Alcohol smashed in Oakland, California
Update 12/1: The store that was set on fire was looted yesterday, and a community meeting was held to discuss the liquor stores:"People want a grocery store in the community," Pastor Raymond Lankford said. "They want more variety certainly more fruits, more vegetables other than the liquor they're selling. There used to be grocery stores. We don't have grocery stores in West Oakland anymore."
See also Sunni Sister's blog entry on this issue: Pops
Update: 11/28: One of the two alcohol stores that was trashed was set on fire (police say arson) and was completely gutted.
Thank you everone for commenting here on ihsan, and on the indybay site. Maybe I've been a bit harsh in this blog entry - but this is a very serious matter. And I agree that trashing up these stores is not an answer, still, at the same time - we have to find ways to address these issues.
Here is excerpt from one of the comments on Indybay - giving some more background on these stores.
"Community leaders wanted to reduce crime and related problems linked to liquor stores. They pressured city leaders to revise city regulations governing those businesses. The new law created an Alcohol Beverage Action Team charged with responding to complaints, performing investigations, conducting minor-decoy operations and bringing repeat violators before hearing officers. If necessary, the ordinance provides for revoking a store operator's business permit. click here to read
A soon-to-be-released book by sociologist Robert Nash Parker, "Alcohol and Homicide: A Deadly Combination of Two American Traditions," cites a 20-year study of 256 U.S. cities demonstrating that alcohol outlet density has a significant effect on that area's homicide rates, and that the nationwide increase in outlet density from 1960 to 1980 played a major role in the skyrocketing violence during that period. click here to read
With adjustment for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics at the census tract level, every unit increase in liquor license density is associated with a 9% increase in domestic violence click here to read
"What is the relationship between outlet density and violence? A number of studies have found that in and near neighborhoods where there is a high density of places that sell alcohol, there is a higher rate of violence. That is, when bars, liquor stores, and other businesses that sell alcohol are close together, more assaults and other violent crimes occur. click here to read
updated 11/27 - scroll down...
Wednesday, near midnight, about a dozen or more African-Americans, apparently of Muslim background smashed two alcohol stores (owned by Muslims of Arab background) in Oakland, California.
Before we go about doing our usual round of condemnations - lets take a look at some facts:
1. Oakland has a poverty rate of nearly 20%. However, for the area (near West Oakland) where these two stores were located, this rate is far higher: upwards of 60 to 70%, and the residents are primarily African American and Latino Mexican and Central American backrounds).
2. Oakland has over 350 liquor stores, and, in some of the poorest areas - there are two or three of these "stores" (call 'em drug pushers) on a single block! This means that the bulk of these stores are located in poor neighborhoods.
3. Community activists in Oakland have been attempting to restrict and shut down some of the worst liquor stores for some time - but have had little success because alcohol is a legal substance. A very mild and ineffective voluntary measure is in effect that close the liquor stores down at 12:00 A.M. instead of 2:00 A.M.
4. Alcohol (along with other drugs) has been pushed in many inner cities of the US - includng East Oakland. The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth notes that alcohol has been marketed to underage African Americans:
• Two formats—Urban Contemporary and Rhythmic Contemporary Hit—with music types including R&B, rap, hip-hop, house, and dance, accounted for almost 70% of the alcohol advertising reaching underage African-American youth on radio.
5. According to a recent study (pdf), neighbourhood violence goes way up as the numbers of alcohol outlets increase:The strong connection between alcohol and violence has been clear for a long time – but now we know that this connection also relates to the location of places that sell alcohol.The TV news coverage came up with a "Qur'an expert" who did the usual, robot like, condemnations (is there a standard condemnation form online somewhere?). But he said not a word about the role that these stores play in the destruction of communities, families, and especially the youth of the neighbourhoods.
And so you can expect that the usual suspects will line up to condemn this act. But that does not at all address very fundamental questions about alcohol stores, and exactly what are Muslims doing selling alcohol in the first place, and that too in very poor inner city neighborhoods. Not just in Oakland - but all over the United States!
