Justice for Oscar Grant

WW photo: Terri Kay

More than 500 angry protesters marched several miles from the Fruitvale Bay Area Rapid Transit station to downtown Oakland, Calif., June 12 to protest the imminent release of Johannes Mehserle, the BART cop who shot and killed Oscar Grant, an unarmed Black man, on Jan. 1, 2009, while Grant was restrained and handcuffed on the platform. Family members and friends addressed the rally outside the BART station where Grant had been waiting with friends for a train. Mehserle was released June 13 after serving less than a year on manslaughter charges. Family members, including Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, addressed the crowd before the march started. “There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Oscar,” she said. “Thank you for continuing to fight for justice for my son.” More protests are planned and community organizations will continue the fight for justice for Oscar Grant and all victims of police murder and brutality.

— Judy Greenspan