Oscar Grant

Fruitvale Station Makes a Man Out of a Martyr

How USC Grads Freddie Wong and Ryan Coogler Became the Future of Filmmaking, Via Two Very Different Paths

Fruitvale Station was a hit at Sundance, while Video Game High School has millions of teen fans

Sundance 2013: America's Black Indie Film Renaissance

You could hear a pin drop during the first Sundance screening of writer-director Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale, an enormously powerful and moving debut feature based on the shooting death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant by Oakland transit police in the early hours of New Year's Day, 2009. Coogler opens the fi ... More >>

tUnE-yArDs' w h o k i l l: 21st Century Soul Music

The inside story on the best album of 2011 (so far)

Rodney King Beating: 20 Years Later, Here Are 5 More Violent California Cops Caught on Video

Before there were cell phones​Today's the 20th anniversary of L.A.'s infamous brush with rock bottom: The 1991 brutal police beating of Rodney King, an act of unabashed racism by a group of four white LAPD officers whose 1992 "not guilty" verdicts gave way to the devastating L.A. riots. As th ... More >>

TSA-Like Pat-downs Are Nothing New in the Inner City

CorbisThis happens to us everyday​ Arbitrary searches, humiliating pat-downs, unwanted fondling by authorities - such experiences have become a thing of horror among airplane passengers these days. This time, airline officials are no longer limiting such screenings to suspected "terrorists" ... More >>

Former BART Officer Receives Two-Year Sentence For Killing of Oscar Grant

San Francisco ChronicleFormer transit cop Johannes Mehserle received the lighter sentence​ Supporters of slain Oakland resident Oscar Grant expressed anger over the sentencing of former transit police officer Johannes Mehserle, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for shooting the una ... More >>

Looting, Unrest In Oakland Following L.A. Verdict In Murder Trial Of Bay Area Transit Cop Johannes Mehserle

Chris Roberts / SF Weekly​Despite pleas to remain calm from nearly every quarter, unrest and looting broke out in downtown Oakland overnight following the Los Angeles verdict in the case of a white Bay Area Transit cop accused of murdering an unarmed black man, Oscar Grant, in Oakland last yea ... More >>

Bay Area Transit Officer Johannes Mehserle Convicted Of Involuntary Manslaughter

​[Updated at 5:46 p.m.]: Oakland police in riot gear faced off against protesters in the Bay Area city early Thursday evening following an involuntary manslaughter guilty verdict for former Bay Area Transit Officer Johannes Mehserle, who was tried in Los Angeles. Supporters and member's of the ... More >>

Reduced Bail For Transit Cop Accused Of Murder Denied

​A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Friday denied a request to reduce the bail of a Bay Area transit cop accused of murder in a high-profile case that was moved to L.A. Johannes Mehserle can remain free on bail but he's not getting a discount, the judge ruled. The 28-year-old white man is acc ... More >>

What Do Anarchists Read? Scenes from the Anarchist Book Fair

Ivan Fernandez​ The storm system that battered Los Angeles broke in time to allow hundreds of activists, anarchists and other like-minded, politically-fringe Angelenos to convene in Barnsdall Park for the Second Annual Anarchist Book Fair. Those in attendance were treated to an art gallery of ... More >>

Hearing Friday For Bay Area Transit Cop Charged In Shooting Of Unarmed Man

​The white Bay Area Rapid Transit officer charged in the shooting of an unarmed African-American man will get his first hearing in a Los Angeles courtroom Friday morning. Johannes Mehserle is expected to appear in Los Angeles County Superior Court downtown for a pretrial hearing that will for ... More >>

Protesters Show Up At Hearing Of Bay Area Transit Cop Who Shot Unarmed Man

​The murder trial of white Bay Area Rapid Transit cop Johannes Mehserle was moved to Los Angeles because of concerns about the high-level of emotion and strong opinions surrounding his New Year's Day 2009 shooting of an unarmed black man on an Oakland subway platform, but the change of venue d ... More >>

BART Officer's Shooting Trial Could Come To L.A.

The trial of a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer accused of murdering an arrestee could come to Los Angeles after a state's Administrative Office of the Courts suggested the move following a judge's ruling that the suspect probably can't get a fair jury in Alameda County.BART​ Johannes Me ... More >>