Maybe asking such questions about Muslims is not very progressive of me - but they do need to be asked.
In an article on racial tension in the American Umma, Kelly Crosby wrote:But one of his (Kelly's father) comments stayed with me long after we finished talking. He said, "there is no way for African-American Muslims and immigrant Muslims to come together on anything in this community until we all address the problem of Muslim-owned cornerstores."And so pardon me if I don't shed any tears when I watch the video of alcohol being smashed.
Update: There is an interesting conversation/debate/flame on the Indybay web site click here to view/participate.
A couple of excerpts from some of the comments:"While people can make their choices on their own (as well they should,) a closer look at both the presence of liquor stores and the presence of crack and heroin in these communities doesn't paint a healthy picture. As such, the line between providing ample access and shoving it down people's throats is finer than you think. I do think its messed up that an individual shop owner was targeted -- just another example of ordinary people being divided against each other in the midst of a genocidal war. But I can also understand how people get to that breaking point."
"There are 3 liquor stores within 6 blocks but not a real grocery store for miles. Literally miles.
"I do see where people might come to seriously resent these stores, though, and it's so ironic than many are run by Muslims who would never partake in what they are selling in poor neighborhoods everyday -- things I myself buy. But a good bit of anger should also go towards companies like Safeway who pulled their last store out of the neighborhood about 6 years ago (they had one on Broadway). Even older grocery stores in the area are now scraggly church's. There is a Whole Foods coming about a mile or so from here, but it will be a madhouse when it opens as the first return of a real grocery store in years and years to a long underserved neighborhood."
posted by redwood at
11/24/2005 11:59:00 PM
20 comment(s):
By
Shahed Amanullah, at
11/25/2005 01:43:00 PM
But even more important is the almost total lack of interest in the wider Muslim communities to this kind of exploitation of neighbourhoods.
Given the class differences - most upper middle-class doctors engineers, MBAs etc. don't set foot in these neighborhoods. Other than to do one or two days of charity work on one or two major holidays.
If anything, after consultations with community activists, there should be Muslims demonstrating against these stores. But I won't be holding my breath for this kind of action - given the apathy and fear that runs in the veins of so many Muslims these days.
By
Anonymous, at
11/25/2005 02:01:00 PM
By
Anonymous, at
11/25/2005 02:22:00 PM
The community has attempted to make their area "better" - specifically addressing the liquor stores... this is not a new problem.
Also this was directed specifically at the property/liquor that are deemed to harm the communities.
There is a history of actions that groups such as even the pacifist Catholic Workers have taken against missiles - they have taken sledge hammers to damage/destroy those missiles. For which several have served time in federal prisons.
There is a difference between vigalante violence against persons, versus those directed against harmful property.
While I agree with Shahed that we should not condone these actions, we should also not blindly condemn them and just move on as if there is no problem with the liquor stores.
By
Anonymous, at
11/25/2005 02:57:00 PM
No one forces people in the neighborhood to buy liquor. There are convenience stores and supermarkets who sell liquor in my neighborhhod, and I don't feel compelled to buy.
Stop bullying storeowners and get the black community to clean up its own act.
By
Anonymous, at
11/26/2005 08:22:00 AM
Some of the people there don't seem to get how this is an issue of empowerment for the black community, and that the attack is only part of the picture.
By
Anonymous, at
11/26/2005 02:19:00 PM
I'm a white man, I live in Oakland, a nasty part, I have lived in nasty Houston, nasty Chicago, and nasty Baltimore.
I don't pretend to know a black man's mind, but i know if blacks want to have cleaned up communities, nobody else is going to clean them up for you.
I salute the NOI guys. My experience has also been that Arab Muslims do not think very highly of American blacks, & think y'all exist for them to sell Kools & King Cobra to.
By
Anonymous, at
11/26/2005 05:39:00 PM
It's easy to say "fuck those clowns", & walk away, & most of the country That can, has. Safeway didn't close because of no business. Safeway closed because of "inventory shrinkage", which is a euphemism for they were being robbed blind.
