I don't have the energy to make a comprehensive post about this incident, so I am offering a link round up with a note or two.
Jack Stephens at Alas, A Blog:
-Oscar Grant, young father and peacemaker, executed by BART police
-Fruitvale Bart Station Protest: The Rally
Renee at Womanist Musings:
-Oscar Grant: Black In The Wrong Space
Holly at Feministe:
-Execution style
The Czech:
-Police in CA Murder Oscar Grant on Camera
Elle at elle, phd:
-Since When...
Melissa at Shakesville:
-Oscar Grant
whatsername at The Jaded Hippy:
-On: Oscar Grant
My only note on this roundup is in regards to whatsername's view that this incident may have been an accident. Now, I love whatsername, and we agree on most things, but I had to point out that the only way this was an accident is if the officer did not intend to fire his weapon. Beyond that, he should not have been drawing his weapon in the first place, and the suggestion I have seen in a few places, that he was intending to draw his tazer, seem like a stretch. There was no real conceivable reason to reach for the tazer or the gun, and the only seeming reason for the altercation at all was that Oscar and his companons were in the wrong place and were the wrong color.
The reason I continue to think that he thought he was pulling out his tazer is, why does he look so shocked when the gun went off? :\
ReplyDeleteI mean that's just idiocy right there, mistaking one for the other, and I went into it figuring this was a case pure and simple of police acting on their privilege, but the reactions of himself and the officers around him just don't add up for me.
I think he really is just that stupid.
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ReplyDeleteI dunno, a tazer and a gun are fully distinctive shapes, and it was hardly a high stress situation. I think he looked confused because maybe he didn't intend for the gun to go off, but if you are licensed to carry a gun, then you know what it is shaped like. Any one who couldn't distinguish a gun from a tazer by shape, size, weight or even where it was placed on their own belt would probably not make it to being a public servant with gun privileges.
ReplyDelete(sorry, had to repost for editing purposes)