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Indybay Feature

A Day to Honor Oscar Grant - Response to the Sentencing of Johannes Mehserle

640_oscar_1.jpg
Date:
Friday, November 05, 2010
Time:
2:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Event Type:
Protest
Organizer/Author:
Cat Brooks
Email:
Phone:
(510) 703-1500
Location Details:
We will assemble in the plaza at Oakland City Hall (1 Frank Ogowa Plaza) from 2pm - 6pm. We will then head to Defermery Park on 18th and Adeline from 6:30-10 PM

OAKLAND REMEMBERS OSCAR
Community Gathers in Response to Sentencing of Johannes Mehserle

WHO: The ONYX Organizing Committee, the General Assembly for Justice for Oscar Grant and the New Years Movement

WHAT: Rally and Gathering to honor Oscar Grant and Respond to the sentencing of Johannes Mehserle. Live Art, Spoken Word, Speakers, Music and an altar erected to honor the memory of Oscar.

WHEN: Friday, November 5, 2010. Live Art from 2:00-4:00. Program from 4:00-6:00PM 6:30 – 10:00 PM (Defermery Park on Adeline & 18th Street)

WHERE: Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612 1/Deferemery Park on 18th & Adeline

WHY: On Friday, November 5th, former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle will be sentenced for the shooting death of Oscar Grant, III. Hundreds of concerned community members will gather together to respond to the sentencing and to honor Oscar.

“While many of us will undoubtedly be angry on that day, we will also take time out to honor the memory of Oscar Grant,” said Anne Weills, Attorney at Law. “Oscar ignited a movement across the entire nation and this movement will not stop with the sentencing of Johannes Mehserle. We will continue to build and to organize until the State understands that we will not lie down silently as they murder the people in cold blood.”

Oscar was not the first young man of color to be killed unjustly by police and sadly he hasn’t been the last. In the two years since Oscar was murdered, literally hundreds of young people of color have been murdered by law enforcement across the country. Most recently, James Leonard Davis, an unarmed, eighteen year old child was shot in the back by police in Los Angeles.

“Where is the accountability?” asked Cat Brooks, Co-Chair of the ONYX Organizing Committee. “The verdict was unjust so the sentence will be unjust. And we are angry about it. We are tired of burying our children and we are tired of the open season on black men in this country by police who are then returned to their families with a slap on the wrist.”

From the start of this case Michael Raines has portrayed Johannes Mehserle as an innocent victim of circumstance and not a murderer. Paying no attention to the racial slurs uttered before his death or the fact that Mehserle first held a Taser before putting it away and reaching for his gun. What is more, Judge Perry refused to allow Mehserle’s record into evidence so his pattern of violently assaulting men of color that culminated into Oscar’s murder was never revealed to the jury. Adding insult to injury, KTVU of Oakland recently aired a special profiling Mehserle in efforts to gain sympathy for him before his sentencing. These are signs of what many are anticipating: a lenient sentence for a murderer.

“Given the likely scenario that Mehserle will receive a light sentence, people are going to need a place to come together and be supported in their process,” said Rachel Jackson of the New Years Movement. “We hope people come and share their rage, frustration and pain and also their hope, ideas and passion for building a world where young men and women of color are no longer terrorized and assassinated by those who are claim to be here to protect and serve.”
###
Added to the calendar on Thu, Nov 4, 2010 12:39PM

Comments (Hide Comments)
by reply to "patriot"
if by "put himself in that situation" you mean "existed as a black man in a racist society that assumes all black men apprehended by police must automatically be guilty of a crime" then yes, I suppose you could make that argument.

Please have some respect for the dead and stop demonizing someone who isn't alive to defend himself.
by Outraged Period.
"Put himself in that situation"?! It was New Years eve. They decided to not drive and take the bart instead. Sounds pretty responsible to me. Let's talk about the irresponsibility of the bart officer. Doesn't know that his taser is on the left side? It's bright yellow? His gun is on the right side and weighs approximently 5 times more than the taser? He has to unsnap the holder to his gun to pull it our? Oscar Grant was already complying, face down with a knee on his back and one on his neck? To shoot him in the back? I have heard stuff like, 'well you know, officers have a hard time with 'those' people'. What the hell?! The same people who say that, argue that we should go into Iran to protect women who are being stoned to death. In this particular case of Mehserle KILLING Oscar Grant, Mehserle should get the 14 years time. (Oscar Grant was reported to have said, "don't shoot me, I have a daughter.")
by peter tscherneff (leoroarbig [at] yahoo.com)
the old status quo remains the norm
NOW Be the Time for the Perfect Storm
American Activism has been a hamster on a wheel
just yacking and clucking ...NO Action to heal
Oscar was murdered and Jamal's still in prison
ONLY thru the GENERAL STRIKE Be the People Arisen

SEEE...the Burning V........for Vendetta.....on...myspace.com/peterpeace1
by justice
There will be no march to or gathering in DeFremery park this evening
Why?

And why is it being called Defermery Park, when the Black community has been calling it Bobby Hutton Park since at least 1970?
via Thandisizwe Chimurenga:

#OGTrial. Two years in jail w/ credit of 292 days credit; new trial on gun enhancement and one other area
People are talking about the march to the park being cancelled. Regardless- the most important thing in my opinion is for people to STICK TOGETHER, no? 14th and Broadway is where folks should go for now. Either way, people should text, call and facebook their friends, and help SPREAD THE WORD AROUND OAKLAND, so we are organized. It would be great if INDYBAY could post updates, so we know it isn't other people trying to create division or spread false or mistaken information. ALso, please, with all due respect and solidarity, let's not create divisions about what the Park is called, we can talk about that tomorrow, cause TODAY, IS ABOUT JUSTICE FOR OSCAR GRANT and other victims of Police Brutality. peace out. RIP OSCAR. let's take care of each other there.....
by let's stick together.
get out, and invite others, spread the word everyone....
by let's stick together!
this is what INDYBAY website article says on gathering (meet at frank ogawa basically), this was just posted:

Concerned community members will gather together in Frank Ogawa Plaza by Oakland City Hall to respond to the sentencing and to honor Oscar. The schedule includes live art from 2-4pm and speakers from 4-6pm. A previously planned march from Frank Ogawa to Li'l Bobby Hutton (DeFremery) Park in West Oakland, after the 6pm conclusion of the gathering downtown, has been canceled by organizers.

see for yourself, it is on indybay.org homepage. peace.
by .........
justice will be done, one way or another.
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