Today is the third anniversary of Oscar Grant’s killing by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. Oscar, a young father, a young worker, unarmed, was shot in the back while lying prostrate in police custody on the Fruitvale BART station platform. Mehserle was charged with murder and ultimately convicted of involuntary manslaughter, serving less than half of his two-year sentence. Occupy Oakland organized a march in remembrance.

This media pool drew mainstream media into the inner circle, where they were treated to a display of courteous policing and nonviolence by the police. Even I was impressed by the police. The operation was smooth and efficient and tactical.

“Then the pool media was divided from the regular media, and kept in the inner circle. They were not present to witness the brutality and violence enacted by LAPD officers who were kettling and running after protestors in order to beat them outside the park and mainstream media attention. LAPD smoothly kept MSM from witnessing this, and tried to control other media by constant kettling and dividing of the crowd.”

Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian activist and recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Do you know why she received the Nobel Peace Prize? She led a protest movement against civil war and human rights abuses, and she and her fellow activists sat down in a soccer field near the Presidential palace in Monrovia and refused to move until they secured a meeting with the President, Charles Taylor.

Depending on what you read, the Occupy Oakland protests last night were either a resounding success or a chaotic mess. Let’s piece together what happened.

Michael Bloomberg is trying to pull off a pretty neat trick. The billionaire mayor of New York City can blame his own police department for the growth of the Occupy Wall Street protests, which surged after incidents of police brutality and illegal arrests and will only continue to grow as his police continue to use nightsticks and pepper spray. But now, he’s claiming that the protests are costing municipal workers their jobs.

The incident involving a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer unloading a canister of pepper spray on a few female protesters at the Occupy Wall Street protest on Saturday has garnered much attention. It is responsible for the huge uptick in media coverage and renewed interest in the occupation in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan.

This week, I joined Chicago-area ColorOfChange.org members to deliver more than 66,000 petition signatures to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office. The petition demands that State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez immediately acknowledge the innocence of 10 falsely accused Black men (known as the Cook County 10) and agree to vacate the convictions of nine who were convicted for crimes they didn’t commit.

There are plenty of areas where the Obama Administration has dashed hopes and failed to live up to expectations. However, while I’m not an expert on the reorganization of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, two recent stories by reporters I respect make it seem that things are moving in a positive direction.

Watch this shocking video of dozens of Virginia State riot police using far excessive force against peaceful protestors at Quantico Marine Base rallying for humane treatment of Bradley Manning. Starting around 7 minutes into the video, you can see and hear Ret. Col. Ann Wright screaming in pain as police are putting on handcuffs,. One officer in particular crushes Col. Wright with his riot shield. Daniel Ellsberg goes to the ground before he is picked up and arrested.

This is a child who at the time of this battery was suspected of being involved in a home burglary along with three other suspects. The other three had been under surveillance; Holley was seen exiting a townhome with two of the suspects. When the police gave chase, Holley ran — and what appears in this video is the outcome of that chase.