Fruitvale, Oakland is currently in
the limelight as the backdrop for bouts of protests, prostitutes and violence. Most notable is the tragic death of Oscar
Grant, a twenty-two year old man who was shot by a BART police officer. The
2009 incident has made recent headlines, 2013, with a film adaptation retelling
the story of the fatal shooting. While I do not mean to deprive this occurrence
from its due attention it is important to note that amongst the issues
previously mentioned it accounts for a very minute portion of the areas
concerns.
A comprehensive investigation of
news reports in conjunction with local accounts has painted a gradient image of
student activism as well as unethical behavior. In light of the Grant incident
protests were prominent in the streets of Oakland in the attempt to express the
felt outrage of the citizens. Most notably, the protests turned to violence and
some locals have made mention that this violence took away from the intention
of the activism. This event however, has not been the exclusive genesis of
protests in the streets of Oakland. Gang violence on the infamous International Boulevard stirred students
to take action as they closed down local intersections to draw attention to
their concerns. Students opposed the gang injunction that they claimed gave
officials freedom to wrongly question and convict innocent members of their community. While these protests were not inspired by
positivity, the students managed to maintain a level of civility that the Oscar
Grant protesters could not. In my research I could find a single mentioning of
student led protests that ended in violence.
A deeper concern in the Fruitvale
area is the presence of sex trafficking in broad daylight. New reports
indicated that girls as young as thirteen have been involved in local
prostitution in International Boulevard,
or its local name of Brothel Boulevard.
While the media mainly focused on the age of the girls involved it
became clear that the locals were more concerned with the type of environment
that surrounded the area. The inevitable convergence of drug traffic as well as
promiscuous patrons led locals to take action. Some have gone as far as
creating documentaries in which prostitutes and pimps alike are spoken to in the
attempt to raise awareness of the issue.
Overall, the perceptions of the
media are rather negative and also very distant. While the popular media
concerns themselves with the tarnishing of California’s image the local have
far greater concerns for their own safety and comfort.
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