UPDATE: (12/01/11) Mehserle walks again in the 2008 case of alleged police brutality.
Beginning in 2009, ColorOfChange members mobilized in response to the killing of Oscar Grant, the young father who was shot dead by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer while lying facedown on an Oakland, CA train platform. In an act of police violence that was captured on camera for the world to see, BART officer Johannes Mehserle fired one round into Grant's back. Mehserle later claimed he thought he was firing his taser-- one of many unbelievable missteps that occurred that night at the Fruitvale BART station.
Just 11 months after being taken into custody, Mehserle was a free man. Many of us recognized this injustice as systemic, which is why we were not surprised to learn that Mehserle is currently standing trial for a separate case involving another incident of alleged brutality and misconduct he participated in while a member of the BART police force.
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When Stephen Anderson testified in early October that planting drugs on people had become regular practice in the New York Police Department, the news validated what many NYC residents and victims of abusive police practices have long known. When officers face pressure to increase arrests, communities -- especially communities of color and low-income communities -- suffer. As ColorofChange celebrates a campaign victory in the fight to end discrinatory marijuana arrests in NYC, Anderson's story reminds us just how entrenched corruption is in our criminal justice system.
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