On Oct. 23, the ILWU - in partnership with more than 50 other organizations - is shutting down the Port of Oakland to demand justice for Oscar Grant as the sentencing date for his murderer, convicted former BART cop Johannes Mehserle, approaches.

Organizer Jack Heyman, members of the Bay Area Labor Movement, Oscar Grant family members - led by his uncle Cephus “Bobby" Johnson - friend Jack Bryson Sr.  and attorney John L. Burris have announced the plan to shutdown all Bay Area ports this Saturday. The scheduled port shutdown is to support justice for Oscar Grant and to call for Judge Robert Perry to sentence former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle to the maximum prison time of 14 years.

During the shutdown, port workers will participate in a planned labor-led rally at Oakland City Hall from noon to 2 p.m. Organizers of the rally are expecting thousands of participants. The rally has the endorsement of Bay Area labor councils, religious organizations, civil liberties groups and community groups.

IF YOU GO

What: Rally for justice for Oscar Grant
When: Noon, Saturday, Oct. 23
Where: Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland

Groups that have endorsed the action include:

1. San Francisco Labor Council

2. Alameda Labor Council

3. Oakland Assembly for Justice for Oscar Grant

4. IWW, Bay Area Branch

5. San Francisco Bay View Newspaper- Willie Ratcliff, publisher; Mary Ratcliff, editor

7. It's About Time/Black Panther Party Alumni Committee

8. Prison Activist Resource Center

9. Campaign to End the Death Penalty - Bay Area

10. Kevin Cooper Defense Committee

12. IBU/SF Region

13. Kiilu Nyasha

14. Oakland Education Association

15. ILWU Local 34

16. Pacific Coast Pensioners’ Association

17. Oakland Community Action Network

18. ONYX

19. Community Rejuvenation Project

20. ANSWER

21. AFSCME Local 3299

22. UAW 2865 (UCB grad students)

23. Barrio Unido

24. Nation of Islam

25. Code Pink

26. October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression & Criminalization of a Generation

27. Revolution Club of the Bay Area

28. United National Anti-War Coalition

29. MORE Muni Operators and Riders for Public Transit

30. PUEBLO - People United for a Better Life

31. Radical Women

32. By Any Means Necessary

33. Socialist Action

34. International Socialist Organization

35. Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

36. Berkeley Copwatch

37. ILWU Local 34

38. Oakland Green Youth

39. Art in Action

40. AFT 2121

41. SEIU Local 1021

42. National Lawyers Guild (Bay Area)

43. ACLU (Paul Robeson Chapter) AWAITING

44. Los Angeles Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant

45. Danny Glover

46. California School Counselor Association

47. California Association of Religious Values in Counseling

48. The Black Organizing Project

49. United Educators of San Francisco