Ner city | Hip-Hop and Politics

An Oscar Grant supporter talking to a Johannes Mehserle supporter. pt 1

by Ner City

Yesterday Charles posted information regarding a rally in support of Johannes Mehserle in Walnut Creek (In front of the courthouse). 30 minutes later Tiana posted the facebook invite link on my page. I went into the invite and became very upset. Not only did I see that the invite had 25 people within the first 10-15 minutes RSVP’ing but there were a lot of people that had changed their avatar (Main picture) with a photo of Johannes Mehserle and written underneath was “I support Johannes Mehserle”

So, instead of bashing the people, start name calling and all that other non productive bs I decided to think outside of the box and friend request as many of the supporters that I could. Doing that I thought that I would be able to talk to them one on one. Out of the 5-6 people that I requested only one was brave enough to not only accept my friend request but also have a respectful dialog with me about her feelings on the entire Grant/Mehserle situation.

Here is that dialog. PLEASE SEE- This is not a forum to bash Kristin, though we do not agree I do give her credit for even having this dialog with me. I WILL NOT allow any ignorant post on this note. I will not only delete the post but I will also delete you from my friend’s list.

Between You and Kristin********

Kristin ********* July 13 at 4:15pm

hello…and thank you for the friend request. Yes I support Johannes Mehserle….NO I do not think Oscar Grant should have died. I believe it was a tragic accident. One that would not have happened if he had complied with the officers commands. or maybe not have happened if the police had more training…did you know it takes longer to become a barber than a cop?? Thats insane…

I truly do not believe he intended to kill or hard Mr. Grant…only to subdue him. do you really feel in your heart that Johannes wanted him dead? ner city July 13 at 4:32pm

This conversation between us is revolutionary and brave and I appreciate you accepting my request.

To answer your question “Yes”, in my heart I do believe that Johannes Mehserle wanted to shoot Oscar Grant. “Why?” you may ask. Because of the situation he was in. We both agree that the police training is a joke. We also probably agree that a police officer’s job is one of the hardest jobs in the world, who knows what ANY officer would’ve done that night on the Bart platform. But with that little training Mr. Mehserle had it still was training”. Now in the US studies have shown that there were roughly around 39 incidents where an on duty police officer accidently shot a man with his pistol instead of his taser. 38 of the 39 officers tried to save the person’s life that they accidently shot, rode either behind the ambulance or in it to the hospital with the suspect. The 1 out of the 39 that didn’t was Mr. Mehserle. Not only did Mr. Mehserle shot him, but he THEN put handcuffs on a shot man.

Now here’s a question for you, we know that Oscar Grant had a past history with resisting arrest, but did you know that Mehserle not only was kicked out of the school that voted him “Most Huggable” for slapping a Latina woman, but also had incidents before where he tased suspects who either had a weapon, or he thought they had weapons.

I honestly believe that Mehserle not only shot Grant on purpose but he also did it to impress Officer Peroni who is another story and person that should’ve been arrested with Johannes.

Kristin******* July 13 at 4:48pm

My heart is heavy that you feel this way….I truly trukly believe otherwise. I do not know why Mehserle didn’t ride in the ambulance…I do not know if his superiors would have let him. I also believe (as does my sister who has her PHD in Psycology (I can barely spell it) believe he went into a state of shock…Mehserle seemed dazed after to me.

I’m not sure why it matters that Mehserle had tased before….I did NOT know he slapped anyone. 10 years ago my nephew snapped a bra of a girl that had said something smart to him in class, the teacher saw and he was suspended for assault…Assault?? really?? they said it was sexual assualt. But of course I did know Oscar has a past history….

I can imagine with all the jaw flapping in the background and Grant resisting that the situaltion was getting chaotic….I wonder why Peroni (whom I believe has been on the force much longer)

Kristin******** July 13 at 4:51pm

did not step in and help difuse the situation. Why would Mehserle think killing somebody and shooting them in the back no less would impress ANYONE???

I just don’t think anyone would ever think that would be a move that would impress anyone….unless you lived in some scary inbreed ozarks kind of place…. ner city July 13 at 6:33pm

Kristin my heart’s been heavy over this situation for years. You say that Mehserle “went into a state of shock”, correct? Is this before or after he shot Oscar Grant? And if so then what was his state before he shot him?

Was it “Shock” that had Mehserle’s first excuse he thought Oscar was going for a gun changed to “I thought my gun was my taser”? How can you change excuses? Why would you change excuse unless the defense and Mehserle knew that the video clearly showed Oscar’s hands were not reaching for a gun which means that defense would’ve failed miserably.

It is not fair or right to give Mehserle the benefit of the doubt of snapping or going “into a state of shock” but not give those same rights to Oscar. There isn’t any proof that Oscar was one of the people fighting on the train so if a police officer pulls an innocent man off a train for no reason then might the person in “shock” is Oscar Grant? That “shock” would have some people asking “Why are you doing this?”

What about the “shock” you may be in when you have the weight of two men weighing over 250 pounds on top of you?

