O.P.D. justified RunningWolf's indefinite detention based on an outstanding warrant for “vandalism” a few days prior —targeting him for his participation in a march in soldarity with the largest nationwide strike against prison slavery in history. While incarcerated, Santa Rita Penitentiary scheduled a cell transfer at the same time as RunningWolf’s first court hearing--intentionally delaying his ability to return to freedom. RunningWolf's hearings were repeatedly delayed until he undertook a thirteen-day hunger strike and finally secured his release.
Meanwhile, Jesse Arreguin and his campaign have yet to be held accountable for breaking campaign finance laws. The campaign to elect Arreguin received more than $8,000 from a PAC funded by SEIU Local 1021, violating Berkeley's fair election laws which prohibit such contributions. Should we be surprised, then, that Arreguin was confirmed as mayor and took his oath on December 8, 2016—five weeks before the traditional confirmation in January?
Since taking office, Arreguin has repeatedly voted in favor of further police militarization: first by approving an additional armored vehicle for the B.P.D., and then by voting in favor of the wildly unpopular Urban Shield program, which was opposed by the overwhelming majority of Berkeley residents during its recent public comment period. After non-violent protestors took the stage, Arreguin fled the scene and police violently repressed the protest, beating one elderly man who had merely dropped his glasses.
Since then, Arreguin has approved emergency protest control measures for the BPD deemed unconstitutional by the National Lawyers' Guild, advising that Berkeley residents should not peacefully protest fascism then claiming to be "proud" of the thousands of people who defied him and chose to protest fascism anyway.
When a groundbreaking report presented overwhelming evidence of racial profiling by the BPD, Arreguin's Chief of Police flatly denied that there was an issue. Rather than reprimanding him for this, Arreguin has chosen to further weaponize him and his police department, granting Chief Greenwood's request to lift a twenty-year ban, and allowing BPD to use pepper spray against protestors.
Is it any surprise, given Arreguin's repeated and consistent support of police militarization, that he has remained completely silent on OPD interference in the Berkeley Election? His own campaign finance violations? Or the fact that the voting machines used by the City of Berkeley (Sequoia Voting Machines) have a proven track record of electoral fraud?
For the above stated reasons and more, RunningWolf’s campaign is calling for Jesse Arreguin to STEP DOWN!
***BREAKING*** UPDATE: In November 2017 Berkeley's Fair Campaign Practices Commission unanimously concluded that Arreguin's campaign accepted 18 illegal campaign donations totaling more than $3,000 - but he has YET to be held accountable.
PRESS RELEASE: On September 12, 2016, Berkeley mayoral candidate and Blackfeet Elder Zachary RunningWolf was arrested by the Oakland Police Department, and charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession—based on evidence collected six months earlier during a C.H.P. raid on his Occupy2Decolonize encampment, which seeks to redress injustices against native peoples and restore natural law in the face of catastrophic climate change.
RunningWolf was held in Santa Rita Penitentiary for 31 days for a victimless crime, despite Oakland’s Measure Z which makes marijuana possession the lowest law enforcement priority. As a result, he was completely prohibited from operating his campaign—he was prevented from attending four out of five of the mayoral debates, and Berkeley’s annual Indigenous Peoples' Day event. Furthermore, his representatives were barred from participating in these events on his behalf.
BERKELEY CAMPAIGN CENTER