Oakland Riots
Officer Mehserle was placed on paid leave after the shooting. He later resigned from his position and refused to be interviewed by BART investigators. No news accounts have reported that Mehserle has been questioned yet by any of the investigators, including the District Attorney's office and the Oakland police, who were requested to investigate by Mayor Ron Dellums on January 8.
Peaceful demonstrators gathered to march in Oakland on January 7 in protest of Grant's death and the failure of police to arrest Mehserle. Crowds chanted, "We are all Oscar Grant." Later that evening anger flared. Some protesters attacked a police vehicle, breaking the windows, and making what looked like an attempt to flip it over. A garbage dumpster was set aflame. Some stores and cars were damaged. Mayor Dellums appeared on the street offering assurances and support to some peaceful participants. Oscar Grant's family has called for an end to any violence.
Tom Orloff, the District Attorney for Alameda County, said that the decision about whether Mehserle will be charged is pending the investigation, which is still ongoing.
Saturday, January 10, California Attorney General Jerry Brown entered the case after speaking with the N.A.A.C.P. He assigned a special prosecutor to monitor the investigation. "There’s an ancient saying that justice must not only be done but must also appear to be done,” Brown said.
Oscar Grant leaves behind his little girl, to whom he was devoted. "After his daughter was born four years ago, [he]...kept on driving around with two huge pink flags on his car that proclaimed, 'It's a girl,' until the material disintegrated."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Cindy D
Here is the train view. It's blurrier, but it's narrated by a reporter and you can see the officer who kills Grant from a more visible angle.
It's an important view to see.
2 - Roger Nowosielski
Cindy,
Get that website (sorry, copy onto browser address, still have problem with links).
Anyway, it's my neck of the woods; Fruitvale, Oakland, just a stone's throw from Alameda.
Thisis an account from East Bay Express, an alternative press, weekly publication, from Berkeley. I'll provide you shortly with local papers and local coverage.
Good job.
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
This isn't politics.
4 - Roger Nowosielski
Cindy,
Here's another one, from Oakland Post Newspapers, Oakland, one of the first black-owned newspapers in the country, started in the 60s by Mr. Berkley.
Used to work there and write op-ed pieces for them.
More to come,
Roger
5 - Roger Nowosielski
I guess they should have put you in a different section, Cindy. Let me see, Culture? Nope!
Come to think, we have no category for your subject matter. Out of luck again. Sorry!
6 - Cindy D
It is about police oppression. police are part of the state.
7 - Cindy D
In my world the state is politics. It's very political. How the cop isn't even arrested yet or even questioned.
How can civil rights not be politics?
8 - Cindy D
Gee, even Dave didn't say that. Now I will be thinking of how open minded Dave is.
9 - Cindy D
you lived in san francisco right?
10 - Roger Nowosielski
Cindy,
Just look up at the local rag, Alameda Sun. No mention of Oscar Grant. Interestingly, though. It's a bedroom community and virtually no crime except for small shit. All of a sudden, they have a rash of homicides. The sign of the times?
But in the neighboring Oakland, of course, it's almost an everyday occurrence.
11 - Roger Nowosielski
Cindy,
There IS hope for him.
12 - Cindy D
Unbelievable it doesn't mention him.
13 - Cindy D
who dave?
i'm getting quite a lot of respect for dave lately.
14 - Cindy D
police matthew are required in a political system that includes a centralized state. police are a part of that entity. part of that which enforces it.
15 - Roger Nowosielski
Come to think of it.
What if you were covering events in Johannensburg during the height of apartheid? Police matters wouldn't qualify, I bet, for inclusion in the Politics section. The'd be listed most likely under "Petty Crimes" or some such section of police blotter.
16 - Dave Nalle
This isn't politics.
It mentions Ron Dellums and Jerry Brown - what could be more political than that?
As for this incident, it makes me wonder just how much training BART police have. If they're like other transit cops they're the police force's rejects - often for psychological reason - and get a short version of police training, and probably shouldn't be trusted with a gun at all.
Dave
17 - Cindy D
Dave :-)
18 - Roger Nowosielski
The difference, though, Cindy is - it's just one person, and one person doesn't make a crowd. You need police brutality on a truly massive scale for it to count as a major event. No?
19 - Cindy D
Roger,
But it is on a massive scale. I wrote about this example. Here, I'll show you. I suppose I already see it as widespread. So, I didn't think to include that information for people who wouldn't necessarily see that. Okay, that helpful. I'm getting a link.
20 - Roger Nowosielski
Shame on you, Cindy. You usurped first place in the Politics section by sneaking up on me like that. (Reference to your smug remark to Dan Miller on my own thread.)
Roger
21 - Roger Nowosielski
I was only being facetious, Cindy! As I said earlier though a comment or two ago, it's a daily occurrence in Oakland. People are used to it there and don't care. Life is cheap, especially if you're in the flatlands, West Oakland, and other ghetto areas, especially if you're black. It is a real problem.
22 - Roger Nowosielski
Cindy,
It's almost impossible to imagine how things have deteriorated in parts of the Bay Area over the last twenty years. There are parts of Oakland, and a whole section of Richmond (North Richmond, in fact) where police won't even come in: entire areas and neighborhoods are run by drug lords, and they control the territory. Everyone sort of works for them. And that's in spite of the fact that there is a black church on almost every other corner, to match, I suppose an equal number of liquor stores. It's a city of blight, no hope whatsoever, just drug dealing. These kids have no future, and nothing is being done to change that.
You need some major overhaul, God knows what, to turn this situation around. It's a way of life, and everyone accepts that.
23 - Cindy D
Well, okay so technically, it's justice or law.
But, I will find it hard to write anything on this site that anyone would want to read.
Okay, so here are the Seattle videos:
This is only a few of the worst of Seattle alone.
More Seattle cases
24 - Cindy D
Roger,
They have all these elite proactive police teams. They are supposed to stop crimes before they happen. What do you imagine stopping crimes before they happen would entail?
They have been removed from some cities because they harass and brutalize people who haven't even committed any crimes.
25 - Roger Nowosielski
The first one is a good site, Cindy; the second one temporarily disabled.
But why do you think you have to apologize for anything? It's a very good piece of investigative reporting (second in the row), and you're very good at it.
So perhaps write a little commentary about it as a follow up: e.g., what can be done, what are to socio-economic-political conditions which perpetuate these situations, things of that sort.
Roger