CURYJ

“Sometimes when we think about police agression we dont think about agression being an act of numbness to communicates of color when crissi happens. 98th and Bancroft is one of the busiest intersections in Oakland California where the lights divide the flats where low-income families live and the hills where houses and higher-income communities live. This evening was cold, dry and city lights were green, yellow, red whre working as usual. Driving down this intersection and making a left is common for folks going to the 580 freeway however, this specific night I remember it as yesterday. A black tall skinny man usualy stands in the middle asking for one dollar. The one night I drive down to make a left and head down to the freeway I seen him layed next to hes bike that was standing up by the bike kick stand and hes feet where hanging off the middle part, everyone was driving by nobody honked nobody stopped to check in on their potential neighbor because when I mean this man is always standing outside asking for a dollar I am serious about that. I was the one who stopped honked and relized he was unresponsive and must have overdosed. I called 911 dispatch and they called the fire department. The firedepartment drove by and missed me because the interaction is supper dark at night. I called back and they sent out the firefighters again and they finally found him. I was standing their watching them giving him narcan but he was still laying their with hes eyes closed, I pulled up closer with my beams on.

The ambulance came and I watched them pull out the stretcher, 4 men lifting hes body onto the stretcher and taking him inside the ambulance. The oakland police department pulled up I thought they wher going to talk to me but they did not even take my name down all they said to each other is he was a “dropper” this made me cry because I relized how numb our community is to people who ask for money on the streets, This could have been your neighbor your friends, someone’s child.”