The cases of Amadou Diallo and Rodney King ended in sham judgements and travesty because an institutional reaction to cops killing black men starts long before the trial date. Giuliani and the D.A.s and the thick blue line protects them first. This is how we've come to the miserable condition we are in.
It's been happening again in the case of Oscar Grant - relieving the cop of duty before he is arrested, moving the trial - and these tactics must be resisted with a unified front that says only one thing: Jason Mehserle is guilty of murder and no amount of job stress or occupational hazard or context can justify the killing of Oscar Grant.
The first cop tried and convicted for murdering one of us, is NOT going to come easy, but Mehserle must be made an example of .... it's LONG overdue.
To do this, we must patiently and collectively establish slow-growing consensus for the DEMAND that this "officer" be tried, convicted and punished to the fullest extent of the law. Talk slowly to people who think the cop did it by accident or must have been provoked. Break it down - this is a horror and indefensible.
Explain that this has been happening all the time and rarely is it so cut and dry. Explain that this MUST become the precedent case, the first that sends the pendulum back toward the long dream of safety and protection for our people in the streets and condemnation of illegal, overly-militant, racist police brutality.
Mehserle must go to jail for murder.
Original: Mehserle Must Go To Jail for Murder