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Public vents over BART shooting at BART board meeting

From The Contra Costa Times: "BART held it's Board of Directors meeting and the public showed up in force to voice their frustration and anger about the shooting death of Oscar Grant III by a BART police officer on New Year's Day." I missed this because I was litterally sitting on my ass first doing CNN.com with Ali Velshi then HLN Headline News right after that. Hard to be in more than one place at once. This I wanted to attend. But thank God for New Media.

Oakland Latino's United's Video Opinion on The Oakland Riots and Shooting

This man makes a great point about how the media did not show the peaceful protest at Fruitvale BART and did show the violent riot. The only problem is his video gets a bit nasty toward the end, so be warned. He's pissed. But part of the problem -- he does not know this -- is Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums called a press conference at exactly the same time as the BART protest and press conference. Why? DaveyD has his view:

New Footage of Oakland Man Murdered By BART Cop

The YouTuber write that this is new, but it's not. However it's still worth another look, if only to see that the man next to Oscar Grant on the ground was very still and silent. He was also not dark-skinned Black. I hate to point that out but it seems there was a kind of selective treatment based on race and evident in the video, and led to the taking of Grant's life by the officer. Why? More on that later.

Officer in BART shooting abruptly resigns

More at SFGate.com : “(01-07) 19:14 PST OAKLAND -- The BART police officer who shot an unarmed man to death on a station platform early on New Year's Day quit the force Wednesday, avoiding an interview with police internal affairs investigators trying to get to the bottom of an incident that has prompted broad outrage. Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, was supposed to make a statement Wednesday about why he shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant as the supermarket worker lay face-down at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, BART said.”

BART Cop Needs to Be Held without Bail

'I have yet to see any widespread nationwide coverage on the New Year's execution style murder of Oscar Grant by a Bay Area Rapid Transit - BART - police officer. Somebody told me that they saw 5 minutes of coverage on CNN last night. I would think they would syndicate it across all networks by now.' read more | digg story

Jane Tyska Foe Art Michel Resigns -Oakland schools police chief leaving - Inside Bay Area

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Art Michel, the Oakland school district police chief who detained a Tribune videographer last fall during a student protest, will leave the department this week, school district spokesman Troy Flint confirmed Tuesday. Flint would not give the reasons behind Michel's departure, saying that it was a personnel matter that had yet to be approved by the school board. But some familiar with the situation say the police chief's resignation might have been triggered — at least, in part — by concerns about compensation and benefits, rather than by his confrontation with photojournalist Jane Tyska on Oct. 31, which was captured on video. Michel retired from the Oakland Police Department as a sergeant in 2003 after 31 years of service. In 2007, he joined the newly resurrected Oakland school district force as a lieutenant and was promoted to interim chief in January 2008. But questions recently arose about Michel's employment in light of his retirem

Geoffrey's, a place to be and be seen, is closing - Inside Bay Area

More at Inside Bay Area : “Geoffrey's Inner Circle, the popular black-owned and -operated nightclub in downtown Oakland, is closing. Owner Geoffrey Pete said little Tuesday other than he is transferring the lease to a church and a nonprofit. Pete has complained in the past, however, that police were unfairly targeting his night spot as well as other black-owned clubs downtown, many of which have closed in the past few years. Some of the clubs closed voluntarily or were pressured to do so by the city after crowds leaving the establishments were involved in fights, shootings and sideshows that resulted in injuries and death. Police said the incidents ate up overtaxed police resources as officers from beats around the city were called in to restore order and make arrests. Geoffrey's drew a mature, well-heeled crowd and had relatively few problems compared with other now-defunct nightclubs, such as Mingles and Sweet Jimmie's, but Oakland police Sgt. Kyle Thomas said that change

Nemekhbayer Gaitav, 42, found stabbed to death in Oakland apartment

More at SFGate.com : “A man was found stabbed to death in downtown Oakland, police said today. Nemekhbayer Gaitav, 42, was found inside an apartment on the 1400 block of Jackson Street near Lake Merritt about 10 p.m. Monday, authorities said. He had been stabbed and was pronounced dead at the scene. No arrests have been made.”

The Oakland BART Shooting By Police at Fruitvale Station Was A Deliberate Act

The Oakland BART Police Fruitvale Station shooting was a horrifying act of an individual police officer that, upon reflection, went insane for a moment. I'm glad people had video cameras and used them. But I'm not happy with the state of the police in Oakland and the East Bay. What the officer did to young Oscar Grant was shameful. If you look at the videos, the officer first drags Grant over the station floor then positions him against the ground, and then pulls out his gun slowly then shoots him, but then looks up as if to say "Oh, that was an accident." It did not look that way. This should prompt a major investigation into how police are trained and the backgrounds and attitudes of the people that are recruited and how they're trained. There's something wrong and where there's smoke,there's fire. Now, Oakland Lawyer John Burris has introduced a $25 million lawsuit against the police department and BART, and given the look of the videos -- ther

BART / Oakland Police Shooting - A Very Angry Video

Of all the videos I've seen on last New Year's Day Morning's shooting by the BART / Oakland Police at Fruitvale BART Station, this one is the first I've seen that expresses an urban anger that was not expressed before. The evidence is clear the officer directly shot Oscar Grant, even if it was by accident. I have to have a closer look at his actions -- if he reached for his gun and took it out deliberately, then it was not an accident. This is tragic.