Friday, July 9, 2010
Rest in peace Oscar Grant
Officer Johannes Mehserle killed unarmed Oscar Grant on Jan. 1, 2009. If you have yet to see the youtube video or hear it on the news The transit Officer who shot an unarmed and complying civilian in the back was convicted earlier today of involuntary manslaughter, which translates to him receiving only 2-4 years in prison. Of which he will probably only serve two as he was an officer of the law and the crime was commit ed while on the job. The full details of the case are even more horrifying his fellow officer slamming Oscar Grants face into the concrete smashing his teeth, as well as shouting racial slurs at him. He then pleaded as you can clearly hear on multiple video recordings with the officer, saying "please don't taze me." presumably with a mouth full of smashed teeth at this point while laying on his stomach on the ground. The trial it self was a mockery all African-American jurors were removed, most of the remaining jurors were middle aged or older white people, to top it off much of the video recordings available were not allowed during proceedings, and of course the trial was moved to a city in which the case is apparently much less significant. All of this pill ed onto a city which more and more resembles a police state, has forced a small but significant eruption in the form of public demonstration in downtown Oakland. Some among the crowd today were not residents of the city of Oakland a small contingent of anarchist attempting to pollute an otherwise worth while message were violent, but most of the members of the crowd were simply wanting to demonstrate their anger and frustration at a police force our tax dollars pay for yet is increasingly seen as a Gestapo interrogation force meant to terrorize us into following the law. To quote Oscar Grant's mother "my son was murdered." , we live in a country that sends Michael Vick to Jail for 3 years for cruelty to animals, and yet Johannes Mehserle will most likely only see the inside of Jail cell for two years possibly less depending on parole and a judges final sentencing decision on August 8Th. 2 years for murder, as long as you are a member of a police force. The transit authority police officer's union even initially shoveled out 2 million dollars to bailout their "brother in arms." So until today he actually has enjoyed a degree of comfort ability in the last year and seven months since the murder to the trial. He was retaken into custody today. What angers me more than any other fact about the case as seen thus far is the Officer has never once apologized to the family of the boy he murdered. He was a human being with a mother and a grandfather and many people who loved him and no matter what the facts of the case are he took that boys life whether it was an accident or not shouldn't he feel guilty? Tiger Woods had to hold a press conference with his mother and apologize to America for his extra marital affairs, and yet this man says nothing, and that's okay with some people. Well not me, nothing about what happened to Oscar Grant, or the trial, or the events of the "riots" today were okay with me, and I don't think they will ever be.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Oscar Grant Trial Continues
Johannes Mehserle's Trial Continues With Jury Deliberations After Delays
07-04-10
Johannes Mehserle is currently on trial for the shooting death of Oscar Grant on New Year's Day in 2009 and now the trial has concluded and the jury is deliberating. Mehserle cried in court when he testified that he thought he was drawing his taser and not his gun when he shot Grant on the train platform at Fruitvale Station in Oakland.
"I remember the pop that wasn't very loud. It wasn't like a gunshot. I remember wondering what went wrong with the Taser. I thought it malfunctioned," he said. -Johannes Mehserle
I have held a gun before, as well as a tazer. The two items feel unmistakingly different. It's worrisome for an officer of the law, one who is entrusted by whatever official agency to carry a lethal weapon on his person in the public, to not be able to tell the very distinct differences between the two. One is made of metal, the other plastic, one is much heavier than the other, and officer's usually don't holster the two side by side, usually putting the tazer lower down the thigh or on the opposite side of the hip, meaning that when he actually drew his weapon he wouldn’t have to draw it from the same place. A larger question that needs to be asked is why do transit authority police officers even carry lethal firearms when non-lethal self-defense technology has progressed as far as it has? Furthermore why is any police officer on a normal beat have a gun on their person? Instead of having firearms in their patrol cars, or having Swat officers on the ready in case an emergency presented itself in which lethal force was absolutely necessary? Too many innocent people die every year because of human error. Getting back to the original point, there are to many things wrong with the Johannes Mehserle's story for it to be accurate. No matter what his story the facts of the matter are that he shot an innocent man in the back while he was lying on the ground. Whatever facts are taken into views that were not publicly mentioned he should at the very least get manslaughter. Some in the city of Oakland (Myself included) believe he should even get a heavier sentence than that. If justice is not freely given to this city, no one knows exactly what the repercussions would be. And while one always hopes to avoid violence and destruction at all cost, there is no better way to highlight oppression, social unease, poverty all coming into play within one city's limits than a riot.
