12 years ago, Oscar Grant (22) was shot on the BART platform as he lay handcuffed. He later died from the wounds inflicted as passengers watched and videotaped from the BART platform and train windows. While BART officer Johannes Mehserle was charged with killing Grant, he served minimal to no time for the crime. A precedent was set nonetheless in that this was the first time in US history that a police officer was convicted and served time for killing a person.

What the public does not know is Mehserle was not the first officer on the platform that night January 1, 2009, Anthony Pirone was. He was the first there and he was also in charge that night. In an independent investigation BART conducted the Johnson family learned of these other circumstances surrounding the shooting and death of Oscar Grant.  SB1421 became law January 1, 2019 enabling families to subpoena reports involving police shooting deaths, Uncle Bobby and his sister Rev. Wanda Johnson requested underlying documents and the report the BART; however, at the time of the interview, they had not been released.  These documents show Pirone as using excessive force on Grant while calling Grant racial epithets. Medical reports show fractured facial bones where Pirone kneeled on Grant’s face that night.

Given the new evidence, two years later, Oscar Grant’s family demands Alameda County DA Nancy O’Malley charge Pirone with felony murder and arrest him for Oscar’s murder. Pressured, Alameda Country Attorney Nancy O’Malley has reopened the case. Now she needs to charge Pirone with felony murder. There is no statute of limitations on murder. The family has a petition calling for 1 million signatures to open the case and charge Pirone. Lateefah Simon, current President of the BART Board and Members of the BART Board stand with the family and demand that former BART employee, Anthony Pirone stand trial for Oscar Grant’s murder, a case Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson calls “an execution.”

Pirone alone created the climate of violence that early morning that led to Grant’s shooting and death.

Wanda Sabir had an opportunity to have Uncle Bobby, his sister, Rev. Wanda Johnson, Oscar’s mom, Sister Elaine Brown, Min. Abdul Sabur Muhammad and Civil Rights Attorney Walter Riley join her on the air to talk about reopening the case and charging Tony Pirone. Here is a link to the show: http://tobtr.com/11861497

WS: Today we are going to be speaking about the family of Oscar Grant and the community reopening the case.

We have Cephas Johnson, “Uncle Bobby.” We have attorney Walter Riley, we have Elaine Brown, activist, and we also have Oscar Grant’s mother, Miss Wanda Johnson. Welcome to everyone. Thank you so much for joining us to talk about this reopening of the case, and to talk about and lift up the name of Oscar Grant. And to just bring our audience up to speed on what’s going on presently. So again, thank you so much for joining us.

Cephas Johnson: Thank you for having us.

WS: You’re welcome. Thanks for the phone call Uncle Bobby. So, I know on October 5^th [and January 1, 2021], there were press conference[s] and I got the press release and so now we’re going to talk about what’s going on presently and how people can bring some energy around this issue so that this other officer who never was charged gets charged, if I’m understanding correctly is the reason for reopening the case. Why don’t you introduce the panel and then we can start.

CJ: “Thank you, first I want to introduce my sister, Oscar Grant’s mother, Wanda. Reverend Wanda Johnson is America’s voice of compassion and hope for individuals, having lost her son and beloved one due to violence. Her heartbreaking story made worldwide news, January 1, 2009, when her unarmed son Oscar Grant III, was shot and killed by local Transit Police Officer Johannes Mehserle. Since then, her mission has been to work tirelessly to undo the negative stereotyping of at-risk youth, to comfort grieving families, and to improve policy and procedures in the criminal justice system. That’s my sister, Wanda.

“Next, I’ll move to our sister and great activist, Sister Elaine Brown, who was the only female to ever chair the Black Panther Party. She is a tremendous voice here in the Bay Area, not just the bay area, but around this country, who is very vocal about the issues concerning social justice, especially in the criminal justice system.

“And then, of course, I’ll move to our brother, our great civil rights attorney, Walter Riley, a gentleman that I’ve come to know through the struggle of my nephew Oscar being murdered, who has really represented the [underrepresented voices] on issues of injustice, specifically here in Oakland, but of course across this country.

