The apparent execution of Oscar Grant by a San Francisco BART police officer is emblematic of a larger problem in law enforcement with the regards to the killing of unarmed black suspects. Equally problematic is the wholesale cultural acceptance of the killing of black men by law enforcement, which has repercussions in our legal system. James Rucker of Color of Change points out that Grant's death is the third instance of BART police killing an unarmed black man in the last 20 years.
The first, in 2001, Bruce Edward Seward, was mentally ill. He was sitting in a BART station completely naked and apparently asleep when he was approached by a police officer. He woke up suddenly and grabbed the officer's nightstick. Seward did was not subdued by pepper spray, and so the officer shot him in the chest.
The second, Jerrold Hall, a 19-year old warehouse worker, was shot in the back when he tried to run from police after they mistook him for an armed robber.
Now three men in twenty years isn't necessarily indicative of widespread irresponsibility or a systemic problem among BART police in particular. But in the two previous cases, both police officers were acquitted of any wrongdoing. As a society, we register little outrage over such matters. We excuse the killing of black men by police because fear of black criminality makes them "justifiable."
The argument that police should be excused when they make these kind of mistakes is untenable. By refusing to hold accountable public servants to whom we have vested the ultimate power, that over life and death, we make that power an excuse to abuse it. Tellingly, despite the mountain of evidence implicating Johannes Mehserle, the officer who pulled the trigger, ( and who is regretfully facing death threats as a result of his actions) the Alameda County District Attorney and local authorities acted slowly in responding because of the holiday, and the brass has been scrambling to give a proper response ever since. If Mehserle did face prosecution, he would be the first police officer in Alameda County in over 20 years to be charged in a fatal shooting.
-- A. Serwer
