Well, it happened again - a white police officer shoots a black man which provokes a storm of protest from the community. In this case the community is Oakland, California, across the San Francisco Bay from where I live. And the police officer was employed by BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). But the incident is particularly awful in that the man was shot in the back while in police custody and lying on his face on the concrete subway platform where he was apprehended for creating a disturbance on New Year's day. The man, Oscar Grant, was pronounced dead at a local hospital a few hours later. He was unarmed. The police officer has not been charged with any crime and now cannot be questioned or disciplined by the BART administration because he resigned abruptly while still in hidng. Oakland, a city adjacent to Berkeley, home of the Universityy of fCalifornia, has a diverse but heavily black population. The mayor, Ron Dellums is black. The chair of the BART supervisors is black. Both have gone on record acknowledging the tragic shooting. Both have asked the community to remain calm so they can restore order in the wake of protests that became violent at times and resulted in 100 people being injured and 300 businesses damaged. One resident said in exasperation, "This is like 1964 in the South all over again."
http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20090109/Train.Station.Shooting/
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