Fighting for victims of law enforcement

LOS ANGELES--Activists held two recent actions in Los Angeles on behalf of two men murdered by law enforcement, calling attention to ongoing deadly racist violence.

One is a continuing protest for Oscar Grant at the trial of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle that began June 14, and the other event was a vigil, march and speak-out for Sergio Hernandez, who was murdered by the U.S. Border Patrol on June 15.

Grant was shot dead by Mehserle on New Year's Day 2009 at a BART station in Oakland, Calif., while Grant was in custody and lying facedown. The slaying was caught on video. Fourteen-year-old Hernandez was gunned down by the Border Patrol on June 7, 2010, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. His death was also recorded on video. Both men were unarmed and posed no reasonable threat to authorities.

Some 1,000 people turned out to the protest for Oscar Grant over the course of the day. Participants chanted "No justice, no peace!" and marched around the courthouse where Mehserle's trial of is being held.

The trial was initially scheduled to be in Oakland, but was delayed when moved to Los Angeles. Local activists formed the Los Angeles Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant to mobilize community support for Grant's family and to pressure the justice system. "The justice system usually doesn't work in our favor," said Carlos Hernandez of the coalition, referring to youth, people of color and the poor.

Abshat Ra of Los Angeles said that this protest for Grant was the second she'd ever attended. When she heard the protest announced on the radio, she decided to show her outrage because of "the lack of concern for humanity." She also cited Hernandez's killing as a motivation.

Protesters clearly wanted Mehserle to be convicted of murder. Some in attendance articulated the need for more pervasive change. "We live in a system of racism," said Ra. "It's ingrained in the very fiber of our society. It's not this individual or that individual, but the system."

More than 50 people attended the vigil and speak-out for Sergio Hernandez. After meeting at the Los Angeles Federal Building, protesters marched to a local Spanish-language church, where they took part in an open mic speak-out. Many people connected the slaying of Hernandez with the larger demonization of immigrants, such as Arizona's SB 1070, a law that requires police to ask anyone suspected of being an undocumented immigrant to produce documentation.

Enrique Morones of Border Angels spoke about the myth that immigrants come to the U.S. to leech off the welfare system, saying that undocumented workers are some of the hardest workers at the toughest jobs. He encouraged people to come to the border with food and clean water since most of the border deaths occur in the desert.

Morones also announced a protest at Major League Baseball's All-Star Game in Anaheim on July 13 to call for next year's All-Star Game to be moved out of Arizona.

Protests for Oscar Grant at Mehserle's trial will continue every day from 7:30 to 9 a.m. and from 3:30 p.m. until the jury and Mehserle leave the courthouse. For more information, contact the Los Angeles Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant on Facebook or call 213-973-3434. To get a text alert for a rally on the day of the verdict, text "TEXT" to 213-973-3434.