Notes
1 We acknowledge that our language and framing here differs from that of official reports. The BART Police Officer who shot Oscar Grant was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and not guilty of charges for second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter. However, we have chosen to use the language of “murder” despite this legal ruling of involuntary manslaughter. Our language choice here follows the lead of other activists to center and acknowledge the systemic racism, violence, and medical injustice that people of color consistently face in Oakland, especially at the hands of state authorities and police officers. By naming Oscar Grant’s death as a murder, we call attention to these conditions and understand Grant’s death within them, as one small but important act of social justice.