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Jury set in historic trial of cop who killed Oscar Grant – no Black jurors
June 9, 2010
Phyllis Jackson thought “it was a chilling day” for Los Angeles. “Jury selection here banishes all Black people like the recent Equal Justice Initiative report found that Southern courts do, while allowing the jury to be stacked with people who have friends, family and businesses involved with law enforcement,” she said. Everybody out for the Mass Protest for Justice for Oscar Grant Monday, June 14, 8 a.m., at the LA courthouse.
Family of Oscar Grant celebrates victory, Mehserle to face murder charge
June 5, 2009
A victory in the campaign for justice for Oscar Grant III was celebrated today after the presiding judge, Superior Court Judge C. Don Clay, concluded the preliminary hearing in the trial of Johannes Mehserle by ruling that the former BART police officer will stand trial for murder. June 18 is the date Mehserle is scheduled to appear back in court and declare his plea of guilt or innocence before the full trial begins.
Live from the Mehserle courtroom: an interview with Uncle Bobby, Oscar Grant’s uncle
June 2, 2009
The female BART officer that was on that platform even stated in her testimony that she supposedly feared for her life, and she just knew that she was going to have to shoot somebody or kill somebody that night. Those were her words in court. The judge said: “Hold up. Wait a minute, who were you going to shoot first?”
Hearing for killer cop Mehserle: Justice for Oscar Grant!
May 26, 2009
On New Year’s morning BART police officer Johannes Mehserle fired his gun at point blank range into Oscar Grant’s back, killing him as he lay face down on the train platform, hands behind him. A preliminary hearing is now underway to determine whether Mehserle will be charged with murder or whether the charges against him will be lowered.
Police 2, Oakland residents 4
March 24, 2009
On March 21, Lovelle Mixon, 26, was murdered by Oakland police after allegedly killing four of them on MacArthur Blvd off of 73rd Avenue in East Oakland. Listen to JR’s Block Report interview with his family – his mother, Athena, his wife, Amara, and her sister, Alicia – broadcast March 30 on KPFA’s Flashpoints at http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/49609.
‘Fired up, can’t take it no more’
February 6, 2009
The place was the historic Black Dot Café in West Oakland; the event, a “Town Bizness” town hall meeting hosted by the Prisoners of Conscience Committee (POCC) with the presence of Chairman Fred Hampton Jr.
Bitter tears, the assassination of Oscar Grant: ‘BARTing while BLACK’
February 4, 2009
RIP Oscar Grant III. You, unarmed, pleading for your life as a young father, at the tender age of 22, while a rogue Bay Area Rapid Transit cop Tony Pirone punches you, then crushes your neck with his knee, shortly followed in his enthusiastic, racist, vicious rage by Officer Johannes Mehserle, who shoots you in the back, murdering you.
BART Officer Tony Pirone caught on video punching Oscar Grant
January 27, 2009
Moments before he was killed, Oscar Grant was punched in the face – but not by the BART officer who shot him. A cellphone video released by KTVU Jan. 23 shows another BART officer, identified as Tony Pirone, punching Grant… Read the rest »
Lawyers Guild applauds arrest of Officer Mehserle, Oscar Grant’s executioner, and calls for protection of protesters’ rights
January 14, 2009
The National Lawyers Guild calls upon BART, Oakland and Alameda County officials to recognize that their shameful response to Oscar Grant’s murder fueled the street protests.
Oakland rebellion: Eyewitness report by POCC Minister of Information JR
January 13, 2009
Minister of Information JR, now out of jail, tells how and why Oakland was rocked by rebellion Jan. 7 after nearly a week of official silence following the New Year’s police execution of Oscar Grant. Look for a report – both here and in the February paper that will hit the streets Jan.30 – on the Town Bizness Townhall Meeting Against Police Terrorism that had people spilling out the door Friday.
Oscar Grant execution by BART cop: Clear, close video view from platform
January 8, 2009
Grant pleaded with officers not to harm him: “Oscar yelled, ‘You shot me. I got a 4-year-old daughter,’” said Fernando Anicete. “Oscar was telling us to calm down, and we did. We weren’t looking for any trouble.”
‘Change … comes through continuous struggle’ – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
January 1, 2009
My call last month for an end to the lockout of Blacks from construction is catching fire. This month, let’s get some work! Everyone who wants to work construction, pack the BART board meeting Thursday, Jan. 8, 9 a.m., Kaiser Center, Third Floor, 344 20th St., Oakland. Dr. King taught us, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes through continuous struggle.”