council majority was elected partly because of community outrage over this project, so their supporters expect that they will stop the staff from granting another free pass to Hill and its fixer Mark Rhoades, even though he's the former city planning director. -more-

The midterm elections happen in four months. in the interim, we'll have to endure a daily barrage of Trump. Some days, American politics are very depressing; we have to resist the impulse to stay in bed and hide under the covers. To prevail in November, Democrats must stay cool and do the political organizing we know how to do. -more-

The term "decompensate" is offensive to me. I would guess it is also offensive to others to whom this word has been applied. However, for lack of a better word, deterioration of people who are subject to psychosis is a real potentiality, even though it is often preventable. -more-

We are all saddened, or should be, at the killing of two editors, a sports reporter, a community beat reporter and a sales assistant at the Capital Gazette located in Annapolis, MD. But attention has to turn to President Trump’s history of inciting violence against the media. -more-

Tickets are now available for Berkeley Chamber Opera’s summer production of Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc) at the historic Hillside Club in Berkeley, with chamber orchestra under the baton of Alexander Katsman and directed by Elly Lichenstein.

Two performances this weekend only: Fri, July 13 (7 pm) and Sun, July 15 (2 pm)

Music by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Libretto by Temistocle Solera, inspired by the play Die Jungfrau von Orleans (1801) by Friedrich von Schiller

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Tickets:

Brown Paper Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3440450
1-800-838-3006
General: $37 in advance, $42 at the door
Senior/Student: $25 in advance, $28 at the door
12 and under: free

www.berkeleychamberopera.org

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Don’t miss this opportunity to see a recently revised authentic version of a rarely-performed gem by Giuseppe Verdi. Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc) had its world premiere during the turbulent years of the Italian risorgimento at Milan’s La Scala in 1845 (with the composer himself at the keyboard).

Berkeley Chamber Opera (BCO) is using the 2009 scholarly edition from the University of Chicago Verdi series, restored by Alberto Rizzuti from original manuscripts without text changes which had been mandated by Verdi’s contemporary censors. For this production, BCO has once again assembled an outstanding cast with company founder soprano Eliza O’Malley as the medieval heroine Giovanna, baritone Geoffrey Di Giorgio as Giacomo, Giovanna’s father, and tenor Salvatore Atti as Carlo VII, King of France. All three were principals in the company’s 2017 Verdi offering, Luisa Miller. -more-

Opening with the Schwabacher Summer Concert, Merola Opera launched its 2018 Summer Season with two performances, Thursday, July 5, at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Saturday, July 7, at Stanford University’s Bing Concert Hall. I attended the Thursday evening performance, which was a sold-out affair, though I saw a few empty seats. Featured on the program were extended excerpts, often whole scenes, from Samuel Barber’s Vanessa, Giacomo Puccini’s Il Tabarro, Georges Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The Orchestra was conducted by Kathleen Kelly, who was an apprentice coach for Merola back in 1991-92. The minimal staging was provided by Aria Umezawa. -more-

[Disclaimer: Arianne MacBean is my daughter. However, I have tried to write an objective review of this complex dance-event, though, as you will see at the end of this review, I have not shied away from acknowledging my personal involvement as Arianne’s father.]

On Thursday-Friday, June 28-9, Arianne MacBean and The Big Show Company in Los Angeles offered the world premiere of The Collective Memory Project at Ford Theatre in Hollywood. This was a bold, provocative work utilizing dance, text, music, video, and drawing to examine the rich contours of memory. Some of the memories evoked in this show were those of veterans who experienced combat in Iraq or Afghanistan. However, many of the memories evoked here were those of cast members or Arianne MacBean herself. The very nature of memory was brilliantly investigated here, including its possible distortions, its fragmentation, its dispersal, and its tenuous reconnections to ongoing life. -more-

Worth Noting:

The summary of meetings for the coming week is not as heavy as expected considering the canceling and rescheduling for the 4^th of July Holiday. When the Peace and Justice Commission meets on Federal Immigration abuses on Monday evening it will be after the working poor and nine children living in vehicles at the Marina are evicted from their current location under threat of arrest and being jailed in Berkeley or Santa Rita.

The Tuesday City Council Agenda is packed. The Vacancy Ordinance, Police Commission Charter Amendment, Fire Safety and Disaster Preparedness and Transfer Tax Ballot Initiative are in the agenda item list.

The Community meeting on fire safety Thursday evening organized by Sophie Hahn District 5 is timely given that fire season is upon us. The announcement does not list speakers. -more-