While the rest of us were bringing in the new year with family and friends, eagerly anticipating everything that 2009 had to offer, an African American male in California was not so fortunate.
Oscar Grant, a 22 year old African American, was shot and killed on New Years Day in Oakland, California. The whole incident started when Bay Area Rapid Transit police (BART) responded to a fight at one of the metro stations. Once the fight wsa broken up, BART officers detained and handcuffed the three African American males, including Oscar, who had been in the scuffle. Video taken by several witnesses on their cell phone cameras show Oscar involved in a brief struggle with officers. Then while he was handcuffed and lying on his stomach one officer came and placed his knee on the man's head. Then another officer, 27 year old Johannes Mehserhle, pulled out his gun and shot him once in the back. The cell phone video showed the reaction from the stunned onlookers. Mehserhle himself appeared to be in shock, placing his hands on his head and looking around at the other officers. The other officers looked at him in disbelief. Several seconds pass before anyone attempts to give Grant any medical attention. He died a short time later.
Since then, there has been rioting and protests over the killing in the city of Oakland. Johannes fled to Nevada because of death threats he recieved after the killing. Within the last few days the officer was arrested and charded with the murder of Oscar Grant. It remains to be seen what will happen at the trial.
At this point there are more questions than answers. What started the fight that the officers responded to? What were the officers and Oscar Grant saying to each other while they struggled? Why did Mehserhle find it neccessary to draw a gun on an unarmed man? One thing is for sure, the video doesn't lie. While all this was happening the other two suspects were just sitting there handcuffed. No one else was struggling, no one attempted to run away. Oscar himself was unarmed and already handcuffed and pinned by an officer. Even if he was resisting, the use of a gun in this case was an unlawful and unnessesary escalation of force. And what about the officer's apparent surprise over the shooting? Mehserhle had been on the force for two years so this wasn't his first night on the job. The gun's safety should have been on. Better yet, the gun never should have been drawn.
It is important to remember that the entire story still hasn't been told. No one has yet interviewed Mehserhle to get his side of the story. The tragedy of the entire episode can't be overstated. Oscar leaves behind a wife and a little kid, a family that will never see their husband and father again. Meanwhile the community is out for blood. Several people have been arrested in the past few weeks for rioting and destrucion of property.
All of this could have been avoided if cooler heads would have prevailed. Even as an optimistic writer who thinks that race relations have come a long way in this country, there is obviously still work to be done. Police brutality is not a new phenomonon, but it is certainly one that statistics show disproportionately impacts minorities. Did Oscar die because he was Black? Was it because Johannes was White? These are not easy questions to answer.
Obviously the vast majority of police in America would not have acted in the way this officer did. Nor can this automatically be totally attributed to racism on the part of the officer. There could be many other factors that were responsible for this unauthorized use of force. Whatever the reasons though, it makes you wonder what it means to be a young Black man in America, especially when your life could be on the line. Our hearts and prayers are with the family of Oscar Grant. As to the question of Mehserhle's guilt or innocence, I can't say. That is for a jury to decide. What do you think?
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