Photo credit: Jesse Strauss
As the Oakland community began to understand the meaning of Johannes Mehserle’s involuntary manslaughter verdict, the downtown streets exploded angrily last night. I was a witness to the melee.
Mehserle is the former BART cop who killed Oscar Grant on New Year’s morning, 2009. As Grant was lying face down on a BART platform, awaiting police processing for a scuffle onboard the train, Mehserle stood up, grabbed his firearm, aimed down, and shot Grant, later claiming he mistakenly believed he was using his taser gun instead of his pistol. Mehserle’s next action was to handcuff the wounded 22-year-old father, before even calling for medical assistance. Oscar Grant was killed that morning, but the Oakland community will never forget his name.
Yesterday at 4:00 pm, the jury in an LA courthouse announced theie verdict, that Mehserle killed Grant with “criminal negligence,” leading to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. That verdict would mean that Oscar Grant’s killer will serve anywhere from two to fourteen years in jail.
It’s clear, though, that many in the Oakland community do not consider this a sufficient conviction. Speaker after speaker at the 6:00 pm rally told the crowd of at least a thousand that they were disappointed with the verdict. Many folks spoke out about their feelings in different ways, but no one seemed comfortable with the Mehserle verdict. Many seemed uncomfortable with the overwhelming police presence and with law enforcement in general.
At the same time, no one seemed uncomfortable with the huge amount of support given the protesters by the greater Bay Area. What many sources have called “outside agitators”, many people in the streets last night saw as evidence of larger community support. When we consider the mainstream narrative of “outsiders”, it seems important to keep in mind that Oscar Grant himself lived in Hayward, and that Mehserle was not an Oakland cop, but a BART officer, which meant his jurisdiction spanned across a range of cities throughout the Bay Area. But it is Oakland that at the center of this storm of controversy.
Photo credit: Jesse Strauss
The” inside agitators,” who were mostly Oaklanders (although I did see some people from Berkeley, Hayward and Vallejo), clearly played a strong role in the community response to the verdict. As the formal rally came to a close at 8:00 pm, organizers were ordered to shut it down by the city. It became clear that the police forces, whether Oakland cops, California Highway Patrol, or reinforcements from nearby cities, were prepared to use their new training and equipment.
Once the rally ended, at least two people had already been arrested, but it was unclear what offenses had prompted those arrests. Only a few minutes later, I was told that a block away, a Footlocker store’s windows were broken and its contents ransacked by community members. When I arrived there, I watched some young people grab shoes in the store and run out before two others blocked the entrance, telling others that justice for Oscar Grant does not look like what we were seeing.
But what does justice look like?
As I walked away from Footlocker, I saw freshly-sprayed graffiti covering windows and businesses, with statements like “Justice 4 Oscar Grant” and “Off The Pigs”. Continuing down the street, I saw protesters running in multiple directions to avoid confrontations with police, who were slowly marching up Broadway in downtown Oakland.
That is when the shattering started. Much of the next few hours became a blur in my memory. I watched numerous windows at the downtown Oakland Sears store fall to the ground as someone lit small fireworks nearby. Sirens echoed in every direction and police announced that the gatherings were illegal and we would be arrested and possibly “removed by force which could cause serious bodily injury”. Minutes later, the wind carried a draft of pepper spray toward me as I walked by three large flaming dumpsters in the middle of Telegraph Avenue.
In the midst of all the action I searched for some kind of organization—some kind of unified goal or idea of justice. Those gathered were angry, and there was no longer a correct platform to address that anger. For those who were sure that Mehserle should be charged with a crime stronger than involuntary manslaughter, the legal approach seemed to have failed them.
While leadership and organization seemed to have flown out the window, it did seem that the rebellions were much more calculated than those just after Grant’s murder in 2009, as this time, most of the broken windows were concentrated at national chain stores like Footlocker and Starbucks. The strongest piece of organization I witnessed in Oakland’s streets last night were the groups of people preventing attacks on local businesses. The police came in as a close second.
