If you haven’t seen the movie Fruitvale Station please do. It may be hard to watch and it may even make you upset, but it needs to be seen. The story behind Fruitvale station is an old one. It took place in 2009 in Oakland, California, and is based on the life of 22-year-old Oscar Grant. The movie chronicles the last day of Grant’s life. In the early hours of the morning Jan. 1, 2009 an altercation took place on the BART Train. Police responded and Grant along with others were detained. At one point Grant was laying face down on the subway located in Fruitvale Station. He was handcuffed and not resisting. Several people in the crowd are filming with their cellphones and chanting for Grant to be let go. I saw the actual youtube footage and it brought tears to my eyes. A gun shot rings out and everyone realizes that Grant has been shot in the back. Why?
The officer claims that he thought he had his taser. There was no need to tase Oscar Grant, he wasn’t resisting. Instead of being convicted of second degree murder, an all white jury convicted the police officer of involuntary manslaughter and he only served one year in prison. There are no words to describe how I felt after watching the clip.
