Outrage in Oakland After Cop Kills Unarmed Man: Piecing Together the Story

By AlterNet Staff, AlterNet. Posted January 14, 2009.

Then later, at 14th and Broadway, many black youths joined in the demonstration. They were chanting slogans like, "We're all Oscar Grant!" These black youth were very militant, they were facing down the riot cops and defiantly raising their fists in anger and solidarity.

Meanwhile, behind them on 14th Street, east of Broadway, masked white punks proceeded to smash car windows, shop windows, etc. After a couple of trash cans were turned over and lit on fire on the northeast and southeast corners of 14th and Broadway, the police began pushing the crowd down 14th. More cars were smashed, one SUV was set ablaze, and I clearly saw a small group of masked white kids smashing the windows of the three storefronts on the southeast corner of 14th and Webster.

All the way down 14th to Madison, black youth continued to face down the police, legitimately but militantly protesting, exercising their First Amendment rights. And the white punks continued to break shit.

Grant's family and friends begged protesters to stop writes the Mercury News:

"I am begging the citizens to not use violent tactics anymore," said Grant's mother, an emotional Wanda Johnson, who appeared with about 30 of Grant's relatives and friends at a news conference called by attorney John Burris at his East Oakland office.

"I know it's a very frustrating time," Johnson said, referring to the protracted police investigation into the shooting. "But Oscar would not want to see the violence and the fires. We believe this situation is going to come to a close, and justice will be served. I'm asking you, please, please stop it and let justice prevail. Please stop it."

The Chronicle writes the incident has incited a strong reaction because so many African Americans daily face the threat of police brutality.

"When is this going to stop?" the 29-year-old [African American man] shouted. "I'm sick of people acting like we deserve what we get, that because we are black, they can shoot us in the back and get away with it."

The [Grant] case has elicited a strong reaction, especially among African Americans, who long have said they frequently are stopped, handcuffed, beaten -- and even shot -- because of their race. Grant's attorney believes race played a role in how he and the other young men were treated by the BART police.

"I don't think the officer shot the gun because Oscar was black, but I think the way he approached the situation in an aggressive way was based on race," said attorney John Burris, who is representing Grant's family in their claim against BART. "If they were white, the officer might have asked them what was going on, rather than throw them in handcuffs."

Mark Harrison, a police-procedure consultant who has testified in use-of-force cases, said he, too, thinks the situation at the BART station escalated because of race.

"If they were kids from Orinda being rowdy on the way home from a Raiders game, I don't think it would have gone down the same way," Harrison said. "Police are supposed to be trained to deal with everyone. A pinstripe suit doesn't mean someone won't kill you, and baggy pants and a down jacket do not mean he will."

 As in most cities throughout America, trouble between black youth and police has a long history Oakland. The Mercury News writes:

"Historian [Steven] Lavoie said you can trace the history of troubled relations between Oakland minorities and police to the 1950s, when the lure of post-World War II jobs brought African Americans from the South, as well as white Southerners, many of whom would put on uniform and badge.

"The tension that resulted had a lot to do with who was hired, because a lot of the people from the South brought attitudes with them," he said. "Blacks, but also whites not willing to be as tolerant as Oakland historically had been."

See more stories tagged with: african americans, protests, police violence, shooting, oakland, oscar grant, bart, johannes mehserle

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