We Are All Oscar Grant

Andrew N. Farrens
Streetgangs.com Staff Writer
June 15, 2011 | 8:33 p.m.

On Sunday, a beautiful sunny afternoon, a diverse crowd of people gathered outside the Fruitvale BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station in Oakland, California to protest the release of former BART police officer, Johannes Mehserle, who shot Oscar Grant III January 1, 2009 at the Fruitvale BART Station. Mehserle was released Monday at exactly 12:01 a.m. after serving eleven months of his two year sentence. A jury last year determined that Mehserle, 28, was guilty of involuntary manslaughter and using a firearm in the commission of a crime. Mehserle could have faced a maximum of fourteen years in prison but in his eternal wisdom, Judge Robert Perry sentenced him to two years, which is the minimum sentence for his conviction. On the day of sentencing, Judge Perry threw out the gun enhancement charge, declaring to the jury and courtroom that he was “troubled by the jury’s findings.”

At the time of the shooting, Grant was lying on the ground of the BART station face down, with his arms behind his back while surrounded by at least three other officers. The incident was captured on video by many cell phone cameras. The BART police handled the situation by closing the doors of the train, moving it on to the next station, and unjustly confiscating peoples’ cell phones, so that the video could not be released to the public. Fortunately, with the many forms of modern technology that humans now have at their disposal, it is almost impossible to hide the truth of the misdeeds of our public officials, such as our police officers, politicians, and religious personalities. The video was leaked onto YouTube and within a few hours, the video had gone “viral.”

Mehserle testified during the trial that he did not intentionally shoot Oscar Grant. He claimed that he mistook his service weapon, a Glock pistol, for his X26 Taser. This is very odd because those two items are very different and it would not be easy to mistake the sleek grip of a hand-gun for the bulkier feel of a Taser. The manual for the Taser X26 reports that the weapon weighs seven ounces, while the average weight of a Glock pistol is at a minimum over twenty ounces. The really strange and therefore suspicious fact is that most police issued Glocks are a very dark color, usually midnight black, while the Taser X26 has bright yellow markings on its surface and also has a two-digit LED screen. The difference between the two weapons is a vast chasm where Oscar Grant’s blood pooled and immediately stained Mehserle’s defense of mistaking the weapons in “the heat of the moment.” Regardless of what was happening, Mehserle was a trained officer that should have been able to keep his wits about him in this type of situation considering that he received the same training as all other BART officers.

The injustice of the case brought protesters to the street even before the trial, conviction, and release. Downtown Oakland erupted in chaos and anarchy the night after the shooting occurred and other violent protests took place during the past two years in Oakland. On Sunday, as protestors gathered at the Fruitvale BART station, almost a hundred officers watched the crowd for any signs of trouble. As the police helicopters flew through the air, a dozen police motorcycles readied themselves to escort the protest marchers down International Boulevard to the Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland and the protesters blocked off the corner of Broadway and 14th Street. Many stores closed early and some even boarded their doors and windows to protect against the damage they had suffered from previous protests. The only business open in the immediate area was Pizza Man, who did a brisk trade with the hungry protesters. At least ten unmarked units were present, along with many patrol cars. Undercover police officers floated through the crowd at the rally, obvious with their noticeable ear pieces stuck deep within their ears. The police expected the worst, even as the speakers and family members asked for peace and nonviolence during the march. The rally and march did end peacefully, with only one arrest made. The people made their voices heard and demanded justice for Oscar Grant legitimately.

