I’m so angry and sad about the recent incident where the BART police officer killed Oscar Grant on New Year’s morning.
Watching those videos, I just cried for that young man lying on the ground, surrounded by cops he knew he couldn’t trust, knowing things could go either which way, but hoping they wouldn’t go the way that they went. And I cried for the guy’s family and friends, and the tragic loss they’re dealing with now that he’s been murdered. And I cried tears of anger for the injustice of not only this incident, but centuries of brutality and violence that white folks have inflicted on black folks, and when will it end, when will it end?!!??
What the frack happened? The BART cop, Johannes Mehserle, needs to take responsibility for what he did. He needs to face up to his mistake and answer people’s questions. He needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Being a police officer of any kind does not relieve one of responsibility for one’s actions, and in my opinion cops are too easily let off the hook. Before the advent of video cameras on cell phones and such, an incident like this would likely have been easily covered up. Who could’ve disputed it if the cops said the young man was resisting arrest and was dangerous? Now, everyone can see that he was lying face down on the freaking floor and got shot at point blank range!
But Johannes Mehserle is not the only one responsible for this incident. I think there’s also a level of responsibility that falls on all of us in this country, particularly on white people. As white people, we are taught to fear young black men. For me, it wasn’t a lesson like someone sat me down and told me to be afraid of young black men, it was more like it was so ingrained in the culture around me that nobody had to even say it directly.
On the news the sketches of wanted criminals are so frequently young black men. The justice system and the prisons are full of young men of color. When a white police officer kills a black man, it seems like most white people just accept that there must’ve been a good reason for the officer to shoot him. There are little subtle things like how white people clutch their purses or cross to the other side of the street if a black man approaches. It starts early, too, like when I’ve heard neighbors talk about how the elementary school down the street isn’t a good, safe school because of the black kids who go there. And I remember the way people used to stare if I was out with a black guy, with a mixture of curiosity and repugnance and wanting to warn me away from him. And there’s a million more ways white people are taught to fear black people.
I’ve heard people say that this shooting didn’t have to do with racism, but if this white police officer lives in this country, then he has been exposed to the same lessons as the rest of us. In my opinion, the paradigm that young black men are dangerous and untrustworthy was actively at work that night there in the BART station. Its obvious to me that if Oscar Grant had been a white man, the whole situation would’ve played out differently, and its likely that no one would’ve gotten shot.
I know that BART cop Johannes Mehserle, as an individual, is responsible for his actions that night. But I also believe that its up to all of us to take responsibility for the context in which this shooting happened by working to change the culture of racism and white privilege that teaches white people, among other things, that black people are dangerous.
And, I’ll go one step further and say that I believe that its up to white people in particular to work towards this change. We need to use our unearned white privilege to fight against the institutional and systemic racism that keeps the current racist paradigm in place. We need to look at ourselves and each other and admit our racist thoughts, beliefs and actions, and then find a way to let go of that paralyzing white guilt that keeps us from demanding change from ourselves, each other and the institutions around us. We need to really listen to the stories of people of color about the effects of racism on their lives. We need to join together with other like-minded people to actively move towards racial justice.
And we need to find a way to both hold Johannes Mehserle responsible for his actions, and also compassionately reach out to him and include him in the movement towards positive change.
