So recently, I have been hearing more and more about the Bart shooting in Oakland. I saw clips of it and heard radio shows talk about this but i never really knew why
there was so much hoopla about this incident. Yes, yes I was aware that supposedly it was an "innocent" shooting and that the victim was coldheartedly murdered!
What I was most interested in were the protests of Oscar Grant's death. I saw on the news clips of mobs of African Americans bashing in windows of cars, throwing trash cans
at local Mcdonalds, etc.
I decided to do some researching about why these people were so outrageously hurt and so agressive about this unfortunate death.
Here is some background information on the Bart shooting:
- Oscar Grant and a group of males were rounded up for being engaged in a fight in the wee hours of New Years
- 3 officers hold on Oscar while he has struggling
- While 2 officers are holding him down, one officer takes out a gun and fatally wounds Oscar.
What I do understand:
-Why would a cop ever shoot someone for being in a fight?! Especially since its New Years...common sense...hello? Ever heard of alcohol and what it does to people?
-Oscar Grant did seem to cooperate
-Oscar Grant was shot after he raised both hands and gave up his fight.
What i don't understand:
-Why all of this is based on the whole "A White officer killed a Black man"
-I am sure there are deaths of White men by Black officers...
-Where do all these protestors come from?! Don't they have jobs to go to...they seem to be protesting 24/7!!
-Why are they being so rowdy..this is a death we are talking about! You don't see protestors trashing windows and damaging public property when someone dies and unfortunate death.
-Does this mean that the Bay Area is still filled with racial disputes that we are ignorant too and how does this relate to Obama being the first African American president??
Any thoughts?I feel that all of this is blown way out of proportion and that Oscar Grant show be honored in peace and any protests should be logical and peaceful.
I don't understand why people think that trashing stores and damaging property will make themselves heard or make change happen. Nonviolence y'all..thats the way.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11443412
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BART_Police_Shooting_of_Oscar_Grant
6 comments:
sry!! i have no idea why the format is all screwed up !! my bad :[
I think that the so-called "reason" that all those people are so angry, is exactly what you said. It was an extremely undeserving death, and that is really horrible and unfair. People just don't think about what they are doing, and they just want justice, so they smash things and steal stuff because that is how humans in a large group act when they are riled up. They don't think about whether their actions make sense in the situation, they are just pissed.
That's what I think anyway....
I agree that the reason people are outraged is because it was idiotic of the police officer to fire his weapon at an innocent civilian, whatever the specifics are...
I am going to have to disagree with David, however, in his assertion that human beings are violent and uncontrollable in large groups. Take a look back into history. Was the million man march a violent protest? How about the gathering in front of the Lincoln Memorial when hundreds of thousands of people, a number FAR greater than any number of humans protesting Oscar's death, gathered to listen to Martin Luther King Jr. protest bigotry in America? What I see in a group of creatures that become violent in protest is a pack of uncivilized human beings that do not understand that brute force doesn't help their case.
Anyways, I personally believe that this event isn't much of an issue regarding race, unless the police officer truly hated African American people. My best advice for these people would be to turn their violence and anger into complaints to the city or whichever government power is responsible for handling this issue and keep on attacking the establishment (verbally of course) until they are truly heard. Rioting in the streets won't get you the respect of your congressman, but writing him constantly, and flooding his mail with letters and complaints will. This is what I think these people should concentrate on doing.
Everybody in the world tends to have some racism in them. Who knows, maybe that cop fired based on racism. Either way it made no rights to fire an unarmed civilian whom is willing to cooperate. And protestors will definetely appear due to such ludicrous actions take from a cop whom should be more responsible for his own actions. But I do believe that anger and violence are often what overcomes one's mind in the ability to judge and decide for his or her own actions.
I understand why people can be upset with such a tragedy. The shooting was obviously uncalled for, and it is truly unfortunate that an innocent man was killed by a giddy young officer. So people do have a right to be upset, and it's only natural to be disturbed by this event. But what confuses me is why race would be brought into this situation. Obviously it happens all the time, but we just elected our first black president. I thought we were supposed to be finally breaking through more of that race barrier (that still exists, no matter how much people try to deny it). And the immediate reaction after a police officer kills a civilian is that the police officer was white and the civilian was black. I can understand that the family and friends of this person would be upset. But I don't see how a mob of angry African American rioters (many of whom did not know the victim) vandalizing public property is supposed to honor an innocent death. Doesn't that bring race differences further into the forefront? Until we can somehow find evidence that the police officer was indeed a vindictive racist and intended to shoot this man, these violent riots really shouldn't be occuring.
I meant to include this in my last comment, but the story on the front page of sfgate.com is about this same police officer, who seemed to have gotten into another incident like this one in which he harmed another civilian. also an African American man...coincidence?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/14/BABQ15AD8U.DTL&tsp=1
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