Surveillance and Oakland’s 510 Culture

Our rock, by Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ) & the Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP), merged themes of surveillance and Oakland’s 510 culture. We met as a group with the artists involved and shared a lot of powerful ideas, many of which came from the Dream Beyond Bars youth fellows at CURYJ. They pointed out that while many of us only consider surveillance as coming from the state and something that is done to our communities, and therefore negative and harmful to our communities, we could flip that another way and see it as something positive that we also participate in - like when we share information on social media or when we film the police harming people and force them to stop, when we look out for one another - “we take care of us.” This also is a parallel with how Palestinian people have been showing the entire world what they are experiencing - through social media, film, media, art, poems, writing, etc. - and have influenced a whole new wave of monumental support for their struggle towards liberation.

A poem that inspired our group, by DBB Coordinator, Deyci:

Rising in community

“it takes courage to raise our voices to demand our freedom in a world lacking compassion,

but let's come together,

uplift,

support,

and encourage each other.

come together to shape a world full of dignity, love, and respect for one another.

to fight for a world without cages.

a world where justice is healed communities.”

• Deyci Carrillo Lopez