Photo credit: Jesse Strauss
As I walked from Telegraph to Broadway on Grand Avenue, first watching a Starbucks window broken, then that of a sushi restaurant, I realized the protests were getting out of control for everyone involved; chaotic, anarchic.
Trying to stay connected with some sort of normality and to step away from the crazy streets, I called a friend. As soon as my conversation was over, I looked down at my phone to hang up. Then a hand came out of nowhere, perhaps over my shoulder, and grabbed the phone. I tried to hold onto it until I was startled and disoriented by a fist slamming into my eye. I let the phone disappear as blood began dripping from just above my left eyelid. I was being robbed and assaulted.
But where were the police to respond to a robbery and assault in the middle of a major intersection in downtown Oakland? They could not make it safe for me to be in that space. The person or people who have the phone and gave me a black eye and some possible medical bills were not crazy and violent Oaklanders, upset about the Mehserle verdict and the failures of the legal system. These were people who took advantage of a lawless space that our law enforcement officers had left void.
The night started with people moving and becoming angry (or angrier) because police declared a peaceful gathering in the street to be illegal and dispersing the crowd to the surrounding streets. Windows were broken while people were still angry and in motion, moving quickly down the streets with nowhere to voice their anger safely.
Hours later, I’m lying in bed with a black eye and a gash above my eyelid. I can only imagine how my night would have ended if the police hadn’t forced the rapid dispersal of the organized protesters, creating a sense of lawlessness on Oakland’s side streets.
This is not justice for Oscar Grant. But what is? From Grant’s murder to my own robbery and battery, law enforcement needs to be held accountable to the communities they serve. That at least seems like a good starting point.
Jesse Strauss
Born and raised in Oakland, CA, Jesse Strauss is an independent journalist. His articles have been published on Truthout, Common Dreams, CounterPunch, Consortium News, and other sources. Reach him at jstrauss (at) riseup.net. 
that is an interesting perspective. You get punched in the eye and your Iphone stolen by some thugs and you blame the police for not keeping YOU safe in the middle of a riot…?
I disagree with your claim that the police presence made the streets less safe. If we compare having fewer police out last year and the level of damage resulting, you’d see there was much less. While not pretty to have a police in riot gear all over downtown, I felt a little better about Oakland not getting burned to the ground. The burning looting and confrontations with police in the streets brought on by agitators has nothing to do with bringing justice to Oscar Grant. That doesn’t make sense. If someone disagrees with that, then please clarify it. What I have observed, heard, and sensed from many agitators that ruin peaceful demonstration, is that they are completely self-serving by taking what they want (looting), destroying people’s communities (destruction of private property). Wouldn’t it make sense to take that anger out on the police station if they really wanted to make a statement and have a confrontation? People demonstrating against BP are taking their message to BP and not to Sears or local merchants.
I’m a bit perplexed by this. By my understanding, the police didn’t declare it an unlawful assembly until *after* windows started getting smashed. I was reading about postings on “anarchist” websites last week, stating that they were going to come to Oakland and take over the streets when the verdict came in, and sure enough 75% of the people who got arrested for looting and vandalism were from outside of Oakland. KTVU put people on camera at 5pm saying “if we gotta bust up some stores, (glances at camera) not that I’m gonna do that, so we can get justice, than that’s what’s gonna happen”.
I’m not saying that the cops handled this perfectly, but I don’t think that they were the ones creating an environment of lawlessness. They had every reason to expect violent outbursts, probably instigated by people who came to the rally for just that purpose, and they responded to the best of their ability. There’s a reason that the violence seemed more coordinated than what happened after Grant was killed: because it was, and it had little to nothing to do with justice.
