Youth Radio - Topic: Shooting

Oscar Grant: Former BART Officer To Be Released Monday

denise — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:40:31 -0500

On New Year’s Day 2009, 22-year-old Oscar Grant was shot and killed by former transit officer Johannes Mehserle on the platform of Fruitvale BART station in Oakland. Video of the shooting, recorded on cell phone by bystanders, spread virally, sparking protests in Oakland and gaining national attention. After a jury trial in Los Angeles last summer, Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and received the minimum sentence of two years in state prison. Mehserle returned back to court on June 1st and Judge Robert Perry ruled that Mehserle will be released on Monday. He has served 11 months of his two year sentence.

Tracy Bell-borden, community activist of Onyx, an Oakland group that has been organizing ongoing protests related to the case, says Mehserle’s release is the beginning of a new chapter. “We have been waiting for this because the civil lawsuit is just starting.”

The shooting stirred up racial tensions in the city, reigniting Oakland's long history of tension between its police force and the community. Mehersle, a white man, was videotaped from multiple angles, shooting Grant, a black man. The incident was followed by violent protests and looting in downtown Oakland.

Onyx is putting together a peace rally this Sunday at Fruitvale Bart Station at 3pm.

Karina Vargas, who testified on the first day of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle's preliminary hearing, returned to the scene of the shooting for the first time in this interview.

Neither Side Right In Gun Debate

wilmer — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:09:17 -0600

The following originally aired on KCBS.

By Sam Fuller

It’s good we are talking about gun control in the wake of the Tucson shooting, and the LA school shooting last week, but are we talking about the right things?

Both sides are wrong when it comes to gun control. Arming every soccer mom and retiree will not deter crime the way the far right suggests. Have you ever heard of someone with a concealed weapon stopping a killing?

The far left’s idea isn’t much better. If we were to ban guns outright, there’s still no way we could deal with all the guns out there. And a ban would just create a firearms black market.

The real issue is that people want to kill each other, and guns just make it easy. In Switzerland, every military-age male is issued an assault rifle for national defense. And yet they have a lower per-capita homicide rate then the U.S.

The debate should be about preventing homicides, not regulating firearms. Guns are just a tool we use to kill each other. We don’t know the best way to prevent people from wanting to kill. That’s the question we need to be asking.

Previously:

Why the Pascua Yaqui Prayer Matters for Tucson

rebecca — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:13:09 -0600

by Patty Talahongva

It is fitting and proper that Dr. Carlos Gonzales offers a prayer at tonight’s memorial for the victims, survivors and their families of the shooting that left Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition. Dr. Gonzales is an associate professor at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine. He is a medical doctor. He is also a Pascua Yaqui Indian who embraces his culture and is learning the ways of traditional healing.

Dr. Gonzales will aid in the healing of this community, this state and indeed this nation in the wake of such violence.

The reservation of the Pascua Yaqui Nation is located just outside of Tucson. They are in District Seven, the neighboring district of Representative Giffords.

In a state that passed the English Only law and the more recent Senate Bill 1070, Dr. Gonzales represents the diversity Rep. Giffords embraces. He comes from a tribe that, because of an international border which now crosses their aboriginal homelands, has citizens living in villages in Mexico. His people are also tri-lingual speaking English, Spanish and some still speak Yoeme, the traditional language of the Pascua Yaqui.

So tonight it comes down to words from an aboriginal man, from a race of people who have consistently helped this nation in times of strife. Arizona is home to the Navajo and Hopi Code Talkers who are credited with creating codes in their traditional languages which were never broken by the enemy during World War II. They helped save countless American lives.

Quite often the words and voice of the American Indian/Alaska Native is lost in America, their indigenous homeland, but tonight the country will hear from a man who clearly represents America and her rich diversity…

Words matter. Words can sometimes save lives. And when words are spoken in prayer, in a positive way, they can surely do more good than harm.

Dr. Gonzales spends his time teaching students and working with those who are in their residencies. As he told me he’s training, “the next generation of family doctors,” healers who will spend their lives helping their fellow human beings, and comforting them with words.

Patty Talahongva is a freelance journalist based in Arizona and former president of the Native American Journalists Association. She is also Hopi Indian from First Mesa, AZ. The Hopi have always known the world is round and thus all their prayers include prayers for people around the world.

Young Faces In Tucson Shootings

rgee — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:33:42 -0600

As the country learns more about the lives of the people at the center of the shootings in Tucson, many of the stories are about young people. While the bullets were aimed at U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who currently remains in critical condition, snapshots of four young personalities are beginning to emerge from the tragic events. Victims Christina Green and Gabe Zimmerman, 9 and 30 respectively, were shot and killed. The man behind the trigger, Jared Lee Loughner, was only 22 years old, and Daniel Hernandez, 20, jumped in to lend a hand, possibly saving Giffords' life.

