There are a number of reasons the Oscar Grant murder trial should have gripped Los Angeles, if not the nation.
The case marks a rare instance of a police officer in California being tried for murder in the line of duty. Moreover, Grant was a young father, and he was killed on a holiday — New Year's Day 2009 — a coincidence that meant that many bystanders were around to videotape his death with mobile devices.
Despite these distinctions, the case has garnered little attention outside of the Oakland area. That's where then-Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer Johannes Mehserle, who is white, shot Grant, who was black, as Grant lay unarmed and face down on a train platform.
Due to the intense media attention and racial tensions Grant's killing generated in the Bay Area, the case was moved to Los Angeles before its start on June 10 to ensure that Mehserle receives a fair trial.
But few members of the traditional media beyond Bay Area-based outlets and the Los Angeles Times have covered the proceedings, leaving most Americans with little knowledge of this history-making trial.
So why is a case with several compelling features going largely unnoticed by the national media and the public? And will the lack of coverage lessen the impact of the verdict, which is expected as early as July 2?
Alex Alonso, who has attended the trial daily on behalf of streetgangs.com, recently contended that celebrity coverage might have pushed the Grant case out of the spotlight.
"The news media is so saturated with so many things going on, and celebrity news has reached an apex, even during this trial," Alonso explained. "The Conrad Murray trial regarding his medical license [and ties to Michael Jackson] and the stalker case with the young lady from [a reality TV show] — those stories have trumped this case."
But celebrity news may not be the only culprit. Since four police officers were acquitted of beating Rodney King in 1992, reports of police brutality have become more common. It could be that they are no longer as likely to stand out to the media or the public, so they fall off the radar without sufficient follow-up coverage.
"We deal with so many police murders that a lot of people brushed (Oscar Grant's killing) off," said Aidge Patterson, an organizer with the L.A. Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant. "They chalked it up as another brother being killed. They didn't think it was special. We hear about so many of these cases that, for a lot of people, it went in one ear and out the other."
The crux of the case is as follows: On Jan. 1, 2009, BART officer Johannes Mehserle, now 28, responded to a call about Grant, 22, and his friends scuffling on a train. After a heated exchange with Grant and his acquaintances, Mehserle managed to get him splayed across the train platform, hands behind his back. Then, for a reason that remains unclear, Mehserle pulled out his gun and mortally wounded Grant in front of dozens of witnesses.
Mehserle's defense team argues that the former officer — who was fired after the shooting — meant to use a non-lethal weapon known as a Taser on Grant but accidentally reached for his gun. Many Grant supporters argue that Mehserle intentionally killed the young man.
Although a variety of video footage of the incident can be found on YouTube.com, the national news media haven't aired the images as repeatedly as they did with the video of Rodney King's beating.
"They don't show the video over and over again," Patterson said. "The Rodney King video created a huge uproar around the country. They didn't show the Grant video because they know the public would be up in arms about it."
LaMar Queen, a math teacher at a South L.A. middle school, has never seen the video of Grant's killing. In fact, despite teaching in an area where some of his students are gang members and police and residents clash, Queen has never even heard of Oscar Grant. Not only is Grant's killing unfamiliar to Queen, he says he hasn't heard anyone else in South L.A. discussing the case. However, Queen has seen the video clip of the Seattle police officer who recently punched a 17-year-old girl.
"It is a very concrete example that police brutality is still used," Queen said of the video of the Seattle incident, which has made the rounds of news outlets nationwide.
Indeed, a white cop punching a black girl is not something the public hears about on a daily basis, but stories of non-black cops killing young black males are more common.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson — an author, community activist and columnist whose work appears in a number of publications, including the L.A. Watts Times — contends that the public today is so accustomed to hearing about police officers going unpunished for killing young black and Latino men that it's doubtful whether even those who know about the Grant case would riot if Mehserle is acquitted.
"I think the talk about riots and disorder is overblown," Hutchinson said. "Political officials in Oakland are well-prepared for that. The Rodney King verdict caught everyone off guard, but almost two decades later, the possibility of an acquittal certainly would not come as a surprise, certainly nowhere near the level of Rodney King."
Community organizer Patterson said that he will consider it an injustice if Mehserle is convicted with anything less than murder for killing Grant.
While Grant supporters have criticized the fact that no black jurors were selected for the trial, Patterson isn't as concerned about that as he is with the fact that several jurors on the trial admitted to having close ties with police officers. He's also dismayed with the selection of L.A. Superior Court Judge Robert Perry for the case because he feels the judge was too lenient during the trials of police officers for misconduct related to a scandal in the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division during the late 1990s.
"This judge is the same one who let all those disgustingly criminal officers get immunity for being witnesses," Patterson said.
No matter what verdict is reached in the Grant case, the unprecedented trial of a California police offer for murder in the line of duty will undoubtedly make an imprint.
Alonso said he believes the case may lead the makers of the electroshock weapons known as Tasers to design them in a way that markedly distinguishes them from guns.
"Today, it mimics guns more than how it originally looked," he said.
As for the legacy the case will leave, Patterson said he hopes it will encourage oppressed communities across the country to hold police accountable for misconduct. He said that he doubts that Mehserle would have even been charged for Grant's murder if the people of Oakland hadn't spoken out and demanded justice.
The way to honor Grant's memory and those of others who've died at the hands of the police is "to stand up each and every time a police officer is caught killing someone," Patterson said.
Nadra Kareem is a writer for the L.A. Watts Times.
Still from Oscar Grant shooting cell phone video from Operation Small Axe theatrical trailer by 393films.
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