Oscar Grant did not get justice

I've written about Oscar Grant before. Shot in the back while handcuffed and lying on the subway floor on New Year's Eve 2009. Another officer had his knee on Grant's neck at the time of the shooting. Oscar Grant was a grocery store worker and a father to a 4-year-old son. I have rightly called his murder one of the worst cases of professional misconduct imaginable.

The man who shot him was a cop. Johannes Mehserle. That man was convicted of involuntary manslaugher today. I must be behind the times, because I thought the word involuntary meant that you had no control over the events leading to the crime. Involuntary. There is a certain lack of responsibility in that word.

There is a certain lack of responsibility in Oakland.

Someone is responsible for Oscar Grant's death. It most certainly wasn't Oscar Grant. I'm so sorry for his family that they lost a son and father, but still they couldn't even get justice. I'm beginning to wonder about California altogether.

Photo courtesy of Advance The Struggle.