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Outraged protests have continued over a fatal shooting of a Black man by a white police officer in the Bay area. Twenty two year old Oscar Grant was shot in the back by a police officer at a subway station in San Francisco’s East Bay on New Year’s Day. Cell phone camera videos by various on-lookers made their way onto YouTube and television networks, ignited anger in and around the neighborhood of the Fruitvale BART stop where the shooting too place. According to news reports, Oscar Grant was one of a small group of men restrained by police after reports of a fight. The videos show Grant kneeling and then being pushed to the ground by one police officer who jammed his knee against Grant’s neck. At the same time, another police officer, Johannes Mehserle, standing over Grant, was seen pulling out his gun and shooting Grant in the back. Oscar Grant died in hospital. The police reportedly confiscated as many cameras as they could and claimed that there was no close-circuit television footage available. Despite this, several videos surfaced on YouTube, garnering hundreds of thousands of views. The police officer in question initially was put on paid leave but resigned last week. The Grant family has filed a $25 million lawsuit against BART and are being represented by John Burris, former co-counsel for Rodney King in his trial against the Los Angeles Police Department.

GUEST: John Burris, civil rights attorney representing the family of Oscar Grant, Davey D, Bay-area based journalist who has been covering the demonstrations against Grant’s shooting.

Source of audio: ABC 7 and Eyewitness News, CBS, CNN, and Karina Vargas, a bystander.

Watch videos of the shooting and aftermath here: http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/oakland100109.html