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.