Accused: Jared Lee Loughner, 22
Loughner is charged with shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday in a Safeway parking lot in Tucson, Arizona, along with 18 other people, killing six.
Media sources have been looking for signs in Loughner’s background that point to mental instability or aggression towards Giffords and the government. They found several, according to the New York Times.

The Wall Street Journal reports that one incident back in 2007 apparently sparked Loughner’s hatred towards Giffords. At a public congressional event, Loughner asked Giffords, “How do you know words mean anything?” and she responded to him in Spanish. A threatening letter to Giffords was later found in Loughner’s apartment.

2007 was also the year that Pima County charged Loughner with possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, though the case was dropped. Loughner also released YouTube videos about government officials brainwashing people, and how he planned to invent a new form of currency.

In addition, Loughner was the source of substantial discomfort in his classes at Pima Community College. He would interrupt seminars with disoriented comments. According to the WSJ, his math instructor tried to remove him from class several times because he was frightening students. Eventually, the college required Loughner to take a mental health examination, and he withdrew.

Rescue Assist: Daniel Hernandez, 20
Hernandez had only worked with Rep. Giffords for five days before he was in a position to save her life. CBS News reports that Hernandez ran over to Giffords who was lying on the ground, and used meat smocks from Safeway to apply pressure to the wound on her forehead. He also held her upright to prevent her from choking on her own blood until the ambulance arrived.
Hernandez was identified as the man who “saved Giffords’ life," according to Yahoo News.

Victim: Christina Green, 9
Christina’s life began and ended with tragedy. She was born on September 11, 2001 and killed in the Tucson shootings over the weekend. Her father told the Arizona Daily Star that he could have easily seen the outgoing, friendly girl as a politician one day. She was even elected to the student council at Mesa Verde Elementary School, and was invited to meet Rep. Giffords on Saturday. Green was one of a kind- literally being the only girl on her baseball team.

Victim: Gabe Zimmerman, 30
Zimmerman worked for Giffords as her community outreach director, and had organized the public appearance on Saturday. He was also killed in the shooting.

Zimmerman was a graduate of University of California at Santa Cruz where he got a bachelor’s degree in sociology, and went on to get his master’s in social work from Arizona State University. According to his friends, he was an extroverted person with great talent for communicating and cooperating with other people. He could deescalate conflicts between opposing groups very well.

After he finished his undergraduate studies, he worked at the Arizona Children’s Association, before going to Arizona.

The four other victims killed in the shooting include Federal Judge John Roll, Dorothy Morris, Dorwan Stoddard, and Phyllis Schneck, according to the New York Times.

Youth Radio's Mural Tribute to Oscar Grant by Miguel "Bounce" Perez

wilmer — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 13:38:23 -0500

OAKLAND-Turning a community's outpouring of emotion into art, Miguel "Bounce" Perez created a tribute to Oscar Grant and other victims of police brutality on a building in downtown Oakland the night before the two year sentence was delivered for the transit cop who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Grant's death.

The building at 1701 Broadway is the home of youth organization and production company Youth Radio, which has been covering the story for almost two years. In July, when the verdict was announced, many businesses in the downtown area boarded their windows. Youth Radio invited muralists from the group "Trust Your Struggle," to paint on its boards, and the group created an iconic picture of Grant's face that supporters of Grant's family replicated for Facebook avatars and tribute posters.

The new mural, created by Perez in just hours, also has a rendering of Grant's face. Check out the video to hear him describe how concepts from Youth Radio students contributed to the rest of the piece.

Chapter Closes on Oscar Grant Shooting Trial, 152 Arrested [SLIDESHOW]

wilmer — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 19:00:03 -0500

OAKLAND-Police corralled and arrested 152 protesters in the area east of Lake Merritt Friday, the evening after the sentencing of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. Mehserle had been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in July for shooting 22-year-old Oscar Grant in the back when he was face down and in custody.

From the Los Angeles Court House, Judge Robert Perry issued the minimum sentence, two years in state prison for the officer, sparking anger from Grant's family and their allies around the country. Mehserle was given double credit for time served, so his actual sentence is one year, 2 months and 13 days or less.

