liminal

Involuntary manslaughter.

Starting about fifteen minutes before this verdict was announced, I could hear helicopters swarming the air above my house (I live maybe a mile from downtown Oakland), and soon sirens joined the chorus that lasted for hours until I finally left and went to San Francisco for the night. The protests were mostly peaceful though, and the rioting was minimal by Rodney King standards. Of course, Mehserle hasn't been sentenced yet.

I am so sad and angry over this mess. Watching Oscar Grant's family react to this verdict broke my heart. Their grief has now been trampled and kicked by a decree that devalues Oscar's life. Because if the violent situation that took place in that BART station had escalated from fist fight to gunfire at the hand of a dangerous thug without a badge, Mehserle would have been convicted of murder without anyone batting an eye. Nobody would care which weapon he thought he was drawing, nor how threatened he felt, they would see the simple fact that he never should have drawn any weapon on that train platform that night. Period.

Cops murder people all the time. Sometimes I'd swear they think that black folks are all wearing targets. The Oscar Grant case is astounding from many angels, not small among them the fact that this is the first time in U.S. history that a police officer has been convicted for killing someone in the "line of duty". (Ahem.) So are we supposed to celebrate this as a victory in the quest to advance civil liberties and equality? Or accept defeat because once again, even when senseless and excessive police violence is witnessed and recorded for all to see plain as day, people are still not being treated equally and justice is not served.

I'm pretty much on the side of being outraged, and yet feel like nothing I say or do could change it, and it seems clear that most of this city feels something like the same way.