“And then, of course, myself. I am affectionately known to the community as Uncle Bobby. I am the uncle of Oscar Grant. Of course, Wanda is my baby sister, and yet I also have become, since murder of my nephew, an advocate for police accountability and transparency.

“So these are our panelists. And if I could, I’d like Elaine to lay the groundwork on how things started and where we are at today, and then we could bring in Walter Riley and, of course, Wanda.”
WS: Uncle Bobby, I was wondering did you want to say anything about your organization, Love Not Blood?

CJ: My wife and myself are the co-founders of the Love Not Blood campaign, which is an organization that deals with families that have been impacted by police violence. We bring a holistic process of working with them and the struggle of finding peace in their hearts and turning their pain into purpose ensuring that they understand the difference between the criminal and the civil litigation process working with them to help them understand the process of advocating and articulating their stories concerning the murder of their loved ones. Love Not Blood embraces the families that God has allowed us to help to find some form of balance to move forward seeking that Justice.

WS: Thank you. Sister Elaine?
EB: “Yeah, I think the important thing is to stay focused. Oscar Grant was killed nearly 12 years ago in 2009 and everyone has known that there was another BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) cop that pinned and held Oscar down while the other cop shot him. The other cop was Johannes Mehserle who, while he was prosecuted, ended up doing a very little amount of time and was prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter. He was convicted for that in 2009 and 2010.

“Recently, there has been a surge among some of us who are doing work in this area to try to reopen the cases of black people who have been killed by the police where there’s been no prosecution. And that would be true across the country. All of the Black Lives Matter marches, from Breonna Taylor, to Michael Brown, for all of the other murders of black people murdered by the police.

“As you know, the Black Panther Party always talked about stopping these police murders as one of our main goals. And that still remains a goal. But we haven’t been able to find justice in any of these cases. It’s very hard to name a case where there’s been a cop arrested for the murder of a black person. So here in the Bay Area, we got together with Cephas Johnson and Reverend Johnson, and others of us, to talk about reopening the case against Anthony Pirone. Pirone was a second cop who had his knee on Oscar’s neck— the same thing that happened to George Floyd. Pirone held Oscar down while Johannes Mehserle shot him. An ordinary citizen would have been charged with murder. Nobody charged Pirone with anything. So we were able to make that charge. This is not just some narrow Oscar Grant family matter.

“This family has been through hell, but we recognize that this is a hell that all of us are experiencing. We are teaching our sons to not talk back to the police. We’re afraid that any Black person will go out and be killed on the street for any arbitrary reason by the police. These are the psychological ramifications of Black peoples’ trauma throughout the country.

“We discovered the law firm of Myers Nave in Oakland, California, was hired by the BART Board and the General Counsel to do an independent investigation of the circumstances of Oscar’s death. And among the many things the Myers Nave report shows is that Pirone bashed Oscar’s head in, punched him in the face, pushed him down onto the ground, and did terrible things to Oscar, who did not resist.

“He was unarmed and was arbitrarily picked off the train by Pirone and slammed down ultimately onto the platform where Pirone called over Mehserle, and Johannes Mehserle fired his weapon into Oscar’s back. We realized that Pirone should be charged with felony murder, and we have talked to the District Attorney who, during an October 5th press conference, interrupted with this instant tweet saying she was going to reopen the case.

“She has not reopened the case. She has talked about their being a statute of limitations on the felonies that Pirone committed in leading up to Oscar’s death. So what we are showing, and will show, and certainly Walter Riley can speak to this as others, is that Tony Pirone is responsible for the death of Oscar in what is called a felony murder either under the law at the time, or under the law that changes today, which is not very much of a change, but it only goes to some other issues and certainly Walter can speak about that.

If we are able to push this agenda, and we are pushing it, and Pirone, as the district attorney says they now know where he is (somewhere in the Long Beach area)— if Pirone is properly arrested and charged and convicted, this will be a victory for all these families that Uncle Bobby is talking about and the Black community to show that when we do our own work and our own homework we can bring these people to justice.

“Our Coalition has adopted a phrase that ‘we are now going to be hunting these cops down.’ We’re not going to just be crying. We’re not going to be holding hands and singing. We are going to be ‘hunting these cops down and bringing them to justice.’”