About 300 people gathered in front of Oakland City Hall throughout the afternoon in a peaceful demonstration, listening to speeches. At dusk, more demonstrators joined the crowd and they headed out of the downtown area, marching towards Fruitvale BART, scene of the Grant's shooting death. Youth Radio's Haldun Morgan reports that police started to chase the crowd, and that "protesters played cat and mouse with the police," weaving through neighborhoods. At one point, protesters tore down a resident's fence near Lakeshore Boulevard to run from the police. Then police surrounded about protesters when they were on 6th Avenue between 17th and 18th Streets. Police circled the demonstrators and would not let them exit. Police proceeded with arrests.

Mistah F.A.B. Reacts to Sentencing: "Not Another Oscar Grant"

ellin — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:06:33 -0500

OAKLAND-Hometown artist/musician Mistah F.A.B. acknowledges frustration about short sentence for BART cop, and urges youth to be mindful of their actions.

Mehserle Sentencing and The Unanswered Question: Should Transit Cops Have Guns?

wilmer — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 18:53:34 -0500

By Charlie Foster

Just how long Johannes Mehserle goes to prison for fatally shooting an unarmed train passenger will likely come down to one thing: his gun. Because while the ex-transit cop’s involuntary manslaughter conviction carries a sentence of as much as four years in state prison, a gun enhancement could tack on an additional ten years, taking the potential sentence to 14 years total.

A judge will sentence Mehserle on Friday for killing 22-year-old Oscar Grant during an arrest on Jan. 1, 2009, on a station platform in Oakland. In July, after deliberating for less than seven hours, a jury decided the death was unintentional. But by adding the gun enhancement, they seemed to reject Mehserle’s claim that he had mistaken his gun for a Taser.

Meanwhile, the shooting has generated a much longer and sweeping deliberation in the Bay Area and around the state about the weapons BART police officers carry on the job.

“The whole case raises the question of why BART cops even carry guns,” former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown wrote this summer in his column in the Chronicle. Guns, he argued, dont fit the job description for police whose jurisdiction revolves around trains and their stations. “It's not like they are real police officers out on patrol. They are transit cops.”

As certified peace officers, BART police do in fact wield the same authority as their counterparts who work the streets of Oakland, Los Angeles and every other California municipality. But officers at the various police agencies don’t all wield the same equipment, and those varied arsenals can include nightsticks, pepper spray, Tasers, pistols and shotguns.

Critics of armed BART officers say they are about as likely to face violent crimes as mall cops. It’s a claim even Lynette Sweet on BART’s Board of Directors concedes. “Our big problem right now is at Dublin-Pleasanton garage where somebody is stealing wheels off cars and putting the cars up on crates -- I mean, that’s our big crime right now,” Sweet told Youth Radio in July. She also said that BART police have a bad record of using deadly force. Of the agency’s two other fatal shootings by officers, one involved an unarmed 19-year-old, shot in the back while running away, and the other happened when an officer gunned down a mentally ill man who had grabbed his nightstick.

But Sweet disagreed that BART police should lose their guns.

“In a post-9/11 world, we want to have some means to defend ourselves if need be,” she said. “Instead they should be relieved of their Tasers to avoid confusing them with their guns. I know that sounds silly because guns are deadly, but more thought goes into pulling a gun than a Taser,” she said.

Many police say the debate is not about choosing weapons, but rather how much officers are trained to use them. While all police in the state receive the same basic, police academy training, including firing handguns, law enforcement agencies have varying levels of on-the-job training. Oakland Police Department, for instance, provides officers much more continuous gun training than BART cops receive.

In a brief to Judge Perry seeking a lowest possible sentence, Mehserle’s defense lawyer cited that the former officer was not trained well by BART.

At Napa Valley College Police Academy, where Mehserle graduated in 2006, he is now used as an example of what happens if a officers skills get rusty.

“Especially when we go down to the firing range and were practicing our shooting and drawing drills,” said Brent Hardy, a 24-year-old cadet. “They say, Hey muscle memory, muscle memory know what your gun feels like without looking at it.”

Hardy said the academy teaches how to use pepper spray, but not Tasers.

“It’s my personal belief that he wasn’t training enough,” said Hardy. “He simply grabbed the wrong weapon. I understand why that happened, but if he was training more outside of his work, on the weekends or whatever, he might not have made that mistake.”

Anticipating The Mehserle Sentence: 5 - 14 Years

rgee — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 10:08:14 -0500

The trial for Johannes Mehserle, former Oakland BART Police Officer, had California buzzing over the controversy. Mehserle shot 22 year-old train rider Oscar Grant in the back on New Year’s Day 2009 after pinning him to the ground on the Fruitvale BART platform. Mehserle was convicted in early July of involuntary manslaughter. The sentencing for Mehserle takes place on Friday, Nov. 5, at 8:30 a.m. in Los Angeles, CA.

