Day 12 - Last Words: Oscar Grant III
"You shot me. You shot me."
Oscar Grant III, 1982-2009
In the early morning of January 1, 2009, after reports of a fight on a Bay Area Rapid Transit train, Officer Johannes Mehserle restrained Oscar Grant on the platform of the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, California. While attempting to restrain Grant, Mehserle said, "I'm going to taze him. I'm going to taze him." He stood up, unholstered his gun, and shot Grant in the back. Oscar Grant died the following day at Highland Hospital in Oakland. His last words are taken from a witness statement.
At the officer's bail hearing, his attorney claimed that Mehserle shot Grant because he mistakenly deployed his gun instead of his taser. In the preliminary hearing, Judge C. Don Clay concluded that the officer had not drawn his gun by mistake. At the trial, the jury found Mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter and not-guilty of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter charges. In January 2010 and June 2011 Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) agreed to pay a total of $2.8 million to settle lawsuits filed by relatives of Oscar Grant III. In 2013 director Ryan Coogler released a film based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant titled Fruitvale Station.
Sources: San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury News
"What happened to the civil rights movement is an indictment of America and Americans, and an enduring monument … to the breathtaking cowardice of this sovereign people.”
-James Baldwin, “Black Power,” 1968
Baldwin said,
Breathtaking cowardice.
Breath-taking:
the officer who shot Oscar Grant
took away his ability to breathe.
Taking:
the officer couldn’t take a second to
check that his taser wasn’t his gun.
King:
not Malcolm. King.
Baldwin said,
Breathtaking cowardice of this
sovereign people.
Sovereign:
adj. possessing supreme and
boundless power. n. monarch.