day, Monday January 19th as a large group massed in front of the Fruitvale BART station where Oscar Grant was shot and killed in 2009. The weekend actions ended on Martin Luther King Jr.
16 was the beginning of the Martin Luther King 96 hours of action weekend with protests being held across the bay area and the United States. Verdictįruitvale Station is a fair portrait of Oscar Grant's story, and a brilliant portrait of how lack of opportunity, routine incarceration and racism conspire to devalue the lives of young black men in America.Friday Jan. Its focus is on the impact on Grant's family and friends, not on what the officers thought or did. The jury convicted him of involuntary manslaughter – a lesser charge than the second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter options that the judge had also offered. Mehserle's defence argued that he mistook his gun for his taser. Grant was shot in the back by Officer Johannes Mehserle. One video has been said to show an officer striking one of the detained men, identified by some as Grant the officer's attorney disputed that analysis. Though the events on the platform were filmed by several people present, the exact details remain controversial – and the film does not use the real names of the police officers involved. There is a fight on the train, and the BART police arrive.
The film builds towards its crucial final scene at Fruitvale Station. Police intervene in the drama at Fruitvale Station. Though Fruitvale Station focuses on just one story, it relates to a much wider narrative. Ezell Ford was fatally shot by police in Los Angeles he was unarmed and reportedly suffered from a mental illness. John Crawford, a father of two, was fatally shot at a supermarket in Ohio by police while holding an air rifle. Other cases have also made headlines in the last few days. Protests in Ferguson, Missouri have been met with an extraordinary police crackdown after unarmed teenager Michael Brown was fatally shot by police on Saturday. Fruitvale Station was released in July 2013 – coincidentally, just as George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering black teenager Trayvon Martin.įruitvale Station feels all too relevant again this week. It is estimated that one in three black men in the US today will be incarcerated at some point in their lifetimes a report by one activist organisation has claimed that a black man was killed by police, security guards or self-appointed vigilantes every 28 hours in 2012. In context, though, it is part of a significant historical story. Fruitvale Station is a quiet, unassuming story about the shooting of one ordinary man. Many historical films deal with grand events, like wars or revolutions.
0 kommentar(er)
