Riots break out in Oakland following the death of 22-yr-old, Oscar Grant. He died on New Year's day after getting shot by a BART police officer.
5 police officers responded to reports of fighting at BART station. "The men continued to yell at each other after the Dublin/Pleasanton-bound train stopped, and police were in the process of separating the men when the bullet struck Grant", agency spokesman Jim Allison said. It is unclear whether the police officer fired the gun on purpose or not.
Many were outraged by his death and riots broke out right after news of his death. There's actually a video of the shooting circulating the internet (I don't want to post the video over here because I think it's inappropriate).
Rioters put signs that say "Don't shoot" on their back and some of them resort to violence to express their anger and disgust. So far 105 were arrested.
Are most police officers really racist? Some people say yes and there are others who say no. We all have different opinions. It is absurd to conclude that the police who shot Grant was racist.
What's wrong is how some rioters reacted to his death. They shouldn't have resorted to violence, MLK would have been very upset if he was stil alive. Violence will not help what they're trying to achieve.
6 comments:
Pasting "don't shoot" on the back of the rioter's jackets would have been effective enough. If these people rioting against his death are angry at the stereotype that all black men are criminals or have some sort of bad intentions, which is sad and untrue, then violence and contributing to the stereotype is not the way to acheive equality. Violence is not a way to fight a violent stereotype, even if what was done is wrong, like the death of this man in BART. Those signs a message far greater than any fighting.
I agree with Jason, Martin Luther would definitely not be happy.
Yeah, I mean what the heck is this thing that humans seem so good at, where we start complaining about something that someone did to someone else, and then prove the point of the whole thing by complaining about it? Let me put it this way, if you are mad that a cop shot your friend and you think it was because the cop unfairly assumed that your friend was going to be violent, why the heck would you show the cop his mistake by trying to attack him? It's like proving that the cop had a reasonable cause in the first place!
Oh yeah, and secondly, I'd like to say that the whole belief that cops are rascist is kinda stupid too. It's like saying that all postal workers are anti-semetic. Ridiculous.
Bart has recently announced that they are deeply sorry for the way they have approached the inccident on New Years Day, how it wasn't very professional and how they should have acted more quickly. I really feel for the victim, his family, and the people who have been greatly effected by this attack.
That said, I'm a little upset about the constant coverage of this event, I've turned on the 11 o clock news for the past 5 nights, hearing nothing about the conflict in the Middle East, only hearing the first 16 minutes about the new years attack, and then followed by weather. (That is only a side note I guess, because I guess I could easily change channels to a more rounded newscast.)
I can understand the anger that comes out of this situation, but I am always disappointed when I hear that people start riots and resort to violence. I think it really shows that people don't learn from the past. Riots don't solve much; they release stress and anger, but only result in property damage, arrests, and possibly even more deaths. It's sad that someone had to die this way and I send my condolences to his family and friends. Yet, I feel that people bringing up race into situations like these only makes racism worse. I also believe that the media tends to cover these cases with race controversy more, which isn't justified. It blows things out of proportion, especially when there may be other cases that didn't have race or police officers as factors. I agree with Rachel that the signs are really powerful. Seeing a picture of those would make me feel sympathy, but seeing a picture of riots and damage caused by them wouldn't do so.
I think everybody in here is over analyzing this a bit. Just because the victim was black doesn't mean the police officer was racist... I mean, really, 35.66% of the population is African American (according to wikipedia). I agree that most stereotypes such as this one are gross generalizations; however, if you look closer at the article, (I guarantee somebody here looked past the fact that) the man that got shot was fighting with another man. Therefore, maybe the stereotype was actually true in this situation? Also, I would like to say that claiming all police officers are racist is just as bad as saying all black people are violent.
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