New Year’s Eve 2008 is memorable to me for so many reasons. The impromptu threesome…the first time I saw a vagina up close (in the Castro no less! UGH)…the debauchery that night will go down in history as some of the silliest mess of my life. But it’s the aftermath of that night that will stick with me forever.
Noah Berger/AP Photo
I was actually supposed to be in Oakland that night. Club Papi, where I had spent New Years Eve 2007 had moved to Tijuana and I didn’t want to cross the border by myself. Instead I was going to go to Bench and Bar, but no one wanted to drive (and had all intentions of getting drunk). So I stayed in San Francisco.
When a roommate told me about Oscar Grant being killed, I didn’t believe it at first.
“What do you mean they just killed a guy at the BART station?” I asked confused.
It was close to a week later and I hadn’t heard anything up until that point. It didn’t make any sense.
“They got it on tape man, turn on the news.”
I watched the cell phone footage with horror.
It seems pretty clear to me: an unarmed black man was shot in the back and killed by police. In my book that’s murder. I don’t need white men “adding depth” as if my eyes are lying to me.
I see an unarmed black man being shot in the back and killed by police. Period.
I understand these type of situations are complicated, my father was a cop. But sometimes the simplest answer is often the most accurate one.
So a year and a half later, I don’t have that much to say. I’m nub to be honest with you.
To add insult to injury, you can only imagine if “the powers that be” had invested in as much training as they did preparing for the “riots” they expected to come after the verdict Oscar Grant might still be alive today.
Most people see this as a race issue, but I think it’s as much about class as it is race. If OJ Simpson showed that a black man with money in America can get away with murder, Oscar Grant as well as Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo and all the other cases of unarmed black men being killed by police (and there are quite a few) are examples of how black men without a lot of money can be murdered at any moment, for any reason.
So as the weeks go by, people will forget…people will move on. But I, a black man in America cannot. There is no day off from that job (trying to stay alive).
Here are some more productive quotes from around the web:
No officer of the law would pull a taser on a suspect they thought was reaching for a gun.
Minister Keith Muhammad: Exclusive: Oscar Grant’s Family Speaks Out As Jury Deliberates (Jasmyne Cannick)
This remains a country where black men are still dying, unarmed, face down, at the hands of police, and where we all know that communities have very little recourse.
Oscar Grant Verdict: The Riot that Didn’t Happen (Colorlines)
The officer’s violent history was covered up by everyone, including “liberal” media. This made it easier to accept the verdict as reasonable.
Marc Lamont Hill via Twitter
Seems to me, in this country, we only snap into action AFTER we’ve lost all other choice, and by that time, the only thing left to do is mourn.
commenter UrFriendlyCapitalismKilla: Mehserle’s Letter of Regret for Killing Oscar Grant (Colorlines)
The canyon of difference that separates some of us from others deepens and widens.
commenter Popeye: Feds opening investigation into transit killing after Oakland protests (Tulsa World)
No winners in the Oscar Grant verdict. Luckily three different cameras captured it or else the guy would still be on the beat today.
DJ iFM via Twitter
Lebron James has value and Michael Jackson is banking more in death than in life, yet whatever value the rest of us [black men] have remains to be seen.
Michael Ralph via Twitter
The spectacle of the press fawning over LeBron James while Oscar Grant lies murdered, dead and buried says a lot about the way America wants to see black men: entertain us or your life has no value.
Verdict in the Oscar Grant Shooting Trial: No Justice (Racism Review)
ABC News, on threat of violence after the Oscar Grant verdict: “People just want to get home and be safe.” So did Oscar Grant on New Years Eve.
Liliana Segura via Twitter
We have never as a black people counted.
unidentified: Peace protest from 14th and Broadway (Zennie Abraham)
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