New Year’s Day vigil commemorates Oscar Grant killing

More than 100 family members, religious leaders and community supporters held a prayer vigil and speak-out Jan. 1 in front of the Fruitvale Bay Area Rapid Transit station to commemorate the second anniversary of the 2009 killing of Oscar Grant, a young Black man. The rally also focused attention on Derrick Jones, another young unarmed Black man killed by the police in Oakland, and others killed by the police.

Grant was unarmed and restrained in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2009, when he was killed on the train platform by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. His death sparked a series of protests and rebellions throughout California and around the country.

The vigil was led by Grant’s uncle, “Uncle Bobby” Cephus Johnson, who thanked the crowd for coming out to demand justice. ‘It’s the community that enables us to continue. We believe you represent justice, and not just for Oscar Grant,” he stated. Johnson has worked tirelessly since Grant’s killing to bring a coalition together to fight for justice for all people impacted by police brutality.

Speakers at the vigil included Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, and several other family members. “I want the police to take responsibility for taking my son’s life and all the other lives,” Johnson said. The family was very upset when Mehserle received a light sentence of two years for killing Grant.

Several religious leaders also spoke. Minister Keith Muhammad of Mosque 26B, located in East Oakland, spoke eloquently about who is to blame for Grant’s death. He noted that it’s not just one bad cop; it’s the entire system that’s to blame. He called on everyone to show with their deeds that they are fighting for justice. “We are all Oscar Grant,” Muhammad concluded.

According to Uncle Bobby, Grant’s case is now before the Department of Justice. He called upon everyone to keep organizing and bring pressure on the department. “By standing together and having one voice, they will be forced to listen to us,” he stated.

The family of Derrick Jones expressed their solidarity with the Grant family and with the fight against police brutality. Jones’s father stated, “We are going to continue this movement for justice. The spotlight is on Oakland and justice will be served.”

Many of Grant’s family members and friends were introduced and brought to the front of the rally, including his daughter Tatiana, his sister and nephew, and Jack Bryson, a close family friend and another moving force behind the movement for justice for Oscar Grant and all victims of police brutality.

A community speak-out was held following the vigil. Dave Welsh, a local leader of the Bail Out the People Movement and a member of the Grant committee, invited everyone to attend the next meeting of the Oscar Grant Committee to Stop Police Brutality and State Repression (OGC), which will take place on Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Niebyl Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. in North Oakland. The committee meets every second and fourth Tuesdays.

The Jan. 1 vigil was organized by OGC, ONYX, New Years Movement for Justice, Community Action Project and many other groups.