Now please know that I am not saying Oscar was a saint. I do not know the entire situation but what I do know is that he did not deserve to get tased while he was already held down and really didn’t deserve to be murdered.

Kristin we live in two different worlds within the same state. This is not an insult to your intelligence by any means. I “assume” that you live in a world that believes in the police & the justice system. That police believe and uphold the “Serve & Protect” slogan for their citizens. If anybody breaks the law then they have the right to use necessary force. But the thing is I live in the world where police murder black & Latino men and uses the “I thought he was going for a gun” excuse while hiding behind the ‘Blue Wall’.

Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, Ayana Jones, Rodney King, Fred Hampton Sr. and the list goes on and on regarding police officers using excessive force and/or murdering men of color.

Kristin, Johannes Merhserle doesn’t deserve your support. What your nephew did cannot compare to what Mehserle did. Did you know that woman he slapped was a teacher? That is why he got kicked out of school, it’s because he slapped a person of authority. After years that same person becomes a police officer.

Kristin******* July 13 at 7:39pm

First of all…I don’t know that he was dazed I just thought he looked dazed…my own opinion. Also, it is my understanding that he did not change his defense…it appears in the video that Oscar is reaching for something in his pocket so Mehserle was going to grab his taser and hopefully subdue him to get the cuffs on.

Im going to give you shock for Oscar as well….but at some point don’t you comply?

I want to make this clear… I SUPPORT JOHANNES MEHSERLE..I am supporting this incident…not a “blue wall” when that happens….I will support otherwise.

Does the Dr. that prescribed Michael Jackson the meds that killed him deserve to be tried for murder? Of course I would want to hear his reasons but I assume it was out of greed..I am sure Michael was paying him top dollar to get the prescriptions he wanted. Do I think the Dr. (or Nurse) that gave the meds to Dennis quaids twins should be tried for attempted murder? well at the end of the day that was an mistake not hing was to be gained from it. Does this analgy make sense?CLearly you are intelligent and I thank you for listening to me…but I feel sadly at the end of the day we are just never going to understand where each other stands.

ner city July 14 at 8:24am

Kristin,

I understand the analogy that you used but honestly it really doesn’t apply here.

And since you have a photo of Johannes Mehserle on your avatar to show your support for him you really should understand/know as much as you can about this man.

These are facts that you should research-

-Mehserle got kicked out of school for slapping his teacher.

-Mehserle did not ride off to the hospital or even try to see if Oscar Grant was ok after he shot him.

– He did not offer his condolences to the family until July 4th in a letter 18 months after the fact and a few days before his verdict was coming down.

-Oscar Grant did not have a weapon.

– His taser is bright yellow and doesn’t have the same amount of safety precautions as his more heavier police pistol.

– Mehserle did change his defense from “I thought that he was reaching for a weapon” to “I thought that I grabbed my taser”.

Now, Kristin we come from and live in two different worlds we both understand that, we probably live two different lifestyles, we probably of two different colors, and maybe even different religions and political stances but there is ONE thing that we both are and that is “Human”. And as a human Kristin ask yourself, would you shot a man and not even check and see if he was alright? Would you cuff him and go on about your way? If you THOUGHT that he was going for his gun but then found out that he was unarmed wouldn’t the “Human” side of you check and see if he was alright? Would the “Human” side of you wait 18 months (just a few days before the verdict was about to be released) to apologize to the Grant family? Even if you thought that you were reaching for your taser, even if you thought he was reaching for a gun would you Kristin wait 18 months? Even if your lawyer told you? That’s not what humans do.

I would not yell “I am Oscar Grant” if I didn’t know as much as I could about this man. I would not make a mistake of supporting a person that didn’t need to be supported, but I honestly feel that you are doing that with Johannes Mehserle. You aren’t really even supporting Johannes Mehserle, more than supporting good police officers (Which I believe they’re out there), but Kristin Johannes is NOT one of the “good guys”.

Even a “Jury of his own peers” convicted him of a criminal act.

Think about it- The trial was moved out of Oakland

No African Americans were on the jury

5-6 jury members had either police officers as friends or family members

And they STILL came back with “Involuntary Manslaughter”. Which I thought was wrong he should’ve at least got manslaughter but even still they thought Johannes committed a criminal act and abused his powers and you’re STILL telling me that you support him?

You still want to have his picture on your avatar? These are the facts not hopes, not beliefs but facts Kristin. You are supporting a criminal. I don’t care if he went into “Shock” he “Snapped” whatever a jury of his peers that didn’t have any bias when convicting him. So in ways it’s an oxymoron because you believe in the justice system with Mehserle but not in the justice system convicting him. Which one is it?

Again how can you support a convicted criminal?

