Viewpoint by Jamila Lopez
The day I witnessed a young black man killed by a white officer, who was guilty of second degree murder, my life flashed before my eyes. Oscar Grant, a twenty two year old African American, was fatally shot New Years, Day, 2009 by Bart police officer, Johannes Meherle in Oakland, California. Officers responding to a report of a fight on the transit train just returning from San Fransisco, arrested Oscar Grant along with his friends on the train’s platform at the Fruitvale Station.
On this night, after celebrating the ball drop for the new year. Grant was kneed in the head by officer Anthony Pirone on the platform while hand cuffed. Pirone forced unarmed Grant to lie face down. Mehserle pulled out his his gun and shot Grant in the back, while more than 200 passengers, including myself, witnessed the horrific tragedy.
Later that day Grant was pronounced dead. As a sixteen-year-old girl at the time, I could not believe what my friends and I had witnessed. The event of Oscar Grants murder was captured on multiple official digital cameras and personal cellphones, going viral for the city of Oakland and the Bay Area to see and eventually the world. That morning as the sun rose slowly, Oakland felt cold and eerie for the normally busy city. In the act of that incident, I couldn’t help to think it could have been my group of friends I was with at that time, being treated like an untamed animal.
Not long after the incident I watched Grant’s mother and mother of his daughter grieve hysterically as he was carried out on a stretcher. At a young age my eyes were finally opened to what it meant to be apart of the black community. Growing up with my Latin side of my family I wasn’t made aware of my black history or culture. However, after seeing Grant lay lifeless a switch flipped for me. I realized I would have a life-long job to forever protect, love , support and stand up for my black nation.
According to mappingpoliceviolence.org for years police have been killing black men at higher rate than the U.S murder rate. In 2018 police killed 1,143 people, blacks were 23 percent of those killed despite only being 13 percent of the population. It has also been proven that 21 percent of unarmed black men are killed by police versus 14 percent of armed white men killed by police. We can live in a world where police are not killing people by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions, and ensuring accountability. There are proven solutions such as using all other means before shooting, all use of force be reported, band chokeholds and strangleholds, duty to intervene if another Officer uses excessive force, restrict shooting at moving vehicles and requiring a warning before shooting and most importantly hold Officers accountable for their crime. According to useofforceproject.org “police departments that have adopted these use of force policies kill significantly fewer people. However, few departments have adopted them.”