KTVU Channel 2 and other Bay Area stations have been showing video of, and the SF Chronicle are reporting about angry protests in Oakland over the horrific BART police shooting of unarmed man Oscar Grant on New Year's Day:
A protest over the fatal shooting by a BART police officer of an unarmed man mushroomed into a violent confrontation tonight, as a faction of protesters smashed a police car and storefronts, set several cars on fire and blocked streets in downtown Oakland....
The protest started peacefully shortly after 3 p.m. at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, where BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant of Hayward to death early New Year's Day. BART shut down the station well into the evening commute, although the demonstration there was peaceful.
However, shortly after nightfall, a group of roughly 200 protesters split off and head toward downtown Oakland, prompting the transit agency to close the Lake Merritt station.
Oakland Police Officer Michael Cardoza parked his car across the intersection of Eighth and Madison streets, to prevent traffic from flowing toward Broadway and into the protest. But he told The Chronicle that a group of 30 to 40 protesters quickly surrounded his car and started smashing it with bottles and rocks.
More at Daily Kos. It includes this YouTube video showing how Oaklanders have lost faith in the police - taunting arresting officers "why don't you shoot him?" and "pigs go home."
I've specifically tried to avoid calling this a "riot" and oversensationalizing this, because the protest's turn shouldn't take away from the real story here, which is the growing intensity of public outrage over the obviously unjustified shooting death of Oscar Grant at Fruitvale Station by BART officer Johannes Mehserle. Mehserle has refused to answer questions about the shooting, and BART police have apparently been VERY slow to get information.
The shooting death, and the public outcry, may well be predictable outcomes of three decades of militarizing the police, limiting and eroding fundamental Constitutional protections of individual rights, and a deliberate decision by many Americans to simply abandon cities like Oakland to their fate.
When police officers feel they can act with impunity, the public loses faith in their honesty and their ability to fairly offer justice. Police brutality and even murders have become all too commonplace in many American communities. And let us not forget that many of the practices of Guantanamo Bay were first tried out in American prisons.
Whatever happens in Oakland tonight, and in the coming days and weeks, it should hopefully become clear that America's approach to policing needs to undergo a fundamental change. Of course, Oakland was the scene of a similar turning point 40 years ago with the rise of the Black Panthers. We will see whether this time the right choices are made.
