They Shoot Black People, Don't They?

It's been the talk of my apartment for a few days now, so I'm surprised I haven't at least linked to the story of Oscar Grant, recent victim of murder in Oakland. The cops haven't nabbed the murderer yet, because, you see, he's a cop himself. Who was on duty. And got caught on camera. (Police brutality really starts about 2:30 in, you hear the gunshot at about 3:01, and see the dying Oscar Grant soon after. You were warned: it's ugly.)



Post from Reason's Hit And Run, also with some good comments below. Count me in the group who sympathizes with the rioters. There's no defensible reason why this "peace" officer is still outside a jail cell. What's really happening in this "investigation" by city officials and law enforcement is a CYA-fest. They're trying to determine how to simultaneously placate the angry citizens while abiding by some b.s. police union laws. The police want this man out of jail in only a few years, serving an involuntary manslaughter charge. The people (and a common sense view of justice), however, want this guy locked away for life.

As someone on indybay.org put it (summary): if the roles were turned around, and Oscar Grant and his buddies were pinning a police officer to the ground and killing him with a bullet-to-the-back, those kids would already be sitting on Death Row waitin' for the chair to cool down.