The verdict of involuntary manslaughter had Oscar Grant supporters up in arms. Mehserle's main defense presented to the jury was that he mistakenly pulled his gun instead of his taser, but the prosecution argued otherwise. In the pending civil case, John Burris, the Oakland attorney representing the Mehserle family, claims that pulling the gun was not an accident, and that Mehserle should have been convicted of murder. (View Youth Radio's extensive coverage of the Oscar Grant / Mehserle case including an original photo magazine of the event.)

Mehserle could face between five and 14 years in prison. However, there are several complicating factors for Judge Robert Perry to consider. SF Gate reported, “Although one state law requires an increased prison term for using a gun during a felony, another law allows a judge to grant probation for involuntary manslaughter... In ordinary circumstances, state law says anyone found to have used a gun during a felony must serve extra time in prison. If Perry decides that the law applies to Mehserle, the ex-police officer could get as much as 14 years and would have to serve at least 85 percent of his term.”

Other factors that Judge Perry will take into account include the fact that Mehserle has no prior legal record, as well as the opportunity to send a message to the community in such a high-profile case.

In the days following the 2009 shooting, Oakland streets erupted in multiple violent protests. Angry citizens overturned cars, broke store windows, and lit fires in dumpsters. Tensions were high throughout the Mehserle trial with many comparing the case to the Rodney King case, and while thousands took to the streets on July 8th when the verdict was announced, violence and looting wasn't as widespread as had been projected.

With Friday's sentencing just days away, some downtown Oakland businesses are again boarding up windows in anticipation of possible rioting. Most residents we've spoken to, say they aren't sure quite what to expect.

Youth Use New Media To Capture Violence

rgee — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:43:42 -0500

Being young in today’s society, means finding any way possible to communicate with your peers. Be it blogging, Facebook, texting, twittering... youth get inspired by what other youth have to say. And in many parts of the world, youth have important things to say. The role of new forms of media is growing.

Camera Phones in Kashmir
A documentary was created by Suvojit Bagchi, a correspondent with BBC World Service based in India, called, “New Media in Kashmir.” It tells the story of cyber activists - young people in Kashmir who use their camera phones to film violent protests, and then post them on YouTube to spread the images beyond their borders.

According to an article in the New York Times, there were three landmark moments in Kashmiri cyber-activism:
- A YouTube video of protest images set to the song, “Revolution,” by Chris de Burgh in 2008.
- A YouTube video posted by a 15-year-old boy of the shooting of a salesman.
- A YouTube video of protest footage set to Everlast’s song, “Stone in My Hand” (see below). The creator was sought after by the police.

Who are these cyber-activists? According to the article, Indian police try to make them out to be: “illiterate pawns of jihadist forces across the Pakistan border and have suggested that economic development and jobs are the key to getting young people off the streets.”

But these YouTube video / song montages are works of art. They are the result of thoughtful, detailed, and intentional video-editing with a clear message. The article says these youth are actually English-speaking children of the upper class, who are reaching out to the rest of the world for solidarity in their fight for peace.

Blogging in Iran
Spying. Enmity with God, Islam, and the Islamic government. Corrupting society. Corrupting young people’s minds.

These are just some of the reasons you could be arrested for blogging in Iran, according to a writer for MidEast Youth.

Even the “Blogging in Iran” Wikipedia entry explains that there are special restrictions on this type of media due to restrictions by the Iranian government. However, it explains, “Blogs in general tend to be unregulated compared to other forms of expression in Iranian society. This characteristic can account for the huge popularity of blogs especially among Iranian youths.”

But just because they are popular, does not mean they exist risk-free. According to the MidEast Youth article, bloggers in Iran receive death threats every day for criticizing the Iranian government, or the laws of Islam.

This is a problem all over middle east. We, middle eastern bloggers do not have the liberty that we should have. For god’s sake we do not ask for anything extraordinary, we want to write without government scrutinizing every dot and commas we type on our keyboards. Let everyone of us be a blogger, bloggers don’t kill, bloggers discuss, bloggers start discourse, blogging will wipe fundamentalism and replace it with intellect and that’s we, middle eastern bloggers should fight for united than ever. Brothers and sisters, this is a rise of organized governmental discrimination against bloggers in our region, we collectively have to do something about it.

These bloggers are taking the same risk as cyber-activists in Kashmir, all for the sake of spreading the word about their experiences with violence and censorship. These youth are doing what they do best - using technology to create and communicate. And hey, that's what we're doing at Youth Radio - getting the stories out, flavored with our youth perspective.