-Adam Weatherall - Taylor
07-04-10
Johannes Mehserle is currently on trial for the shooting death of Oscar Grant on New Year's Day in 2009 and now the trial has concluded and the jury is deliberating. Mehserle cried in court when he testified that he thought he was drawing his taser and not his gun when he shot Grant on the train platform at Fruitvale Station in Oakland.
"I remember the pop that wasn't very loud. It wasn't like a gunshot. I remember wondering what went wrong with the Taser. I thought it malfunctioned," he said. -Johannes Mehserle
I have held a gun before, as well as a tazer. The two items feel unmistakingly different. It's worrisome for an officer of the law, one who is entrusted by whatever official agency to carry a lethal weapon on his person in the public, to not be able to tell the very distinct differences between the two. One is made of metal, the other plastic, one is much heavier than the other, and officer's usually don't holster the two side by side, usually putting the tazer lower down the thigh or on the opposite side of the hip, meaning that when he actually drew his weapon he wouldn’t have to draw it from the same place. A larger question that needs to be asked is why do transit authority police officers even carry lethal firearms when non-lethal self-defense technology has progressed as far as it has? Furthermore why is any police officer on a normal beat have a gun on their person? Instead of having firearms in their patrol cars, or having Swat officers on the ready in case an emergency presented itself in which lethal force was absolutely necessary? Too many innocent people die every year because of human error. Getting back to the original point, there are to many things wrong with the Johannes Mehserle's story for it to be accurate. No matter what his story the facts of the matter are that he shot an innocent man in the back while he was lying on the ground. Whatever facts are taken into views that were not publicly mentioned he should at the very least get manslaughter. Some in the city of Oakland (Myself included) believe he should even get a heavier sentence than that. If justice is not freely given to this city, no one knows exactly what the repercussions would be. And while one always hopes to avoid violence and destruction at all cost, there is no better way to highlight oppression, social unease, poverty all coming into play within one city's limits than a riot.
-Adam Weatherall - Taylor
Oscar Grant Trial Continues
OSCAR GRANT AN AMERICAN MARTYR.
07-04-10
Oscar Grant was the last stone thrown that started the war in the restless city of Oakland. My name is Adam and this is a portrait of the city by the bay as I see it now in its current state one year and 7 months since the unlawful slaying of Oscar Grant, in full view of hundreds of spectators while handcuffed and laying on his stomach.
Strange vibrations pass between the crowd’s rumors of violence and social unease echo through the masses. I live a few blocks away from the Fruitvale Bart station here in the city of Oakland where this tragic incident took place. I did not see it happen and honestly I largely missed seeing any evidence that may have taken place within the city limits, it was the holidays and I was in Los Angeles visiting family at the time it happened. However noise of the happenings still ring in the streets upon my return and for some time after until finally it had been buried by a news media which under estimated the social significance of a situation. But here in the eyes of her citizens the writing is literally written on the cities walls.
“No taxation without representation.” Was the slogan that started the Revolutionary War. Most will agree that, that statement rings truthful to this day even as it stands in its antiquity. I can hear the city screaming from my telegraph adjacent apartment, even now as quiet as it is. The same unanswered questions buzzing throughout the area’s collective minds. “Why is it okay for us to be afraid to dial 911”, furthermore “When is it okay for an armed officer of the law to circumvent the entire legal process, and execute a civilian in full public view? It has been my experience that when questions left long enough unanswered they often turns to statements. Statements like “Remember OSCAR GRANT!” A phrase seen more and more spray painted on our streets. The trial was moved 500 miles away to the city of Los Angeles Oscar Grants peers not represented at the trail of his murderer, all African American jurors have been removed from selection. Ironically they moved the trial to avoid a riot, yet they moved it to a city, which gave rise to the Rodney King riots, as well as The Watts and Compton riots of the sixties. What will happen if justice is not adequately served to a city beaten down by poverty, crime, and oppression in the midst of the greatest economical recession this country has seen in one hundred years.