A family from Stockton, California also spoke to the crowd Sunday afternoon. Their son, James Rivera, Jr. was shot and killed by Stockton Police Officers Eric Azarvand, a fourteen-year department veteran; Gregory Dunn, who has been with the department for eight years and San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Deputy John T. Nesbitt, who has eleven years at the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Department. Rivera, 16, of Stockton, had already escaped from the San Joaquin County Juvenile Hall, where he was being held on felony charges. While on the run, Rivera was suspected of committing new crimes and when the Stockton Police spotted him in North Stockton driving a minivan, the police and Rivera became entangled in a high speed chase. The officers intentionally caused a collision and Rivera lost control of the van. It slammed into the garage of a residence, which the police quickly surrounded, and when the van began to reverse out of the hole in the garage, the officers opened fire into the back of the vehicle. Rivera, Jr. was struck multiple times and died. The police officers said that they “feared for their lives.” Neighbors of the house where the shooting took place claimed that the officers had an M16 assault rifle with armor piercing bullets at the scene. Stockton Police Department spokesman Pete Smith denied that armor piercing bullets were used. “There’s absolutely no validity to that,” said Smith. “An M-16 rifle was not fired at that vehicle or used at that scene.”

This incident and many more throughout the State of California has certainly brought to light the gestapo tactics employed by the police. The Central Valley is an area where many shootings have occurred, with little or no repercussions for the officers. An organizational speaker at the protest rally was quoted as saying “they operate by being blue by day and white by night,” implying that the police sponsored and participated in violence against innocent citizens. The family of Rivera, Jr. and the family of Oscar Grant III have both filed civil lawsuits against the police, in an effort to find justice that many believe has been denied.

The shooting of Oscar Grant may have been an accident; and there was no premeditation on the part of Mehserle and I sincerely doubt that he went to work that night, New Year’s Eve, with the intention of killing a young black male, but the tragedy of this story is the immediate lies and the cover-up. Mehserle had his pistol out because that is what officers are trained to do. I am not sure why the safety of his pistol was not engaged at the time of the shooting or even why he had his finger on the trigger because when you are pointing a gun at someone, you never touch the trigger unless you intend to use it.

An innocent person shot by the police is not new. Despite what color you are, if you are poor or just happen to make a horrible, stupid mistake, there is constant, continuous police harassment. A sad truth is that some, but not all, of the police are not there to help, as they claim, but rather to judge whether or not you belong in the system. Once in the system, certain aspects of your life are basically ruined. You can overcome it sometimes, but many folks climb to the top, only to slide right back down, a product of their environment.

As a white male, I have many relations with people of color. I grew up in Stockton, where the police are notorious for shooting first and asking questions later. I have witnessed horrible things the police have done to my friends. An old roommate of mine in West Oakland was once pulled over at a liquor store and he exited out of his car before he realized the police were there. A female police officer ran over to him with her gun pointed at him, screaming that he needed to get back in his car or she would shoot him. She then dragged him out of his car, pulled down his pants and boxers in the middle of rush hour traffic on College Avenue, informing him at the same time that he was lucky that she was not a rookie because she would have probably shot him and added she would have been justified.

I happen to carry a KA-Bar knife that hangs from my belt. I wear this knife every day; it is sort of a good luck charm and in California, it is completely legal to carry as long as it is in full view, which is how I have always carried it. The police still challenge people’s civil rights. For example, one day I stepped outside of my house to speak to several Stockton Police Officers who were there because of a possible domestic incident. Walking toward the four police officers, I voiced a greeting but before I was through with the sentence, they had pulled their guns out and told me to put my hands in the air. The police then detained me, taking the knife, and cuffing my hands behind my back, all the while informing me that they could have shot me right then and there and that they would have been completely justified. My mother was a witness that I had done nothing wrong, nor had I even reached for the knife. I argued with the officers about this and they all insisted that shooting me would have been within their rights of deadly force, even though the knife was legal and not in any way concealed.

This incident astonished me and proved that the mentality of the police can be twisted and maliciously deformed when it comes to the rights of the innocent law abiding citizens that they are here to “serve and protect.” I do not find it surprising that many police departments have removed the decal on their patrol cars that used to say “to protect and serve” because that is no longer their intention. In that, at least they are being honest.

http://s1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc382/andrewnfarrens/Oscar%20Grant%20Protest/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QOuIYCo9qc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncNXjd-hoBA&feature=related

http://www.streetgangs.com/features/061511_oscar_grant_we_are_all