In anticipation of the January 1, 2013 publication of the photobook
Bay Area Underground, I'll be running excerpts of news coverage to complement the photos in the book. The book covers the major cultural events and social movements in the Bay Area over the past five years, and no single issue was as polarizing in Oakland as the shooting of unarmed Oscar Grant III by a BART police officer on New Year's Day 2009.
Below is a transcript of a news dispatch by Joe Sciarrillo about the January 30 and February 28, 2009 marches in honor of Oscar Grant. This report originally aired on the DJ Matt Werner show on Fresh Air: The Alternative on
March 3, 2009 (
right click to download the podcast and skip to 44:15 to hear this report).
On New Year’s Day 2009, a 22-year-old African American man named Oscar Grant was fatally shot by a police officer of the San Francisco Bay Area train service called the Bay Area Rapid Transit or BART. The BART officer named Johannes Mehserle, is out of jail on $3 million bail and is scheduled to appear in court on March 23. Mehserle has been charged with murder, and was caught on video by train passengers shooting Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland. His defense lawyer contends that Mehserle meant to only shoot his Taser gun, while he had Grant pinned face down on the ground. The videos of this shooting, along with videos showing a fellow officer hitting Oscar Grant, have been widely viewed on YouTube and Bay Area news channels, sparking regular protests in Oakland.
Over 100 people marched on Friday in downtown Hayward, the city just south of Oakland where Oscar Grant lived, to commemorate what would have been Grant's 23rd birthday. Next Thursday, protesters plan to shut down the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland, where Grant was killed nearly two months ago. The series of protests are aimed at memorializing Oscar Grant and countless other cases of police brutality along with calling for increased accountability for police officers.
 |
| Speaker on top of a bus at 14th and Broadway calling for justice for Oscar Grant. Photo by Joe Sciarrillo |
I was in Oakland on Friday, January 30, when a group of up to fifty protesters gathered to denounce the Alameda County Superior Court's decision to set a $3 million bail for BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle. Nine people were arrested that day, compared to the previous Jan. 7 and Jan. 14 protests, when 105 and 18 were arrested, respectively.
At approximately 3:30pm during the Jan. 30 protest, the group led by activists from CAPE (Coalition Against Police Executions) made its way from the Alameda County Superior Court to downtown Oakland. A member of CAPE hopped onto an idle bus with a megaphone, pleading with protesters to intensify their actions. "The Black Panthers took a stand for something!” he said. “We gotta take a stand!"
Another organizer yelled with disgust at police brutality, "They can't get away with this!" One organizer led the march down to the Oakland Police Department, "Your anger is beautiful! Get ANGRY!" The marchers chanted, "No Justice, No Peace! Fuck the Police!", "Who's Streets? Our Streets!", "We Are All Oscar Grant!", "Justice for Oscar Grant!", and "Jail These Killer Cops!"
Protesters spent roughly 10 minutes at the Police Department before being dispersed, then one activist smashed the back window of an unmarked SUV with police inside, sparking the three officers in the vehicle to get out. Immediately two of the officers threw gas canisters at the crowd, while one shot a gun with presumably rubber bullets. The crowd scattered back to downtown, continuing chants, while pedestrians and onlookers in traffic gasped, stunned at the scene, some covering their ringing ears from the loud blasts.
 |
| A protester gets slammed to the ground by Oakland Police. Photo by Joe Sciarrillo |
One African American observer, in business attire and a black trench coat, claimed to be a local and to work for the Oakland city government. He followed the protesters on foot and occasionally commented, "You are insulting the memory of Oscar Grant," "I don't see no locals here," and, "It's all about breaking windows," while claiming that the protesters were just anarchists and disturbed youth. He hoped that protesters could use this moment for education and remembering Oscar Grant.
At 4 pm, the group was blocked by police in riot gear with a riot tank at the McDonald's at 14th and Jackson streets. Police wrestled down several youth who attempted to run around the line of officers, enraging the group as several youth began taunting the police, dancing with their middle-fingers in officers' faces. Officers announced on a megaphone, "This is an unlawful assembly. You have two minutes to leave!"
 |
| A dozen journalists and TV cameramen record a protester being arrested. Photo by Joe Sciarrillo |
At 4:30pm, separate groups of dispersed protesters gathered to face the riot police at several intersections near the McDonald's. A teenage girl cried, after seeing others arrested, and she proceeded to run directly into a row of officers' arms. More youth ran directly into the officers, knowing they would be arrested, yet knowing that the plethora of media would capture the officers' use of force in detaining them. Some observers joined the protesters in taunting police, "Hey! Are you gonna shoot them too?!"
A CAPE organizer reacted to the scene of multiple arrests, "They [the officers] are just making it worse!"
~
Dispatch by Joe Sciarrillo on February 28, 2009. Photos in this report by Joe Sciarrillo will be included in Bay Area Underground: Photos of Protests and Social Movements, 2008-2012. Photo editing was done by Isa Woods.
