All photos by Daniel Garcia.
This will be my first post in a short series over at my blog The Mustard Seed on the shooting, protest, and riots, over the execution of Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale Bart Station in Oakland, CA. Here is a short brief on how KTVU news described the incident:
[Grant] appearing to cooperate with officers…Moments later two officers can be seen moving Grant from a seated position against the wall and then onto the floor. Officers position Grant face first on the floor with one officer near his head, a second near his back, and a third officer standing near by. There appeared to be a brief struggle, then a two year veteran Bart officer stands, draws his weapon, and fires.
These were the last moments of 22-year-old Oscar Grant III, a peacemaker, a son, a father. Yet to the police he was none of these things, to them, he was just another Black male. And because he was just another Black male his four-year-old daughter will grow up without a father and more than likely will have very little memory of him to hold onto as she matures in her years: no happy father’s days, no piggy back rides, and no father-daughter dance at her wedding.
The rally was attended by (my estimates) over 500 people and possibly up to 600. The interesting thing about this rally was it was not dominated by “activist” and “organizer veterans.” There were quite a few people I talked to for whom this was their first major political rally, there were also quite a few families and children, the crowd was majority people of color, had a lot of high school and college youth, and even had some acquaintances of mine I thought I’d never see at a rally.
As I arrived at the rally at 3:30 pm there was about 200 to 300 people there at the time with many media vans and reporters as well as cop cars lined up all over the Bart station. The speaking area was pretty crowded and I couldn’t see the speaker (from the ANSWER Coalition) but I was able to jot down what he was saying:
This cop was doing his job, let me tell you. Because the police are trained to do one thing. To keep poor people in check!
Property was destroyed and people endangered last night in downtown Oakland. Store windows were broken (how are the shopkeepers responsible for the behavior of BART police?) and there were many arrests. Most major newspapers, especially in the Bay Area, carry stories, some with many pictures.
I didn’t know Oscar Grant, but I do work in downtown Oakland. How all of this is supposed to honor his memory or advance social justice is a mystery to me. It mostly seems to have been a crowd that got out of hand.
OK, whatevs, what does a small group of folks who broke away from the rally and smashed up a bunch of stuff hours after the rally ended have to do with my post and people’s speeches, concerns, and fears and as well as Oscar Grant’s death?
Jeez.