Transit cop in Oscar Grant killing found guilty of involuntary manslaughter
By: Michelle Schudel, http://www.pslweb.org

'Mehserle is guilty of murder--nothing less!'
The jury in the Oscar Grant murder case reached a verdict on Thursday, July 8. A Los Angeles jury found Johannes Mehserle, a white former Bay Area Rapid Transit cop, guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the killing of 22-year-old unarmed Black man, Oscar Grant. The verdict represents another crime against Grant and his family. It is not justice. More than that, it is another example of the racist crimes perpetrated daily by the police and the entire system against oppressed youth, especially Black and Latino.

Involuntary manslaughter is the lowest possible conviction Mehserle could have received. With this verdict, Mehserle likely will only get sentenced to a few years in prison. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years—two to four for involuntary manslaughter and up to six more because Mehserle killed Grant with a gun. Yet any other person, who is not a cop, would face 25 years to life, given similar circumstances. Mehserle will be sentenced on Aug. 6.

From the beginning, a pro-police bias permeated media coverage of the case. It was aimed at breaking down the natural public sympathy for Grant and his family as victims of police brutality. It demonized the victim and characterized the protests against Grant’s killing as “riots.”

In a pretrial hearing, the judge expressed that the outrage of Oakland’s Black community would result in an “unfair” trial. The judge ignored the problem of the corporate media’s bias toward the BART police. As a result, the trial was moved to Los Angeles, where a jury without any Black members was chosen. The deck was stacked.

The media’s role remained consistent throughout the trial. It attempted to create sympathy for Mehserle, while sidelining the victim of the crime. Once video footage of Grant’s killing was leaked, it was often described as “chaotic” and “hard to interpret,” in line with BART police statements. BART representatives were interviewed more often than the family of the victims.

With almost no commentary from Grant’s family or friends, Mehserle's blatant lies in testimony were given headlines. For example, Mehserle testified that he thought Grant “might” be reaching for a gun, and also that he thought he had fired his taser and not his gun.”After the verdict came down, Grant's family and activists expressed anger and outrage. Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, told the media: "This was murder. My son was murdered."

The outrage and anger felt by the Black community and the progressive movement is fully justifiable. For Oakland residents in particular, the killing of Oscar Grant is not an isolated incident, but part of a long history of racism and police terror. The only reason charges were brought against Mehserle was the militant response of the people to Grant’s murder. An organized movement arose and the capitalist state could not ignore it. It was forced to file murder charges against one of its own, even though it certainly did not want to do so.

The jury’s verdict in no way represents true justice for Grant--but the fact that Mehserle is going to prison at all should be attributed to the movement’s strength. This is a fact that cannot be ignored.
(for the entire article go to http://www.pslweb.org