By
Anonymous, at
11/27/2005 08:26:00 AM
His/her categorization of this as "racism/religious" ism is the kind of right wing crap that is being played out in the media - while completely ignoring the real racism of alcohol.
the b.a.rak dude sounds like she just woke up in his nice subarbian house.
see another interesting study here that talks about this issue... your co-religiousts are killing poor people with this drug.
"Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health have shown that predominantly black, low-income neighborhoods in Baltimore were eight times more likely to have carry-out liquor stores than white or racially integrated neighborhoods. Conversely, in higher-income Baltimore neighborhoods a higher percentage of black residents was not associated with a higher per capita number of off-site liquor stores."
"The authors noted that this disproportionate concentration of off-premises liquor outlets is significant in that these stores typically sell alcohol chilled and in larger quantities than in taverns or restaurants (40 and 64 oz. bottles), ready for immediate consumption on a street corner, in a nearby park, or in a motor vehicle -- drinking patterns more likely to result in excessive drinking, public drunkenness, automobile crashes, and physical violence. Some past studies have further suggested that such drinking behaviors in low-income black communities also distort black youths' perceptions of what constitutes an appropriate level of alcohol consumption."
By
Anonymous, at
11/27/2005 08:57:00 AM
I wonder if people would respond differently if a commuity had attacked the local drug dealers....
I fail to see the line between the two....one is legalised and licensed pushing, while the other is illegal....
how would most of the store owners react if somebody was pushing alcohol upon their Muslim children? or if an outsider started opening liquor stores and bars in their countries and communities back home?
Al-Tirmidhi #2776 Narrated Anas ibn Malik "Allah's Messenger cursed ten people in connection with wine: the wine-presser, the one who has it pressed, the one who drinks it, the one who conveys it, the one to whom it is conveyed, the one who serves it, the one who sells it, the one who benefits from the price paid for it, the one who buys it, and the one for whom it is bought."
By
malangbaba, at
11/27/2005 04:35:00 PM
If these Vigilantes wanted to clean up their neighborhood, why not track down and turn in to the police all of the local drug dealers (of all races) selling illegal substances to the Black community? Last I heard, illegal drugs were not adding to the prosperity of the Black community. I would hope that apologists would not defend the drug dealers as ones that are just trying to put food on the table. These Vigilantes don't seem strong enough to have to turn in some of their own people to the "Man". Additionally, working with the police is probably considered blasphemous since "cooperating with the Man is definately not Kosher."
So well dressed Black people go after Arab/Muslim store owners instead. Seems like a pretty racist move by targeting the weakest, minority group in this community without really accomplishing much to really clean up the community's problems.
By
Anonymous, at
11/28/2005 07:34:00 AM
Well, yeah. Dialogue is always preferable to vigilante action, especially in situations such as this one.
>Most people just aren't up for real engagment with others.<
I see it more as a matter of being human -- some people aren't up for engagement (and if this is the case, their actions are inexcusable,) while others who may otherwise be up for dialogue break under pressure and do extreme things.
You mentioned Judi Bari -- consider how she got Earth First! activists to stop tree spiking. If the people spiking trees weren't up for real engagement, then why did spiking effectively end when Judi spoke out against it?
By
Anonymous, at
11/28/2005 08:10:00 AM
But b.a.ak? smashing the livelihood? So, no smashing livlihoods that end up killing people? Excuse me? Like you are going to now defend livelihoods of drug pushers? How about mercenaries?
I agree that these folks who should also go after the other drug pushers in the community. And actually there are cases when some do - you don't hear about them in this public way 'cause no one comes to the defense of "illegal drug" pushers.
The Muslims/Arabs who have accepted the role of being middle men cannot just be excused. They too have a responsiblity in the kind of drugs they are pushing. (yeah, yeah, i know it is "legal" and what not.)
