On Tuesday, November 2nd was election day in the United States of America. Whatever. On Thursday, November 5th was 4 Square of the East Bay! Seriously, as 4SEB players knows from our counter-clockwise squares, power swings to the right. It’s a scary thing to think that the legislation that will come through in the next two years will be fought about tooth and claw and truly progressive agendas (or those that seem like common sense *cough gay marriage) will be buried. Why did it turn out this way? Was it your fault? Maybe not… What we do know is that even though we like to send people to Washington D.C. to represent us, the only way to truly build and uplift our community is through positive relationships and human interaction. With that sentiment, 4 Square of the East Bay would like to announce it’s bid for President of Everything in 2012. Donations will be accepted by the boombox.
In the midst of political turmoil, players will still play. There was no instant run-off 4 Square for all of these mayoral athletes, it was all or nothing. Candidates for ‘A’ Square were: Paul, Caroline, Rachel, Gabby, Lee, Uriah, Sam, Liz, Vi, Sanjay, Anne Marie, Kaylie, Robert, Will, Caroline, Lali, Justin, Laura, Mustafa, Eric, Mike, Ben, Julian, Lucas, Kalen, Greg, Kendall and maybe more!
4 Square Challenge winners managed to buck the tide of change and remain at the top of their game. As usual, Uriah and Lee stand as winners!
Elimination was called and people played until the polls were closed. While no one voted, Lee spend the most time and money on his campaign and bought many many ballots. Many called for a recount, but here at 4SEB News Network we are too lazy to check our sources so… Congratulations Lee! You decide everything and get to take the blame if it all falls apart.
While the 4 Square of the East Bay ‘elections’ have passed, Oakland did experience a sad event in the trial of Johannes Mehserle/Justice for Oscar Grant campaign. Mehserle, convicted of involuntary manslaughter of unarmed BART passenger Oscar Grant, was sentenced by Judge Robert Perry on Friday to the minimum sentence in prison of 2 years, with 292 days taken off for time served. This is not justice. As a response, Oakland gathered at City Hall during the day and began to march to Fruitvale BART after dark. They were met with a militarized police coalition which conducted mass arrests on peaceful protesters. Check out video here, photos here and listen to the whole situation unfold here live on KPFA. While our community reels from this blow to our sense of safety that has shaken our faith in the system, we are not powerless. The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights has an e-campaign to have Attorney General Eric Holder prosecute Johannes Mehserle in Federal court. In addition, Youth Speaks in having a town hall meeting at the Pro Arts Gallery on Friday November 12th at 5pm to ask the question ‘What does justice really look like?’ If you are affected by this situation, don’t sit back. Take action and build with the people around you. We can find justice together.
4 Square of the East Bay! 