Was the police response flawed? Yes. But this is far more complicated than the insinuation that if the cops hadn’t been there waiting for a riot to start, things would have been fine.
you realize that people getting beatdown for an iPhone is an everday event. you just lacked the common sense not to keep yours secured in the middle of riot. the police did not leave you unprotected, you left you unprotected.
the problem with the trying to secure downtown are the many avenues by which people can move by foot and avoid the wall.
you made a mistake, don’t blame the police who by and large acted admirably
yeah, man. i’m sorry you got hurt, but that’s the risk you take if you want to document the drama in a war zone. from what i saw first-hand (video’s up somewhere else on this site and on FB/YouTube: “Lebron James Trumps Oscar Grant”) it was not the cops who launched the violence but the ignorant few in the crowd. the police seemed to me to act with great restraint and professionalism last night. can’t believe i just wrote that, but i’m not gonna lie. i was there. i saw what i saw. and i had the good sense to get the hell out before the shit really blew up b/c i could feel the pressure cookin and i knew i wouldn’t be able to defend myself w/ a camera in my hand.
@jojo – on KPFA this morning, i heard a former city councilman and a well-known Oakland attorney, both who were at Broadway & 14th for many hours yesterday and into the night, report that the demonstration was peaceful, young and old were there, with inspiring speakers of all ages, & music.
The police “seemed agitated, like they were itching for a riot”. At what seemed like an arbitrary moment, they announced to the peaceful crowd which was at that time assembled around the platform where people were speaking, that they were participating in an “unlawful assembly” (unlawful because they didn’t have a permit, thanks to fed laws passed after 9-11) and made their move to “disperse” the crowd, pushing every one back to 13th street, abandoning their platform & dispersing into smaller groups, a few of which began foul play.
It’s happened this way for many decades in many cities. THIS IS TYPICAL, PREDICTABLE BEHAVIOR, so why did the police not act differently for a different outcome? Why did the police focus on the non-violent assembly? Why didn’t they have their regular downtown forces on their bikes – hey with THAT many cops they could have tripled the forces – “working” the areas of downtown where violent behavior may happen, to proactively prevent it instead? They could have also had a presence at the rally, to “keep the peace”. But that isn’t their goal.
One of the reasons is not my own idea, but the understanding of those who’ve worked within city governments and those who’ve studied this kind of interaction. This simple reason is to keep establishing the necessity for strong, dominant police forces. MONEY! to fund large forces must be generated by the people, people who are afraid of “the bad guys”, and if the people don’t see their police force dealing with “them”, to “keep us safe”, they won’t be able to get the next round of funding increases.
Another is that the national prison industrial complex is fed fresh, young, prisoners by the city police departments. Prisons are big business for corporations and for the government to have “cheap” labor for many jobs. There are many other reasons that books have been written on, but that’s what i can offer to you for starters.
After last year’s riots, why would you think there wouldn’t be a stronger police presence?
The rest of your post is a bunch of gobblygook? “This time they were more organized targeting chain stores” Really? Explain that to the mom & pop Jewelry shop whose storefront was ravaged. And going after Ozumo and stealing Sake? Yeah, that’s the drink of the people!
To think you were violated and come away with this conclusion that it is the police’s fault and there was some noble purpose to the sadistic riot. While I am sorry you were hit, I almost wonder if another blow to the head would have knocked some sense into you.
Since you’re all overcome with grief and after thought, ask yourself why you have done nothing to find that other innocent youth Hassani Campbell? & what will you do to demand justice for the two youth killed in East Oakland last night? or are your concerns for black youth only when their harm can be blamed on white police officers?
[...] anger was evident and palpable, but the violence (perpetrated by looters and by the police) against our city was ignorant. For weeks, there has been hype in the press that [...]
it is worth noting and clarifying for the record unlawful assembly has been a part of the California Penal Code long before 9-11. Generally, the police will show great restraint before indicating that a gathering is an unlawful assembly. Precipating events typically include launching bottles, fireworks, urine etc into a peacefully gathered crowd. At this point, the police are trying to protect individuals safety and would prefer individuals to disperse rather than arrest people who don’t disperse.