Riot Erupts Over Oscar Grant Murder

I'm not at all surprised it's come to this (see below video of the recent riots). I knew the vibe I was sensing when I posted my last entry about Oscar Grant's murder. The people of this country, especially the underrepresented won't continue to take boldfaced or even covert injustice laying down. It's gone too far for that. The miscarriage of justice in the Sean Bell case has left underrepresented people restless and anxious to see solutions that will create an effective change where police brutality and blatant killings are concerned.

And as one commenter mentioned in the comments of a recent entry regarding another police brutality shooting in Texas, how strange is it that two black men were shot on the same night? Is this ordered from higher channels, within certain cliques that form in police departments or coincidence?

Whatever it is, the power corruption must and will be checked. And when Obama takes office, the issue of police brutality must be faced, as I mentioned in my last post. Very severe penalties must be introduced to discourage renegade activity, and they must be enforced (thankyou Verite for making the excellent point that the laws already on the books need to be enforced).

If this case were not poised to be brushed off, and called an accident by local authorities despite what we all saw on video that shows Oscar Grant was subdued and shot needlessly (even if the officer mistakenly grabbed his gun instead of a taser, what was the taser going to be used for if the young man was already subdued?), a riot may not have broken out. I am sure, that if these kinds of injustices continue to be brushed off and ignored, their will be serious civil unrest. If the system doesn't work it will be revamped. And isn't that how this country is said to have been founded?

Post racial America? Ummm, no. Not with taser-happy gun-toting officers going wild, and unchecked.




Release the protesters. The majority of them protested peacefully, according to the rights afforded them as US citizens.


Past posts on police brutality, including a list of tasering violations on the Day of Blogging to stop pre-trial electrocution by taser:
http://purplezoe.blogspot.com/search/label/police%20brutality

A great resource to learn of incidents involving police brutality:
http://blackcrosse.wordpress.com/

Also check:
http://www.silenceisviolence.org/