Alcholoism is multi-faceted, but one key ingredient is the wide saturation of your community with alcohol. All this mumbo jumbo about "deeper psychology" and what not is all good and well - but all of that ignores what is going on in these poverty striken communities.
By
Anonymous, at
11/28/2005 09:15:00 AM
What you describe sounds nice, but frankly they are so textbookish - that they would sound condescending when you really get down to talking with people.
"social justice" fodder for egos? Tell us where exactly do you live? Do you live in an area that has drug runners on one side, and brutal police gangs on the other? Is that were you live? Because you sure make big statements - and think you know what you are talking about.
By
Anonymous, at
11/28/2005 09:35:00 AM
They don't bring solutions to immediate problems, they don't talk about concrete issues such as the drug pushers. Rather they swing the topic away from these issues to some "grand scale" that ends up not addressing very real problems. It ends up being not only a distraction, but years end up going by without any solutions, and people die.
You are doing the same here. Seen it all before.
Malcolm X and Muslims with him seriously worked in both fronts - individual and community. He recognized the need to address both. He never forgot about the horrible skewed power relationships between white racists, and blacks who were being targeted. Sure you as a white person will latch on to the whites are also oppressed deal... that is not what we black folks are dealing with it.
but i still appreciate your responses, at least you are willing to talk and listen.
By
Anonymous, at
11/28/2005 09:55:00 AM
and B.A.Rak said: I'm not sure what you're getting at, but I'm interested. Can you offer more here?
Sure. Basically, I'm agreeing with you in part -- dialogue is key. What I'm taking issue with is your statement that "Most people aren't up for real dialogue with others." I have to agree with the posters here who have asked if you've been to a community meeting. What you're posting infers that people aren't already doing what you're saying they "should* be doing.
In terms of clarifying what I'm saying, though: it's my understanding that the people who spiked trees thought that it was necessary, but Judi was able to convince them it was wrong (because of the personal injury that it could cause to loggers) through dialogue.
How does that apply to the situation at hand? Well, think about it. Judi convinced people in the political community she was part of to re-evaluate their ways (which by the way, is exactly what the NOI is saying people should do.) Male EFers, like most activists, can be every bit as stubborn as the people who you appear to be criticizing (not to mention as sexist, if not male supremacist.)
What tends to *not* work is people who aren't dealing with the same issues that the people who are engaged in controversial behavior to dictate, effectively from outside, how to change their behavior. Look at how effective the admonitions from loggers, logging companies, etc. were in terms of stopping tree-spiking.
Basically, what I'm getting at here is that you're making presumptions that appear to be based on privilege.
By
Anonymous, at
11/28/2005 10:14:00 AM
Cool, that's important work. Sounds like you've read "Pedagogy of the Oppressed." :-)
nhso
By
Anonymous, at
11/28/2005 11:30:00 AM
http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_3259436
By
Anonymous, at
11/28/2005 04:25:00 PM
There have been some comments related to civil rights on this forum. With that thread, I would like to mention an upcoming event that I believe to be very relavent to this discussion as well:
Martin and Malcolm
Implications of their Legacies for the Future With
Dr. Cornel West and Imam Zaid Shakir
http://www.cognizance.us/
cognizancenow@gmail.com
Friday, December 2, 2005
Doors Open: 6:30 PM; Program: 8:00 PM
Oakland, CA
Event Cost:
$21.50 General Admission (Available Online and at Select Bay Area Locations)
$16.50 Student (Available Online Only, Must Present Valid ID at Pickup)
Ticket Prices Subject to Increase
Optional Parking: $7/Car
Due to timing and logistical constraints, questions for the two speakers will taken from those submitted online in the forums section of the website.
We are also looking for Sponsors and Donors to help defray the costs and also to help keep the ticket costs affordable for those that wish to attend this historic event. Please contact us if you are able to contribute.
By
Anonymous, at
11/28/2005 05:58:00 PM
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=de07d8311523400686599b218482867d
By
Anonymous, at
12/04/2005 09:12:00 AM
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