Town Hall on Mehserle, BART, NOBLE, Meyers-Nave, & OPD's Jimenez, Oakland, 6/20/09: audio

At the June 20th Town Hall for Justice for Oscar Grant III, Minister Keith Muhammad touches on the historical nature of injustice for African descendants in America and then discusses the preliminary hearing and arraignment for Johannes Mehserle. He calls it "testilying" when every BART officer in court claimed they didn't hear gunfire when Oscar Grant was murdered. He mentions how offensive it is that Marysol Domenici is slated for a promotion to train other BART officers in crowd control techniques even after she had testilied that there was a mob on the platform on January first even after video evidence presented in court proved that was not true. The contradictory testimony of the officers was shown over and over again, as when they said Oscar Grant and his friends were threatening to the police but that if Oscar Grant had not been murdered then the BART police would have just released the group without even taking their names.

He talks about how corporate media such as the SF Chronicle and the Oakland tribune print 90% lies and 10% truth. For instance, neither paper had mentioned in their coverage of the preliminary hearing the racial epithets used by the BART police the night Oscar Grant was murdered, including Tony Pirone having called Oscar Grant a "bitch ass nigger" just 30 seconds before Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant in the back.

Minister Keith Muhammad speaks about the Caravans for Justice and the fight against such unjust, vague, and racially biased laws as gang injunctions, or others that target youth such as Prop 21 which has resulted in increased numbers of teenagers being sent to state prisons where they are extremely unsafe.

He praises the recent firing of OPD officer Hector Jimenez who had killed Andrew Moppin and Jody Woodfox in two separate incidents.

He addresses the NOBLE "community forums" scheduled for June 22nd and 23rd, the development of police oversight at BART, and the investigation being conducted by Meyers-Nave looking into the events of January 1st. It comes up in the Town Hall that Meyers-Nave has been conducting their supposed investigation for two months but has yet to speak to a single one of Oscar Grant's friends who were on the platform that night.

Minister Keith Muhammad speaks about how the recall of Alameda DA Tom Orloff is on hold pending the results of the motion to move the Mehserle trial venue out of the county. If the prosecutor under Orloff does a poor job insisting the trial remain in Alameda, then the recall will proceed. If the prosecutor continues to do a forceful job prosecuting the case, the recall effort will remain on hold.

Several members of Oscar Grant's family speak about the issues important to them to conclude this week's Town Hall (audio below).

Pastor Gordon Humphreys of Olivet started the Town Hall by thanking everyone present for their commitment to justice over the long haul and then offered an opening prayer before Minister Keith Muhammad speaks in the first audio here: