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SFist Tonight
Angry community members showed up at today's BART board meeting. Although the BART board had an affected and somewhat curious moment of silence for Oscar Grant, Grant's death was overwhelmingly being labeled "an execution" by many people who showed up to voice their disgust and concern. "That was murder," shouted one man who spoke at this morning's meeting, which saw cops in riot gear just outside the BART Board Room at the Kaiser Center at the 20th Street Mall near Lake Merritt. The BART board plans on holding another, larger community meeting TBA. BART board members, according to reports, mentioned that they plan on "establishing some sort of police oversight committee," due to the Grant's killing, which is now being investigated independently by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. [ABC 7]
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Disarm BART Police.
Word. I concur. Disarm all the police!
No, not all police.
Why disarm all the police? So you and the thugs you support can trash our neighborhoods and terrorize law abiding citizens? Sorry ACJ but the riots that you feel are such a sincere expression of community opinion are precisely the reason that the vast majority of citizens instinctively support the police. Sure the BART police screwed up big time with respect to Oscar Grant, but I am not about to support disarming them -- they are protecting us against the mob-rule that you advocate.
I can fully understand why people would want to peacefully demonstrate against the tragedy of Oscar Grant's death, but once those protests become violent the protests become counter-productive and all the sympathy goes towards the cops.
People want to live in a civilized society not anarchy -- grow up and deal with it.
They will do just fine with some mace and some cuffs.
But they need to do something quick before this gets out of hand.
I have a theory about "out of hand." The innocent-affecting violence last night is directly related to the dehumanization of this case. The longer BART and the DA decline to do anything the more likely people aren't going to care what happens during the protests. It's a direct expression of the lawless (so far) attitude that people perceive BART and the DA to have: it doesn't matter what the law is and it doesn't matter that an LEO is not being charged for something that would have had any of us on the far side of an arraignment by now. This last point is incontrovertible.
I find it curious that the people who scream the loudest when the police mess up are the same ones who look the other way when it is black on black violent crime. Double standards abound.
That is absolutely not true, and you know it.
I'm not sure this makes sense, but it is a popular opinion on the sfist board for some reason.
Not only could many of these same 'people' been at whatever candlelight vigil to 'stop the violence", there is no equivalence between the BART cop shooting and urban violence.
None.
It's rather like criticizing MADD because some mothers have done a rather poor job raising their kids.
Each shooting of a black person is not the same, does not merit the same response, and is not laden with the same historical significance.
In other words, an ad hominem fallacy.
City College of SF police officers don't carry guns. They have been doing that for a few years. They just call SFPD for backup.
I said this in an earlier column, and I say it again:
I was a cop here for 30 years....here is my $0.02:
The ex-officer will be charged with either manslaughter or 2nd degree murder. Plain and simple. He screwed up big time. Having only been a cop for 2 years, he was still a rookie, and had not fully learned all he needed to be a truly effective officer.
Racially motivated? Not likely. All the officers responded to the fight call, after what was likely a long and tedious New Year's eve. Oscar, for whatever reason, decided he did not want to cooperate (look at his 'friends' in the video...most are compliant and are not reacting to the officers the way Oscar is).
For whatever reason, the ex-officer did the wrong thing in pulling his gun and firing. It is likely he intended to use his Taser, but again, because he had not been a cop long enough, he pulled the wrong tool, and we have the tragic results that followed.
As responsible members of a civilized society, we all need to follow the rules and laws that allow us the freedoms that we have. Treat each other with respect. Don't take what is not yours, don't victimize your fellow man, and recognize we each want to live our lives to the fullest.
Don't buy/sell/use illegal drugs. If you are going to drink, do it responsibly, and be sure that if you cannot control yourself, have someone with you who can.
If you get into a situation where the police are involved, DON'T BE AN IDIOT!! Don't fight the police. Especially with lots of witnesses, expect that they will do what they need to do, and they too will move on with their lives.
Oscar did not need to die on that platform, and I expect the ex-officer will be properly charged and tried. In the meantime, we ALL need to take a breath, step back, and let the system do what it is designed to do. Inflammatory remarks (especially by elected city officials in Oakland) are not going to make this any easier, and instead will only make this whole process more painful and damaging.
Violence and property destruction will solve nothing. Give the system a chance to work!!!!
CHILL OUT!!!
Stop mincing words and being a bunch of apologists for bad behavior. Stupid ghetto punks do stupid ghetto things and everyone is the toughest guy in the room until somebody else shoots you dead. Wasn't that moron Tupac the biggest swingin dick in the room until a bullet took him out. Or that other idiot Biggie? Despite being shot in front of hundreds of people, nobody saw nothing. Good for you.
The average person in Oakland turns a blind eye to the black on black murder epidemic there. That is a fact and I honestly believe it. How else can you explain drive-by's and afternoon corner shootings that nobody seems to see or report? Few people cooperate with the authorities and Oakland has one of the highest unsolved violent crime ratings in the country.
Kids with zero parental guidance have no respect for any authority and that kid had a record at the tender young age of 22 longer than you and I will never have. He was hardly a choir boy caught in the crossfire or an innocent bystander. He was an instigator who went looking for trouble and never made it home. So sad. I am just glad that I won't ever have to deal with him or his friends on BART ever again. Hopefully a lesson has been learned by all concerned. But I doubt it. Stupid is stupid.
That kid, regardless of being bound in chains, duct taped and stapled to the concrete pavement with 3 armed cops standing over him was still putting up a struggle right up until the moment that bullet hit him. I'll bet his lawyer doesn't want that tox-screen coming out any time soon.
Why?
I didn't create the problem; I just know it exists and am willing to see it for what it is.