The following is the transcript of a commentary which aired on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.I decided not to join in the protests in Oakland this week, even though a lot of my friends were out there. I was worried there would be random protesters, looking to start trouble, and their voices would be louder than the people looking for justice. While I was at home watching the news, I saw two different stories unfold. One was of senseless rioting, and people running around in chaos with unfocused anger. Then, I saw more video. Riot police grabbing kids and dragging them off by their necks.  The mere presence of riot police could be seen as a provocation— but we all know you can’t touch the police! It’s like being a child on punishment…you can’t hit parent, so you hit a wall, flip over a desk. Innocent people’s cars and businesses became that wall this week in Oakland. Being a black man who’s lived my whole life here, I see the violence as the culmination of residents’ frustration with police abuse of power. This is 2009, a year of change. Yet we’re still facing problems like police brutality…the same problems my mother and father faced more than 40 years ago. The difference now is, Oaklanders are enraged by a crime that can’t be covered up.  Oscar Grant’s killing was recorded with bystanders’ cell phones, and anyone with an Internet connection can witness the whole scene. You hear the crowd yelling at the officers to stop, just before Grant is shot in the back, point blank. With this BART police officer on the streets, I feel like I’m watching one of those cliché gangster movies where it seems like the bad guy is so powerful, no one wants to touch him. If I shot someone in front of a crowd, or even pulled out a gun for that matter, there’s no way I would be walking away. That’s why those kids rocked police cars, and broke windows.  Don’t get me wrong – Oakland is not a model city. Unfortunately, citizens are shooing each other too. But I saw something different on Election Day – the last time residents poured onto the streets. I didn’t hear about one shooting that night. We were in the streets, 500 deep, singing “Go Bama, go Bama!” People were playing capoeria and djembe drums.  There were very few police, and no problems. The presidential inauguration is days away. A dream come true for black Americans, for the country. And Oakland citizens take great pride in knowing they helped make it real by voting and grassroots action. But here in “The Town” this week, we don’t even know if we’ll accomplish something simple -- accountability for a publicly witnessed murder.  The young people I know say “we gon to be bout that action” until justice is served.             For NPR News, I’m Leon Sykes. A note about the photographs.   Photos for this story were appropriated from flickr streams under creative commons Attribution-noncommercial 2.0 Generic [Thomas Hawk],  Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic [Capt. Tim] and Attribution 2.0 Generic [NeitherFanboy] licenses.

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