Fruitvale

I just returned from see the movie Fruitvale. It is true story of Oscar Grant, who was killed on New Years Eve 2007 on the Fruitvale Bart platform by the Metro Police, while coming back from celebrating in San Francisco.This film comes out five years later, to illustrate how the life of a black man can be taken and no justice received to fit the crime. I am grateful to the producers including Forrest Whitaker for telling the story. The sad part about it is that at 1:00 p.m on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at a popular Cinemark there were only 4 people that saw the movie. My wife, myself and another black couple.The movie premiered this Friday. I know I saw a few commercials for the movie and it was highlighted on the BET Awards show. So what happened to the people, black and white alike? 

People have forgotten already what happened at Fruitvale, and those that haven't don't want to see the reality of it in a movie. We'd rather watch the Lone Ranger. Will the Trayvon Martin case be the same way? Up in arms by both black and white, but with little action as time passes. They held a tribute for Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale Bart station this new year's day to continue to ask for justice, with a hope that he was not forgotten.

The movie was hard to watch. Not for the reason you might think, but because it was about Oscar's life before the shooting. It is a life we as African Americans have all encountered. Normal life for us is slow and hard. Not always exciting like in the movies. Oscar was twenty two, had been to prison, has a girlfriend and a little girl. Loved his mother, family, and especially his daughter. He is out trying to get a new start but it is not working out. Loses his job due to being late, has the temptation to sell drugs, and is the typical case of a good boy trying to work it out in a hard world. He has learned to be tough when he needs too but if left to his own, he tries to do the right thing.

His girlfriend wants to go to San Francisco after his mother's birthday party to see the fire works. His mother suggest they take the train since he and his friends  may be drinking.All goes well until they are their way back home. Oscar runs into an ex inmate he has had a beef while in prison on the train. The guy starts a fight and the subway police are called. Oscar and his friend get off the train and are held by the police with excessive force. Only the African Americans are detained and the individual who started the altercation, a white individual is never encountered. Many people are there and record  the incident on their cell phones. Oscar pleads his case but is thrown to the ground. As he struggles to get up and not be handcuffed one officer pulls out his gun and shoots him in the back while he is still on the ground.  

The officers that were involved were fired. The officer that did the shooting said that  he mistook his gun for a tazzer. He was going to  tazzer him, but he pulled the revolver out by mistake. These are the people that protect and serve? They don't think to look before pulling a trigger? You don't know the difference between a tazzer and your revolver? That officer was tried and convicted of involuntary manslaughter. He received a two year sentence and served 11 months. Oscar Grant is dead forever and did not need to be.

Marvin Gaye sang, 'brother,brother, there's far to many of you dying. You know we've got to find a way, to bring some lovin here today. Don't punish me with brutality. Talk to me, so you can see 

  What's going on, what's going on , tell me what's going on."

My thoughts on the Trayvon Martin case

Since everyone seems to have thoughts about the Trayvon Martin case I thought I would write mine down. Trayvon Martin is a black 17 year old male who was returning from the convenience store in a neighborhood where his father lived , but he was unknown, on a dark and rainy evening. He was was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, who is part Hispanic and the self appointed leader of the neighborhood watch for this community in Florida. These are undisputed facts.

George Zimmerman was tired of the fact that there had been several breakins in the neighborhood. When he saw Trayvon, walking slowly in the neighborhood with a hoodie on, he assumed that he may be one of the burglars,profiling  him as a criminal immediately. He called 911 and reported a suspicious person walking slowly and possibly up to no good. The dispatcher said she would send someone out and for him to stay in his car and not pursue the person any farther. George was "tired of these punks getting away with this" so he got out of his car and followed the teenager. What occurred next is unknown. An altercation occurred, the neighbors heard some screams for help, a gunshot was fired, and Trayvon was dead.

