Posted on 03 January 2012 by Myles Boisen
Oscar Grant march, Oakland CA. 01/01/12 (written for MSM news feeds obviously)
On the third anniversary of the killing of Oscar Grant III – an unarmed young black man shot in the back by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer – Bring The Ruckus, Occupy Oakland, and other community groups called a memorial march through the middle of Oakland. The two-hour march began at Oscar Grant Plaza (the hub of Occupy Oakland) and ended with a rally at the Fruitvale BART station, where Grant was shot by officer Johannes Mehserle as he lay face down on a train platform on New Year’s Eve 2009.
At today’s rally hundreds listened to the heartbreaking accounts of parents, grandmothers, and even young daughters whose loved ones have been killed by police or falsely imprisoned, with little response from law enforcement or elected officials. Sadly the vast majority of these cases occur in impoverished black and Latino communities in the Bay Area, where there is limited media coverage.
Oscar Grant’s case was unique, in that there were several cellphone videos taken of the shooting, resulting in a community outcry and an involuntary manslaughter conviction against Mehserle. The groundswell of support for Grant’s family – along with numerous high-profile protests aimed at BART administration and police brutality in general – is viewed as part of the genesis and foundation of Occupy Oakland.
Myles Boisen