I feel as though posed on the edge of a bubble waiting for the pop. The Judges gavel that presides over the ongoing trial is the needle, which could potentially pop that bubble. I do not know what the outcome of that trial being held so far away from those it directly affects will mean to the people here. Or what the fate of this once fair city is to be. I do know a few things about American history however, and although we now have a black president, and one would hope that some Change has taken place. That being said no free man that served under Grant ever got his forty acres and a mule, Slaves in Texas were held for an extra 5 years for no real reason, and you can still feel Jim Crow if you drive slow enough through the south, or any major urban American city center for that matter. This all adds up that justice is not always served within the realm of our lady liberty. I do not in anyway suggest or condone violence I merely wish to remind the power structure of its democracy. Thomas Jefferson, once wrote “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” For truly we are the mass and the mob and ultimately in charge of our own destiny. No one can ever make you kneel they can only suggest it politely or kill you trying to force you into submission. One thing remains certain among all others learned Oscar Grant is and forever will be a Martyr, his lesson not soon forgotten.
07-04-10
Oscar Grant was the last stone thrown that started the war in the restless city of Oakland. My name is Adam and this is a portrait of the city by the bay as I see it now in its current state one year and 7 months since the unlawful slaying of Oscar Grant, in full view of hundreds of spectators while handcuffed and laying on his stomach.
Strange vibrations pass between the crowd’s rumors of violence and social unease echo through the masses. I live a few blocks away from the Fruitvale Bart station here in the city of Oakland where this tragic incident took place. I did not see it happen and honestly I largely missed seeing any evidence that may have taken place within the city limits, it was the holidays and I was in Los Angeles visiting family at the time it happened. However noise of the happenings still ring in the streets upon my return and for some time after until finally it had been buried by a news media which under estimated the social significance of a situation. But here in the eyes of her citizens the writing is literally written on the cities walls.
“No taxation without representation.” Was the slogan that started the Revolutionary War. Most will agree that, that statement rings truthful to this day even as it stands in its antiquity. I can hear the city screaming from my telegraph adjacent apartment, even now as quiet as it is. The same unanswered questions buzzing throughout the area’s collective minds. “Why is it okay for us to be afraid to dial 911”, furthermore “When is it okay for an armed officer of the law to circumvent the entire legal process, and execute a civilian in full public view? It has been my experience that when questions left long enough unanswered they often turns to statements. Statements like “Remember OSCAR GRANT!” A phrase seen more and more spray painted on our streets. The trial was moved 500 miles away to the city of Los Angeles Oscar Grants peers not represented at the trail of his murderer, all African American jurors have been removed from selection. Ironically they moved the trial to avoid a riot, yet they moved it to a city, which gave rise to the Rodney King riots, as well as The Watts and Compton riots of the sixties. What will happen if justice is not adequately served to a city beaten down by poverty, crime, and oppression in the midst of the greatest economical recession this country has seen in one hundred years.
I feel as though posed on the edge of a bubble waiting for the pop. The Judges gavel that presides over the ongoing trial is the needle, which could potentially pop that bubble. I do not know what the outcome of that trial being held so far away from those it directly affects will mean to the people here. Or what the fate of this once fair city is to be. I do know a few things about American history however, and although we now have a black president, and one would hope that some Change has taken place. That being said no free man that served under Grant ever got his forty acres and a mule, Slaves in Texas were held for an extra 5 years for no real reason, and you can still feel Jim Crow if you drive slow enough through the south, or any major urban American city center for that matter. This all adds up that justice is not always served within the realm of our lady liberty. I do not in anyway suggest or condone violence I merely wish to remind the power structure of its democracy. Thomas Jefferson, once wrote “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” For truly we are the mass and the mob and ultimately in charge of our own destiny. No one can ever make you kneel they can only suggest it politely or kill you trying to force you into submission. One thing remains certain among all others learned Oscar Grant is and forever will be a Martyr, his lesson not soon forgotten.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Stimulus Package
Pictures from around the city of Oakland, Sanfrancisco and the bay area beyond hope you enjoy.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
if you like my photos purchase them...
http://www.tinymegaphoto.com/photos/AdamWTaylor/index.php that is my online store purchase any image you see here in one of many different forms from prints,to canvas prints, coffee mugs and even shower curtains, but many more are available. So check it out if you have time.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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