When the police arrived they talked to George Zimmerman, got his side of the story. He said that he was attacked by Trayvon, they fought, he thought Trayvon was going to kill him by pounding his head on the concrete sidewalk, so he shot him as he was on top of him. George did have some damage to his nose and a wound to the back of his head which they cleaned up. The police also profiled Trayvon as the  aggressor and possibly doing something wrong, even though he was unarmed and only had an Ice Tea and a bag of Skittles which he had bought at the store. George Zimmerman was armed and was only questioned about whether he had a permit for the firearm.

They let George go with no arrest, or further questioning. After the parents were told of the shooting and began to ask questions about how their son was killed walking home from the store, the police said that George was not guilty of anything since it was self defense and he was using their "stand your ground" law as rational for the shooting. The parents and their lawyer along with the help of protesters were able to at least get George Zimmerman arrested and tried for 2nd degree murder in the death of their son. There needed to be some justice and punishment for the death of an innocent person.

There are several thing about this that make it a significant case. Did George Zimmerman racially profile Trayvon Martin because he was black. And while George may not be an outward racist did he automatically consider Trayvon to be criminal because he was black? Sure he did. If this had been a white teenager I would not be typing this.

If the dispatcher tells you not to follow and give you those instructions and you do it anyway, are you not the instigator of anything that happens after that point? Sure you are. If it was a black man who had the gun, wouldn't they automatically be arrested after a shooting, regardless of a permit, which I'm sure George didn't produce on the spot. Sure you would.

Since there are no witnesses to the altercation do we automatically have to take the side of the individual party remaining without any reasonable doubt. Based on the law that is pretty much the case, because even if you believe the person is lying there is nothing but circumstantial evidence to show otherwise.

If Trayvon had gotten the gun away from George and shot him would the same scenario exist? Tryvon, being followed by a stranger on a dark rainy night defended himself when he thought he was in mortal danger. I don't think our justice system would have worked the same way. Trayvon would have been presumed guilty, and without a witness to prove otherwise, the Zimmerman family would have forced arrest and a speedy trial to convict him of something, 1st degree murder, 2nd degree murder, manslaughter, take your pick.

So if you try to detain me and I get frightened and fight back, and I am winning, these stand your ground laws will allow you to protect yourself by shooting me? The law was meant to let you protect your property, your family, and yourself from deadly force. However it is being used, in more cases than not to help white folks kill black folks without punishment. They can simply say that they were scared or threatened.

Even if this case it not about racism. We know that it exists and particularly in the U.S. justice system. It is the fact that the legal system has the deck stacked against us. It is not about justice or what appears to be right, it is about what you can prove and who is making the decisions. In the George Zimmerman case they had an all female jury of five white women and one Hispanic. Where is the notion that a person will be tried by a jury of their peers. There was no connection to an African American, or his only contact witness, a 19 year old friend who he was talking to on his cell phone. It doesn't matter that an innocent black child was killed, they believed the story that was presented to them that he was the aggressor and George had the right to protect himself. So they made the victim the criminal as opposed to the shooter. The case lost before it began.

It is hard for me to rationalize that this death is justified. People say that George Zimmerman used poor judgement but did not commit a crime. If you drink and drive, have an accident, and kill someone you can receive 10 to 20 years in jail. That is also poor judgement, and an accident, but someone has to pay for the loss of life. George used poor judgement when he didn't stay in the car and followed Trayvon. But the legal system says that was not a crime, even though it resulted in a death.

The race issue exist. If you do not follow a police officers instructions or even don't answer their questions, as an African American you are going to be locked up, period, over, and out. If you walk too fast, or drive too fast, you are profiled to have done something wrong/criminal. If you walk too slow and possible be lost or in a place you are not normally seen, you are profiled at up to no good. It is a common practice in America. Our jails are filled with criminals and victims of being in the wrong place. African Americans are given harsher sentences and incarcerated for things that white people can do routinely.

There is a difference between the law and justice. American uses the law against minorities and it is very difficult to get justice. Justice being, doing what appears to be morally right. Will anything be solved by having the injustice to Trayvon on display for America to see? I don't think so. America is a country of talking two steps forward for a while, then one step back. We can have the discussion but until the hearts of men are changed the outcome will continue to be the same.