Ali Winston
A mural for Oscar Grant opposite the Fruitvale BART station
More than two years after Oscar Grant was fatally shot by former BART cop Johannes Mehserle, after hundreds of arrests, dozens of broken windows, and intensive media coverage, has Grant and Mehserle’s tragic story come to a close?
The criminal case filed by the Alameda County District Attorney against Mehserle is certainly over. The 29-year-old former officer was released from the Los Angeles Men’s Central Jail early this morning after serving 11 months of his two-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter.
The only other remaining piece of the legal puzzle is a potential civil rights case against Mehserle or BART — the U.S. Department of Justice has not yet indicated if it will pursue one. Protesters gathered yesterday in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles to urge a federal indictment for Mehserle. Sunday afternoon saw another protest here in Oakland, which has been the epicenter for activism around Grant’s death and the scene of several civil disturbances over the past two years.
The rally did not have the same emotion or outrage as the July and November gatherings last year, perhaps because Mehserle’s fate had already been decided. At times, it felt as if the protest was a compelled response to the former officer’s release, part of a strange choreography between court proceedings and public demonstrations that has defined the Grant case for more than two years. Both the Fruitvale and Downtown Oakland rallies were held in the same locations as the past two years and many of the demonstrators were familiar faces from earlier protests.
Now that Mehserle’s criminal case is over, can Grant’s family, their supporters, and those awakened to the issue of police violence by Grant’s death sustain a level of activism? Is there something about Grant’s case – the visceral shock of seeing his death of film – that will differentiate its long-term impact from others who have lost their lives when police make mistakes? Several threads have defined Grant’s case: the court case, its impact on the community, the activism around the issue (by supporters of both Grant and Mehserle), and law enforcement surveillance of pro-Grant demonstrations. Here’s a look at the impact Grant’s death has had.
