[sudo-discuss] an attack that happened years ago?

[Ed Biow]

On 4/1/19 3:39 PM, Yardena Cohen wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 28, 2019 at 10:28 PM Steve Martinot <martinot4 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> It is important to understand the details. Derick was working with FNB. He had been around all day, coming in and out of the building. Yet he was unseen by Ed and others, until midafternoon. Well, you know, black people tend to be invisible to a white racialized consciousness. Somehow, in the middle of the afternoon, somewhere in the Entrance Hall (not at the door), he came to Ed’s attention, and Ed accosted him. When Derick resists this disrespect, they face off. And that is where I stepped in. It was a clear case of profiling, but even more, of the tunnel vision of white racialized identity. As racial profiling, it was an attack on Ed’s part. This becomes central to the way I now look critically at the Omni, and especially at the sequence of such events that have occurred with respect to Almaz.
> Wait wait wait wait ... what happened between Steve, Derick and Ed?
> The words attack, accost, face off - I can't tell if you are
> describing a physical confrontation or something else. Are you
> choosing vague words on purpose? Either way this deserves way more
> detail and I would like to hear perspectives from anybody who was
> there. Folks, can we take this seriously? It's buried in a bunch of
> other nonsense but it's important.
>
> I think this deserves its own thread and a new subject line. The
> original subject was "[omni-consensus] Proposal to Immediately
> Terminate Bay Area Public School Fiscal Sponsorship Contract and
> Member Collective Status"
>
-- 

Yar, I didn't comment on this when Steve made this attack allegation
because I have been trying to stay out of these threads to keep from
adding fuel to the fire and generating more heat then light, but I guess
I should have immediately tried to set the record straight. In short,
Steve is simply lying about the incident with Derick.

I did not (and would not) accost anyone in the middle of the entrance
hall unless they were doing something extraordinarily disruptive.  I
answered the bell, and when I opened the door I saw someone I did not
recognize & given that I did not know of any ongoing public event at the
Commons I did what I _always_ try to do (and what I am under the
impression that Omninons are _supposed_ to do), I politely asked him
which collective he was with. If Derick had simply said "Food Not Bombs"
I would have said "Welcome, welcome, my name is Ed" and walked away.
Instead he became angry and physically threatening, and I will admit, I
did act inappropriately; I said if assaulted I would call the police. If
I hadn't been rattled I might have remembered we do not do at the Omni.
Someone then informed me that Derick worked with FNB downstairs &
reminded me that we do not call the police. I apologized for threatening
to call the cops and thought the incident was over.

I recently talked to 2 of the 3 other people I remember being there that
day, and they either do not remember it or were downstairs and didn't
witness the scene. Does anyone else have any recollections about this
brief episode, one way or the other? I am decidedly not on the 'eidetic
memory' end of the scale. But I _do not_ remember Steve being there at
all. It some time ago, maybe he was, but if he is willing to blatantly
lie once to completely mis-characterize this encounter it wouldn't
surprise me unduly if he lied again to place himself Johnny-on-the-spot.

So this is the "attack" that prevents Mr. Martinot from inviting people
of color to the Omni because he can not personally guarantee their won't
be profiled and disrespected? One dude (me) who comes to the Omni maybe
a couple of times a month politely asked one person ringing at the door
which collective he was with and I somewhat over-reacted to the ringer's
completely inappropriate and threatening response?  This is the face of
"extreme exclusionism"? BTW, I understand Derick stills comes around
Food Not Bombs periodically, so perhaps I didn't traumatize him too
much. Steve, I think you need to adduce a lot more examples of this
pattern of racist behavior at the Omni that you claim is so prevalent.

Ed

BTW, I don't know anything about Oakland Jericho
<https://www.thejerichomovement.com/chapters/oakland-jericho>. But if
any of you are interested there is an event this Saturday
<https://occupyoakland.org/event/mumia-abu-jamal-an-evening-for-justice-and-freedom/?instance_id=309881>
at St. Johns Presbyterian Church about political prisoners with Alice
Walker, Angela Davis & Mumia Abu-Jamal by phone connection.

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