Is It Surprising A Riot Happened?
Written by: Kim Sawyer
For the last couple of days, I’ve been in a debate with myself on whether or not to write about the following story. But, I see things have escalated, so I decided to finally write something. Let me preface what I’m about to write with this: There aren’t any excuses for this that, in my opinion, are legitimate. Anyway, here’s the story:
On January 1, 20009, in Oakland, California, police officers forced an unarmed, 22-year-old Oscar Grant, to the ground and held him face-down on a crowded BART, the San Francisco Bay Area‘s commuter rail system’s, train platform. Suddenly one of the officers drew his gun and shot the man in the back. The bullet entered Grant’s back and ricocheted to his lung area, killing him almost instantly. According to the news reports, the officer thought he was pulling the trigger on his stun gun! Huh?!! You mean to tell me a licensed firearm carrier can’t tell the difference between a stun gun and a real gun?! Sorry, I don’t believe it.
On Wednesday, angry demonstrators smashed storefronts, set fire to cars and clashed with officers equipped with riot gear and tear gas in downtown Oakland. I am not surprised one bit surprised that a riot has occurred. And not because Grant was Black. Heck, I am of the opinion a protest should occur, regardless of the victim’s race. But you know what gets my blood boiling on this? The officer remains free and has not been charged with any wrongdoing! Why?!! This entire incident was captured on video via someone’s cell phone!
The officer who shot Oscar Grant has been identified as Johannes Mehserle. Prior to Wednesday’s riot, he was placed on paid leave. However, on Wednesday, he resigned from the BART’s police force. Amazingly, Mehserle refuses to speak with investigators about this incident.
In an unsurprising move, Grant’s family filed a $25 million wrongful-death claim against BART, and relatives want Mehserle to be criminally charged.
This video is all over the internet. I refuse to watch it because I don’t want to see it, but click here if you wish to see it. Let me know what you think about this situation. It’s so sad.
January 9th, 2009 at 6:57 am
I always try to look at both sides of a situation because I believe there are two sides to every story, sometimes three or four, but I am stuck here! I understand how we all make knee jerk reactive decisions that if we had had time to process more thoroughly, we would have definitely chose a different route, but I get so tired of hearing police officers say “I thought” after taking someone’s life and destroying a family! Putting a bullet in someone is too serious an act to “think” and not know! On television and in movies, if someone where to shoot someone with a gun straight in the back, they would be called a cold blooded killer. Well…..
Riots? You don’t say!