The Black Forum #1: Accountability (Contains Explicit Material. Reader Discretion Advised)

The Facebook Migration Series, Volume VIII

Originally written August 11, 2010

Ahhh. The first installment of something new, The Black Forum. I'm sure I'm not being original with this title, but whatever. Of all groups of people, it can be argued that Black people are the biggest enigma. We are so cherished, loved, and sometimes envied, but at the same time the most beleaguered.

I could probably write nonstop for days about Black people. The History. The Journey. The Struggle. The Justice and Injustice. Civil Rights. Recontruction. Slavery. Incarceration. The NBA. Hip-Hop. Harlem Renaissance. Motown. Washington v. Du Bois. Bastardy. Black Women. HBCUs. The Negro Leagues. Jazz and the Blues. And I could go on. With so many possible things to discuss, there is something that has recently made its way into the forefront of my conscious, and, subsequently, this note.

The Black community was recently (and I guess still is on some level) uproarious over the verdict handed down by a Los Angeles jury in the Oscar Grant case. I probably do not need to go into too much detail about the case, but I will break it down very quickly.

New Year's Day (2am thereabout) 2009, there were reports of a fracas on one of the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) lines. There was reportedly a fight aboard one of the cars. Police arrived at the scene and apprehended some of the alleged suspects of the fracas. The alleged suspects were protesting their innocence while the BART police were trying to get to the bottom of the situation and quell the fracas.

Things got out of control. It was a mixture of cops trying to quell the situation, the alleged suspects pleading vociferously their innocence, and the spectators adding to the fire. One officer, Johannes Mehserle, had Oscar Grant apprehended. Things happened, and Mehserle ended up shooting the apprehended Grant. This is when everything got murky.

Mehserle claims that he thought he pulled out his taser, but rather pulled out his gun and shot the unarmed Grant. On one side, Mehserle's camp says it was an accident, while at the same time claiming initially they thought Grant was reaching for a weapon. A subtle change in their story. On the other hand, Grant's camp professes that they all were innocent and trying to civilly speak to police to quell the situation. I spent some time watching the footage. As they say, there are three sides to a story. His version, the other's version, and the truth. This is very apparent in the video I watched.

Anyhow, Grant was pronounced dead later that day. Mehserle was arrested. The trial was moved to Los Angeles in order to give Mehserle a better chance at a fair trial. A jury only found Mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter, and acquitted on charges of voluntary manslaughter and second degree murder. This is where the outrage began.

Honestly and personally, I don't care about any of this. My main issue with this situation and others like it is ACCOUNTABILITY. We as Black people need to analyze how these situations come up in the first place so we can get to the core of the issue and have a better chance at preventing something like this from happening.

Before I go on, I will give a little opinion about this. Like I said, the actuality of the situation is in the middle of Mehserle's camp and Grant's camp. I get the impression that Grant and his party were out of line, hence them being apprehended in the first place. Two, I believe the BART officers on the scence did not fully take control of the situation, and let themselves get a little rattled. Three, the spectators did not help the cause. They were in "eff the police" mode, and did nothing but exacerbate the situation for the worst. I truly believe Mehserle had no intentions of killing Grant (witness accounts do have Mehserle being in shock as the gun when off and in emotional dispair afterwards), but just lost his mind in a very hostile, scary situation. With that being said, the BART officers had the situation in their favor. Thay had all the alleged suspects surrounded, and outnumbered. Grant did not do anything to deserve to die, and it wasn't even close, though he and the others were not acting civilly.

Here are some points, or modules, about how Accountability needs to play a role in this situation. Before we go blaming the world for the things that happen to Black people, we must first ask ourselves, "did we do everything we could have done to put ourselves in the best situation?" If our answer to this question is not even close to everything, we will continue being in situations like this in the foreseeable future.

Accountability Module #1: Grant and his Party

What were Grant and his party doing that New Year's morning? Why did police feel they even had to show up to the train station? The interesting thing about situations like this is that people think police just randomly pick on people for no reason once so ever. Don't get me wrong. There are some dirty police officers out there, but they are few in numbers compared to the total number. The night Grant was killed, the police were there for a reason. I find it hard to believe that they received a call to a train stop to get some alleged rowdy people off the train for no reason.

Some of Grant's party were handcuffed. A lot has to happen before a cop has to handcuff someone and put them on the ground. My main question is how and why was Grant and his friends in a situation that caused law enforcement to show up in the first place? Something had to have happened for the cops to arrive. If they were innocent, all they had to do was act accordingly, and tell their story to the cops. It is reported that one or some of the party actuallly tried to flee the scene. Why would someone flee if they are completely innocent?

My brother and I were just talking about dealing with the police (not that we comprise the Dickson Crime Syndicate or anything). He told me he was pulled over a few times when he owned an Impala because those are "suspicious" cars according to law enforcement. He never had an issue because he was always forthright and civil with the officers. In every single situation, the cops did nothing to him. He even blatantly ran a red light because his girlfriend had to use the bathroom really bad. The cop pulled him over. My brother explained nicely how she had to go to the restroom really bad. Cops let him go. 

