What really happened on 880 North
On March 4, following a rally in downtown Oakland that drew people from college campuses and K-12 public schools around the East Bay, a group of demonstrators took over a section of Interstate 880--one of the main traffic arteries in the Bay Area--in protest against budget cuts. A public school teacher who was stuck on the highway during the standoff between riot police and demonstrators explained what took place in this statement.
I WAS watching the local news and saw an oddly crafted story on the March 4 freeway protest against public education cuts.
Having been one of the motorists at the front of the 880 North freeway jam, and a teacher, I had a personal interest. The story's point was that the freeway protesters were probably "professional protesters" who hijack peaceful protests. Evidence of this was archive protest footage of a bearded non-University of California Berkeley student who had appeared at two separate campus protests for different causes (although he was not among these freeway protesters).
I mused, "Who pays these professional protesters? Can I get on the payroll to supplement my teacher's salary?"
The story went on to paraphrase the freeway protesters themselves, saying they weren't sure who the other protesters were. The point of the story was obviously to discredit the freeway demonstrators--however, it didn't show even a scrap of footage or interviews with those involved to support the idea that they were "professional protesters."
Here's what I observed when I was parked on the freeway for 40 minutes on March 4 at 5 in the afternoon.
First, the other motorists did not appear upset about the delay. After all, we had a front row, drive-in-movie view of an empty freeway and riot police a few hundred yards ahead, engaged in some mysterious activity. And how refreshing to be parked on the freeway, walking around socializing with the people who only moments ago I was trying to maneuver around at 60 miles per hour!
After 40 minutes of speculating, listening to the radio, calling friends and craning our necks, a long parade of handcuffed protesters was escorted down the Jackson Street off ramp.
Many drivers watched silently from the guardrail. Others, after a several moments, began cheering. Then, to my surprise, even more people began cheering. A little girl who was with her mom and sister yelled, "Education!" Some protesters waved and cheered back to us.
Then I heard someone yell my name. Looking more closely, I noticed one of my teacher colleagues was one of the protesters. I ecstatically waved back. I would like to add that she is one of the most committed, professional, hard-working teachers at our public elementary school.
So who is the news media trying to appease with this non-story?
On a more personal note, I ask myself, why wasn't I one of the first people to cheer for the protesters? Why did I wait for others to cheer before I made my views public? I'm a public teacher at a low-income school. And I know that civil disobedience has pushed social change in this country since its beginning. So why didn't I feel comfortable giving a shout to the protesters right away?
For me, March 4 turned out to be a learning day on the freeway.
