![]() ![]() 1, 2009, Grant was on his way home to Oakland on the subway after celebrating New Year’s Eve with his friends in San Francisco. “We have to go through this over and over.” They know it opens up so many wounds,” she said. “I’m still processing - now that George Floyd has died, I’ve had so many phone calls from so many people reaching out to me, checking how I am doing during this time period. The local district attorney soon filed one count of murder, though after the jury believed the Taser defense, the officer served half of a two-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Some were peaceful others burned cars and shattered windows. In the days after Grant’s death, protesters swept across Oakland demanding that the officer be charged. It also served as a flashpoint in the debate over how officers use force against black people - and how they should be held accountable. The police shooting, depicted in the film Fruitvale Station, was one of the first to be captured on cellphone video. Later, at trial, the shooter said he had meant to use his Taser, not his pistol. The officer who fired a bullet into his back did so even though the second officer had him pinned. Grant was tackled to the ground while being arrested for allegedly obstructing officers, though video footage showed he had put up little resistance. Grant’s killing on New Year’s Day 2009, like Floyd’s, followed a series of troubling police decisions. “It’s heartbreaking to see that we are still nowhere.” I couldn’t sleep for two days,” she said. “As soon as I saw it, it took me back to Oscar. She saw immediate parallels between the two deaths: cellphone videos showing an unarmed man held facedown, an officer’s knee lodged into his neck, bystanders voicing outrage over the excessive force, and other cops failing to intervene. Nonetheless, the video of George Floyd gasping for air while being pinned in a knee chokehold by a Minneapolis police officer stood out. And every time, the images send Johnson back into a cycle of grief she says she still hasn’t fully processed. ![]() Since then, friends and allies in the fight against police brutality have sent her video after video of black people dying at the hands of law enforcement. Eleven years ago, a white transit officer shot and killed Wanda Johnson’s unarmed black son, Oscar Grant, while he was pinned to the concrete of an Oakland train station. ![]()
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