I would like to keep this line of communication open. I would also like for you to create a note on your facebook, tag as many of your friends that support Mehserle and post this dialog between us. Let them see the facts, I will do the same, I will not allow any of my supporters to bash, call you names and I would hope that you can do the same for me because that won’t get us anywhere, I want to promote a dialog between both sides because I too want to believe what you believe (Not in Mehserle but believe in the system) but we both need to clean house and not support injustice. Injustice like rogue cops, or injustice like rogue black men & women that looted stores or commits “Black on black crimes” in my community. Until we both start making these changes these problems will always come around. 4 more police officers will be murdered (Which I don’t support), while people like Oscar Grant will be murdered by criminals like Mehserle.

original story:http://www.facebook.com/notes/ner-city/an-oscar-grant-supporter-talking-to-a-johannes-mehserle-supporter-pt-1/404415966830

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My thoughts about yesterday’s town hall meeting for Oscar Grant

by Ner City

original story: http://bit.ly/9di80X

First of all I would like to thank Josh Healey for giving me the 411 about this meeting. Josh excuse my language but you’re a real a** mutha fucka for real.

Yesterday’s town hall meeting was very interesting. It was sad that it wasn’t really a “Town Hall Meeting” but more like a “Street Hall Meeting”. What I mean by that was I wish there were more people there. No Oakland Raider, Athletic, Golden State Warrior rep, no KMEL rep, KTVU, NBC, CBS, ABC (Shout out to Greg Bridges from KPFA for being there) but besides him and maybe a few people from grassroots movements everyone else seemed M.I.A. The church was maybe half full. Maybe a lot of people were like me out of the loop and found out about this meeting at the last minute or not knowing at all. *shrugs*

Things that I learned:
There are tiers to Manslaughter, Involuntary Manslaughter & 2nd Degree murder. Meaning that a person convicted of involuntary manslaughter can still get a lot of years if a gun was involved. Same for Manslaughter & 2nd degree murder. So if Mehserle gets a guilty verdict for whatever he can still have 10-21 years added mandatory. .

There were some disturbing things that I learned also. As reported on my status update Mehserle was kicked out of the same high school where he was voted “Most huggable” for slapping a Latina woman. This evidence was not allowed in court for some strange reason.

The Judge’s final instructions to the jury were that if they felt that Mehserle was going for his taser they must find him not guilty.

Things that moved me:
Oscar Grant’s mother being there. It’s one thing to see the woman on TV and try to feel her pain, but it’s a totally different thing to see her in person. She’s a very strong woman and probably wishes she didn’t get so much attention. A mother losing her son has to be the biggest pain ever felt. 9 months carrying the child, all those years raising them and now you have to spend the rest of your life trying to cope without them. Damn.

My feelings about the Town Hall Meeting:

I have mixed feelings. For two hours only 4-5 people spoke. Two Muslim ministers, this guy named “Tony”, Oscar Grant’s uncle, Donald Lacy and the pastor of the church that we were at to wrap things up. Though all of them said things to move the crowd (though some of them started preaching, ranting & going on a tangent a little too long) to me there wasn’t any “So this is what we’re going to do now.” Moments

I wanted to know what are we as a people in this room going to do to spread the message about the different tiers of involuntary manslaughter, manslaughter & murder to the people that don’t know because the news isn’t doing that.

How do you feel if Mehserle gets involuntary manslaughter but gets 14 years? Will you say that it’s “Injustice”? If so will you riot? And speaking of “rioting” I highly doubt one person in that church would throw a brick, kick out a window, jump on a car or start beating white people which is being said by so many people if the verdict doesn’t go their way. My point is that we need to talk to the people that will or might want to do that. Hell, we were on 27th & San Pablo (Just a few blocks where my Grand Father lived in some of the most hood spots) and I bet you a few of these young kids would love to “tear some shit up for injustice and rage”. We need to touch them.

So Monday I’m going to do my part and walk the streets of both East & West Oakland to talk to some of these young men and just to see where their head’s at. People are quick to say that the riots could happen downtown but what about the rest of “The town”? What about the Fruitvale area where Oscar was murdered? What about East Oakland where if you remember our people went wild twice, once over the Raiders winning the AFC championship & another time just because there was suppose to be a Tupac & Dogg Pound concert at the Eastmont Pavilion <—– I’m showing my age. What about Oakland’s west side? Those are questions that need to be asked and addressed don’t you think?

These were the things that Josh and I were talking about as I was dropping him off from the meeting. It was strange how our conversation just stopped when we pulled up & seen two Oakland’s police cars near Josh’s “favorite taco truck”, that just shows you there’s still tension in the air, my question that I asked Josh that I wished I could’ve asked the people in that room, or the mayor or the police chief (Both who weren’t there) this…

My Question- Everybody’s worried about what Oakland is going to do if they don’t get the verdict they want and how are they going to react, but how will Bart Police, Oakland Police, SFPD, Richmond PD, LAPD and every PD in the state of California and outside of it..how will they react (to us) if they do not get the verdict they want? Will they feel that justice was not served and lash out at us in their own special way?

Just something to thing about.

BTW I hate that picture of Oscar Grant wearing all black with the beany. To me it helps play into people’s ignorance and fear of a dangerous black man painting a picture of him being a thug and the media, defense attorney and police on the scene can hype that bs so I found a better one to post.

I will leave this note with a remix to the battle cry that was created from this horrible crime against a young man’s life “I am Oscar Grant, who doesn’t want his Son to be the next Oscar Grant”