riots in oakland over police murdering black youth

[Andrewnaqi]

Time for calm - and answers

Furious over the eyewitness videos showing a BART police officer shooting an unarmed man in the back on New Year's Eve and frustrated by BART's inadequate public communication about the event, protesters in Oakland have taken their feelings to the streets.

Their anger is understandable, though the violence and vandalism are inexcusable.

Officials within both BART and Oakland should move more assertively to address the public's questions and concerns about this shooting. We've seen all the elements of this story too many times before before - eyewitness videos, a secretive police force, delayed official actions in response to a tragedy, and mounting public anger.

At a meeting of BART's Board of Directors Thursday, angry members of the public outlined their demands: an independent oversight board for the BART police, and for BART officials to turn over the investigation to state and federal authorities. Both of these demands are fully warranted, and members of the BART board should implement them. It's unconscionable that BART officials dragged their feet on interviewing the officer involved for days and days - and now they have no chance to do so, because he resigned. Also, an "internal investigation" won't be public or transparent, so the community would be left to speculate, and probably grow even angrier, about what happened.

Regarding the independent oversight board, it's a wonder that BART doesn't have one already. San Francisco and Berkeley both have ones for their police departments, and this isn't the first time that BART has gotten complaints for what Adam Keigwin, state Sen. Leland Yee's communications director, calls a "cowboy attitude."

Yee has just filed legislation to create an independent oversight board for BART police. "We've heard from constituents in the past that they (BART police officials) haven't dealt with situations in a way that's appropriate," Keigwin said. "The BART board of directors have had years to institute some sort of mechanism for the public to be heard, and they haven't done that."

Now's the time.


This article appeared on page B - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle


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[Andrewnaqi]

Re: riots in oakland over police mudering black youth

(01-08) 13:13 PST Oakland -- After sitting silently through more than five hours of public testimony laced with outrage, sadness and demands for justice over the fatal shooting of an unarmed man by a BART police officer, the Bay Area rail agency's elected directors one by one offered apologies, some of them tearful, to the victim's family.

They also vowed to mend relations with the community.

"We must learn from our mistakes and we must make sure this never happens again," Director Carole Ward Allen told the crowd. "I want to hear everything you have to say. You have every right to hold us accountable."

The directors and BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger promised a thorough investigation into the killing of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Hayward father who was shot and killed by BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle early New Year's Day on the platform at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland.

"Whether it was a tragic accident or something else is a question that the investigations hopefully will answer," said board President Thomas Blalock.

Mehserle was one of several officers who were attempting to restore order following reports of a fight aboard a train. Video footage of the shooting, captured by fellow passengers and made available on Web sites, has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Mehserle resigned from the force and refused to give an account of what happened. A lawyer representing Grant's family has filed a $25 million claim against BART.

"That man did nothing wrong that should have cost him his life," said Director Joel Keller, who broke down during his remarks.

"The fact this has happened is crushing," added Director Bob Franklin.

The directors, who took no official action Thursday, announced several initiatives they plan to pursue in coming weeks.

Among them:

-- Creating a board committee to examine BART police procedures.

-- Bringing in the state attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice to help investigate the incident; BART, the Alameda County district attorney's office and the Oakland Police Department already are involved in the investigation.

-- Creating a civilian police oversight system - a recommendation echoed Thursday by state Sen. Leland Yee and Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, both San Francisco Democrats. They proposed legislation Thursday to move the plan forward.

-- Holding a community forum, perhaps as early as Saturday.

The board began its session with a moment of silence in honor of Grant, and with an offer of condolences to his family.

The directors' comments came after testimony of citizens and elected officials who crammed into the board's main hearing room and two overflow rooms nearby as they waited to be heard. Dozens more stood outside the building at 20th and Harrison streets.

"There's a community that is outraged, there is a community that is angry as a result of what we saw on these videos," Oakland City Council member Desley Brooks told the board.

Agency officials have been under fire from some community members for not moving fast enough on the investigation or in addressing public concerns. Several board members and high-ranking officials said they have been working behind the scenes, and acknowledged they could have done a better job communicating.

"We have not handled this correctly, and we know it," BART Director Lynette Sweet said.

Agency spokesman Linton Johnson said BART is consulting with the same crisis communications strategist who worked with the San Francisco Zoo after the fatal Christmas Day 2007 tiger mauling, to help handle the fallout and get out the agency's message of sorrow and vow to be open about what happened without jeopardizing the investigations.

Thursday's regular BART board meeting agenda was scrapped to allow the public to address the board. It was their first chance to address BART officials since the killing. Speakers were allowed three minutes each, but many of them ran over the time limit and were not cut off. Among the speakers were black clergy members, NAACP leaders and community organizers.

"We need some accountability on the part of BART," said the Rev. Lawrence VanHook, pastor of Community Christian Church for Christ in Oakland. "The only way to restore public confidence is to bring this man to justice immediately."

Dereca Blackmon of a group called Coalition Against Police Execution said, "We want this moment to be a beginning of the end of police brutality - not just in Oakland, but across this country."

Another speaker, who identified himself as Neder Bey, demanded the arrest of the BART officer involved in the shooting and told the board that if protesters "want to riot and tear up the city, I say God bless them."

E-mail the writers at [email protected] and [email protected].

This article appeared on page A - 12 of the San Francisco Chronicle


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[Andrewnaqi]

Re: riots in oakland over police mudering black youth

pictures from riot

[halfwaytree]

Re: riots in oakland over police mudering black youth

After a thorough investigation those transit police will be found to have acted appropriately despite the videos showing otherwise.

Video don't mean a thing when it comes to cops abusing their powers. They are truly above the law.

[Andrewnaqi]

Re: riots in oakland over police mudering black youth

yes they are always innocent, especially against black people.

[Suesumba]

Re: riots in oakland over police mudering black youth

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Andrewnaqi</div><div class="ubbcode-body">yes they are always innocent, especially against black people. </div></div>

poor guy. one minute he's sitting there doing the soduku puzzle, the next the dyam police fling him dung a grung and buss two shat inna him back.