“I am Oscar Grant”

FIRST AND foremost, I want to give my condolences to the mother, family and friends of Oscar Grant.

I share the feelings of being both enraged and disappointed by the actions of the BART police and the inactions of the Oakland police and the district attorney's office. I am disgusted by the BART spokesperson for having insulted those who were close enough to witness the incident on their own and those who witnessed it on video. It is insulting to suggest that what they saw--what we all saw--might be justified and was not murder, and that they did not take immediate action against all the officers involved.

I want to commend those who took the footage, because without this video proof, there is no doubt in my mind the police would have gotten away with murder. It goes to show you they felt that the officer involved felt above the law.

I myself am an innocent man in my 13th year on death row at San Quentin State Prison. The process of murdering me began, and has been going on, since my arrest and conviction for a crime that I did not commit. I encourage people to get involved and to find out more about the slaughter of innocent people, both by cop bullets on the streets and on death row by the lethal injection needle.

I am Oscar Grant. Though I am here on death row, I felt my face shoved onto the cold concrete, and I encouraged my friends to cooperate so that nothing like this would happen--but it still did.

He did not die in vain. His pain runs through my heart, my soul, my veins. I am Oscar Grant, and I will continue to seek justice for myself.

One love in spirit forever, backwards never. We are what tomorrow will become. Justice for all, not just for some.

Peace,
Darrell Lomax, K-27402, San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA 94974