Sunday afternoon, I sat in on one of the several town hall meetings held to discuss the shooting of a Hayward man by BART police.
The community and local leaders stepped up to the mic, one by one, to express their frustration and concern over the senseless murder of Oscar Grant III of Hayward. It was similar to the other community meetings, town halls and public protests over the past two weeks, where people were allowed to voice their opinions.
However, during this gathering, there was a point made by Oakland Councilwoman Nancy Nadel (District 3) that I, and I’m sure others, have forgotten.
“There is one issue in particular that I think we need to deal with … the healing of everyone who was harmed,” she said. “We have to take some action in reaching out to them. And ask them what they need to be healed.”
She’s right. We, as a community, have been so immersed in finding answers as to why former BART officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed Grant – and rightfully so – that we have failed to realize there were additional victims on the Fruitvale station platform that early morning.
The young men involved went through something that goes deep – they watched a friend be killed in front of their eyes, within a few feet, for no apparent reason.
As we continue our search for answers, we need to reach out to these “survivors” of the BART New Year's Day shooting and offer them our care and assistance.
Read more coverage at The Globe Newspapers.
Showing posts with label New Year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Year. Show all posts
Monday, January 12, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Bay Area residents demand answers
A moment of silence during Thursday morning’s Bay Area Rapid Transit board of directors meeting broke up more than 12 hours of peaceful protests and civil unrest in response to the killing of Oscar Grant.
Read more ...
Read more ...
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Conflicting stories
For Oscar Grant, the New Year only lasted about two hours.
The 22-year-old San Leandro resident reportedly was part of two groups of men who had been fighting on a Dublin-Pleasanton bound train when BART police boarded and removed them. As the men were detained on the Fruitvale station platform, Grant was fatally shot, leaving behind a 4-year-old daughter.
To those outside the Bay Area, this incident may seem like law enforcement officers who in doing their job to control unruliness, accidently shot a man who later died at the hospital. For those of us who live in the East Bay – specifically Oakland – this looks like another case of law enforcement covering their shields to look good.
Why was an unarmed man, laying or sitting on the ground, shot? If Grant and the other men were handcuffed prior to his being shot, why were guns and Tasers drawn and ready to fire? BART officials confirm that none of the men detained were armed so why did one officer feel a gun was more warranted than a Taser?
Do BART police know how hard it is for someone sitting or laying down with their hands cuffed behind their back to stand and come at them with no warning? If Grant wasn’t handcuffed when he was shot, why were handcuffs placed on him while he was injured … and then removed “before the media got there,” according to witnesses?
Oh … the story gets better. Allegedly, none of the station cameras were working to record the incident. However, after review, one camera was functioning – of course, the one that captured nothing to help BART’s case.
The mother of Grant’s daughter has hired civil rights attorney John Burris to handle the case. And that’s a good thing.
Too many times our young men are shot and/or killed under questionable circumstances. And too many times these men are of color and don’t have the means or voice to have a violation of their civil rights investigated properly.
Burris’ voice is one that people listen to and I hope it will force BART officials and the officers involved in the shooting incident to tell the truth.
Accidents do happen and will. But lying about it and/or covering up what really happened – even a small part of it – is just as bad as shooting someone intentionally.
And plain and simple … that’s wrong.
The 22-year-old San Leandro resident reportedly was part of two groups of men who had been fighting on a Dublin-Pleasanton bound train when BART police boarded and removed them. As the men were detained on the Fruitvale station platform, Grant was fatally shot, leaving behind a 4-year-old daughter.
To those outside the Bay Area, this incident may seem like law enforcement officers who in doing their job to control unruliness, accidently shot a man who later died at the hospital. For those of us who live in the East Bay – specifically Oakland – this looks like another case of law enforcement covering their shields to look good.
Why was an unarmed man, laying or sitting on the ground, shot? If Grant and the other men were handcuffed prior to his being shot, why were guns and Tasers drawn and ready to fire? BART officials confirm that none of the men detained were armed so why did one officer feel a gun was more warranted than a Taser?
Do BART police know how hard it is for someone sitting or laying down with their hands cuffed behind their back to stand and come at them with no warning? If Grant wasn’t handcuffed when he was shot, why were handcuffs placed on him while he was injured … and then removed “before the media got there,” according to witnesses?
Oh … the story gets better. Allegedly, none of the station cameras were working to record the incident. However, after review, one camera was functioning – of course, the one that captured nothing to help BART’s case.
The mother of Grant’s daughter has hired civil rights attorney John Burris to handle the case. And that’s a good thing.
Too many times our young men are shot and/or killed under questionable circumstances. And too many times these men are of color and don’t have the means or voice to have a violation of their civil rights investigated properly.
Burris’ voice is one that people listen to and I hope it will force BART officials and the officers involved in the shooting incident to tell the truth.
Accidents do happen and will. But lying about it and/or covering up what really happened – even a small part of it – is just as bad as shooting someone intentionally.
And plain and simple … that’s wrong.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Boy … what a year
On Jan. 1, 2008, I was feeling pretty good about the year in front of me.
Eight months later, I had been laid off, experienced financial woes and personal struggles, said goodbye to a pet and a very dear friend and had begun counting the seconds until I could say “Good riddance!” to the Year of the Rat.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)