Oakland Agrees to Name Road in Honor of Oscar Grant, Now Up to BART

[Community leaders join together at Oakland City Hall on January 15. Shown (L to R) are: BART Board President Bevan Dufty, BART Director Lateefah Simon, Oscar Grant's aunt Bernice Johnson, Council President Rebecca Kaplan, Oscar Grant's mother Wanda Johnson and Cephus "Uncle Bobby" Johnson. Photo by PhotoArtist Gene Hazzard.]


The Oakland City Council's Life Enrichment Committee passed a resolution on January 15 to name a road adjacent to the West side of the Fruitvale BART Station between 33rd to 35th Avenues as "Oscar Grant Way."

It was determined the street was on BART property, and, BART Board President Bevan Dufty and BART Director Lateefah Simon spoke at the committee meeting in favor of the resolution.

"I want to thank Desley Brooks for putting in an effort to put this in today," said Oscar Grant's relative, Cephus "Uncle Bobby" Johnson.

"For 10 years I have been saying it is because of the community and political figures, and clergy and activists in the streets that prayed with and for us and speaking on behalf of us for Oscar's name to never be forgotten. Thank you. We will do what we've got to do to name this street," he said.

Said Oscar Grant"s mother Wanda Johnson, "I would first like to thank God and to the BART Directors for carrying this forward. l am so grateful today that you all see that Oscar's life lost was not in vain."

"His death has sparked a movement. One of the atonements is for BART to name the street after my son, Oscar Grant. Thank you for seeing this injustice and not ignoring it but acting," she said.

Council President Kaplan said, "We are here... to honor a life that was tragically cut short at the Fruitvale BART station. The activism of the family and the community sparked an international movement. We need to honor the life of Oscar Grant, the activism his death has sparked, and we need to continue to fight for a world where Black men and boys are not targets of these types of killings."

Said BART Board President Dufty: "I want to thank Oscar's mother for working with me. I want to apologize to the community, and to cake accountability for the delays that have occurred In naming this road. I am 100 percent in support and am committed to working with my colleague Lateefah Simon to correct this at the upcoming BART Board meeting on February 14."

In her remarks, Simon said "We are 10 years too late. I apologize to the community. The BART Board will move mountains to name this street after Oscar Grant. We will organize like Oscar's mother has organized internationally. We will do this. We have no choice."

The resolution was introduced last year by Councilmember Desley Brooks in one of her last official acts and co-authored by Council President Rebecca Kaplan. At the committee meeting, Councilmembers Loren Taylor and Lynette McElhaney were added as co-sponsors of the resolution. which was unanimously passed by the full city council on Tuesday, January 22.

Oscar Grant III was a 22-year-old African-American man who was fatally shot in 1he early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009 by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland.

Responding to reports of a fight on a crowded Bay Area Rapid Transit train returning from San Francisco, BART Police officers detained Grant and several other passengers on the platform at the Fruitvale BART Station. Two officers, including Mehserle, forced the unarmed Grant to lie face down on the platform.

Mehserle drew his pistol and shot Grant in the back. Grant was rushed to High land Hospital in Oakland and pronounced dead later that day.

The events were captured on multiple official and private digital video and privately- owned cell phone cameras and went viral. Huge protests against police actions took place in the following days.