I have the impression that Grant and his party did something to call attention to themselves, which is on them. Also, they could have acted in a better way when cops were trying to handle the situation. Some accountability on their behalf could have helped them, and everyone else involved in this ugly situation.

Accountability Module #2: Oscar Grant

Grant was a mere 22 years old when he was killed New Year's Day 2009. I cannot say this enough, but in no way did he need to die that night, nor did his actions warrant lethal force. Brute force maybe? Sure, I guess. Definitely not lethal. With that being said, what did Grant do to put himself even remotely close to being put in this position?

Grant was not a choir boy in his brevity on earth. He was a convicted felon, serving time for drug dealing and gun possession. For a 22 year old, it is an impressive rap sheet. 

Grant's criminal past serves as an indicator to his lifestyle, and who he chose to be around. Convicted felons typically do not hang out with engineers and poets. I get that Grant, like so many others, did not have an ideal upbringing in which everything was easily provided for him, which put him on the path to drug dealing. However, it is still a choice. Plenty, like myself, chose the route that did not involve criminal activity. Grant did. He chose a path that will lead one to the proverbial "dead or in jail" scenario. 

A huge amount of accountability has to rest with Grant himself. He chose his lifestyle. He chose his friends. He chose to board a BART train and cause a scene which led police to apprehend he and his party. While he did not deserve to die, he went along that long path that eventually led him to being put to the ground by a cop and having any kind of force being used against him. 

Accountability Module #3: The Spectators

Perhaps you have seen the footage. I finally watched it the other day. The version I had was raw. Raw in a sense that it was from a regular person on a cell phone camera, meaning it was uncut and unedited. What I saw and heard from the spectators was disappointing and disturbing. 

From what I could tell, most of the spectators were Black. During the footage, my attention was drawn to the decorum and mentality of the crowd. All I heard was "This is bullshit blood!" "Fuck yall [police]!" "Ay look at that chick cop!" "Ay yall some bitch ass niggas!" "On bloods that some wac shit!" "Fuck these niggas blood!" They were also booing and taunting some of the officers on the scene.

I could see where some of officers may have felt a little threatened. Most, if not all, of the officers were non-Black surrounded by a group of a young, Black "eff the police" kind of crowd. Though one would hope that officers would be able to handle these types of situations, one buckled. That was all it took.

The spectators only made the situation worse. First, they were egging on the apprehended suspects. When a large crowd is on your side and telling you to do something, you will be more likely to do it. In social psychology, (I forget the term) it is the "J-Walking Effect." Say there is a big crowd waiting to cross a street. All are still until one decides to j-walk. More follow that person and eventually they all j-walk. This shows the power a social environment can have. The spectators  undoubtedly influenced the events that transpired that night. And the most disturbing part is that most of the spectators were Black.

We as Black people in that situation should have helped Grant and his party by telling him to calm down and let the police to their job. That way, Grant and his party could have just cooperated, and went on about their business. Rather, the crowd just blurted out vulgar, hostile things that only made the situation worse, and could have help cause officer Mehserle to spontaneously lose his mind. 

Accountability Module #4: The Black Community

I was too young for the Rodney King fiasco when it happened. However, a few years ago, when I was coherent and educated, I looked into the incident. Did the cops go too far? I think so. However, an often overlooked fact was the key in the whole thing.

Turns out that King was high on Phencyclidine, or PCP, or "angel dust." PCP was used initially as a surgical anesthetic, but stopped due to it's horrible side effects, side effects in which street users of angel dust actually want. Note that it was initially used as anesthesia; hence, PCP causes a huge increase in pain tolerance. King on the night he was beaten did not react to the blows like any normal person would. He couldn't feel the pain which provoked the officers to use even more force. While the cops could have went a little too far, King put himself in a horrible position by using drugs, driving under the influence, and not cooperating with the police. Blacks should have rioted King having horrible judgment. 

The Black community, while they should be upset and outraged at the senseless killing of Grant, missed another opportunity to reflect on ourselves. We should ask ourselves, how and why are so many Black men finding themselves in these predicaments and what can we do about it? Instead, we have to summon the fraudulent Al Sharpton and Black version of Rush Limbaugh, Jesse Jackson, and make it seem like we as Black people have nothing wrong with us and Grant was 1000% (1000% is not an error) innocent when a renegade officer senselessly gunned him down for absolutely no reason as if the officer was hunting coon. While the Black community should grieve the death of a young Black male, it should also want to look in the mirror. Did Grant do all he could have done to put himself in a good situation? Did we as a Black community do all we could do to stop Grant and people like him from going down the wrong path to stop things like this from happening?

Black people tend to live life dangerously by walking up to the cliff. By putting ourselves at the cliff, all it takes is an accidental bump to send us over the edge. If we would stay away from the cliff, any bump could be handled, and life goes on. Are we going to stay away from the cliff, or are we going keep on standing over it?