Are Oakland's Two Tragedies Linked?

Written by Byron Williams

Wednesday, 01 April 2009

The national attention given to the Oscar Grant shooting and the murder of four Oakland police officers has served raise an interesting question: What do these two cases have in common?

National media outlets have posed this question to me with the underlying assumption being the two tragedies are very much connected. I have received e-mails from those offering an analysis that clearly demonstrates a link—at least that’s their contention. But how connected are these two cases?

Clearly, there is linkage based on the fact there was police involved, as well as African American males; there was violence, death, and both occurred in Oakland. Although the latter point is not quite as strong as it would initially appear.

The shooting of Oscar Grant was an Oakland event only because the BART train happened to stop at the Fruitvale station, which is located in Oakland. Grant, who lived in Hayward, was leaving an event in San Francisco, and was shot on New Year’s Day by a BART officer from Napa.

But the majority of the subsequent protesting and media coverage did occur in Oakland, thus making it an Oakland issue. Lovelle Mixon murdering four Oakland police officers, however, was definitely an Oakland issue.

The two cases obviously share grief and pain sustained by family members of the victims as well as to Oakland and the surrounding communities.

What really links these two national media stories is they reinforce the preconceived notions that many hold about the representatives in question.

Those who distrust law enforcement saw what they needed to justify their opinion. The same hold true for those who believe strongly in law and order. The irony of such beliefs is they tend to grant a degree of nuance to their side that they would most likely be unwilling to consider for the opposing viewpoint.

Though typical in our public discourse, this phenomenon can lead to oversimplification that is comforted by the erroneous notion that the truth lies solely with our particular opinion.

I do not share the Uhuru House’s depiction of Mixon. I did not understand or support their rally for an individual who obviously had a troubled past.

The myriad historical injustices toward black men they cite on their blog do not, in my opinion, justify the death of four police officers. Nor does the unfortunate social conditions that produced Mixon make this tragedy any more understandable.

But the important question: Does Uhuru House possesses a truth that I have yet to consider?
The question I just posed will prompt some to go to their computer and hammer out a definitive answer to my query. But the temptation to dismiss the question merely does disservice to the perspective that I hold.

There are quite a few people outraged, and justifiably so, watching the footage of NFL running back Ryan Moats being detained in an emergency room parking lot in Plano, Texas by an unsympathetic officer as his mother-in-law was dying.

Though one can see this from the perspective of his not stopping for a traffic signal, Moats’ failure to pull over for several minutes as the officer pursued him, or his inability to produce proof of insurance when asked, but it also speaks to a scenario that more African American men are familiar than the dominant culture could possibly imagine.

For some, the lack of discretion exhibited by the officer in Plano becomes emblematic of police in general that they can conveniently apply to the Oscar Grant case and the four Oakland officers murdered last week.
Such applications are never as convenient as we may want. Each scenario is different and what really links the Oscar Grant case and the four murdered officers, are the unknown questions that linger.

I applaud the efforts of local pastors to publicly engage in the healing of the city. Though it may take time to bear fruit, their efforts will not go in vain.

As long as there remain unanswered questions there will also be the need for all concerned to apply a more judicious approach that has become increasingly uncommon in our public discourse.