“If You Knew the Bay Area, You Knew We Weren’t Going Inside Without Fighting”

Thousands in Oakland defy curfew to protest police brutality.

Mother Jones

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Thousands of people flooded the streets of d0wntown Oakland Wednesday night, in defiance of an 8 p.m. curfew, to protest police brutality and the killing of George Floyd.

The curfew was announced Monday as Oakland residents gathered for a march starting at Oakland Technical High School and ending near the police station. Wednesday’s nonviolent rally, which began at 8:05 p.m. and was organized by more than a dozen antiracist Oakland groups, is meant to challenge the curfew.

Here is what Mother Jones editors saw:

 

Photography by Grace Molteni

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Owned by no one—except you.

We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

Can you chip in today?

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