WS: “That’s excellent. Thank you, Sister Elaine. I was just noting in the press release, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson called the murder of Oscar Grant ‘an execution.’ Those are really strong words because that’s exactly what happened. And so yeah, I am really happy that we are bringing this to light and reopening the case.

“Walter, were you going next?”

Walter Riley: “I echo everything that Elaine Brown has said, and of course the most important aspect of this is that we want to let everyone know that there is no statute of limitations [on murder].

“There’s confusion sometimes about this or whether or not Pirone can be charged for murder, and [so] we have looked at the case. We have looked at the evidence we have here, the evidence that was before the District Attorney back in 2009 at the time, right after Oscar Grant was murdered, that Tony Pirone was the first police officer on the platform. He was crazed and his conduct, according to the [Myers Nave’s] report itself, led the chaos and confusion on the platform that resulted in the death of Oscar Grant.

“We want to just, in short, be sure that there is no excuse for not charging Tony Pirone. That’s our message at this point.

“Maybe we should bring in Reverend Wanda Johnson, Oscar’s mother.
WS: Reverend Johnson, maybe you could talk about how you are presently. I mean, it’s been wow, almost twelve years?

Rev. Wanda Johnson: “January 1, 2021 will be 12 years. Thank you for having me on today. You know as a mother you never expect to bury your child; you expect your child to bury you. Never did I think that my son would be killed, let alone killed by somebody who is hired to protect and serve.

“From the first step that officer Pirone took on that platform, from what I saw and what I read, his mindset was to do bodily harm to somebody. And that [person] just happened to be my son.

“From him [stepping] on the platform already having his taser out, already using profanity and then turning around and taking all that out on my son because my son saw his friend being unjustly brutalized by this officer, and then my son being hit by him and kicked by him is just a wound that has been reopened, that never closed but has been opened wide again to even have to think about going through such a horrific horrendous process, you know.

“Oscar did not deserve to be killed and for sure the officer Pirone who instigated the whole thing deserves to be put in jail and the key to be thrown away. This officer showed no training, no self-control, but yet he is still allowed to walk around in our communities doing whatever he chooses to do while Oscar is no longer with me, no longer with his daughter.

“[He will] not able to see his daughter grow up; [he will] not able to see his daughter married. And this officer is walking around, or ex-officer is walking around probably as if nothing ever happened, and I believe in my heart that he deserves to be charged and brought to justice, and no favoritism because of him being an officer, which we know our judicial system has shown favoritism towards officers, and we’re asking, I’m demanding, that he be charged and that there be no special treatment because of his past history. Thank you.”

WR: “This is Walter Riley. The things that we are involved with now is a reawakening in activist communities, in Black communities, with our relationship to police. We certainly have always been aware of the need to change the way police right in our communities, but [in 2020] we have mobilized with many other people around the world as a result of the horrible vision that we saw with the murder of George Floyd. What happened on the platform at BART here is the same kind of intense attack by the police on our community—their sense of who we are and whether or not they believe Black Lives Matter. To the police department and to the cities that have operated these police departments, Black lives have not mattered in our entire history here in the way that we think is necessary. As an attorney, I want to participate with the family and the community organization that Elaine is playing a major role in, to revisit these cases across the country, particularly right here in the Bay Area where we are.

“We know that there’s a review of cases in San Francisco. We know that the DA in Los Angeles is reviewing some cases. We’ve seen this happening in some other places as we begin to reimagine what a police department can be. ‘What is Public Safety’ is the most important question? When the BART police Tony Pirone excited everybody on the platform by calling Oscar Grant various names, by calling other people on the platform outrageous and racist names and attacking Oscar Grant and the other person also on the platform, he excited everybody. He particularly excited the other police officers, and the report says that the development of the hostile and volatile atmosphere in the course of this event is due to Tony Pirone.

“He was the most responsible for the chaotic and tense situation on the platform, setting the stage, even if he didn’t intend to do it, [as he states in the report], he set the stage for the shooting of Oscar Grant. His felony attack[s] on Oscar Grant, several attacks on Oscar Grant, were witnessed by other police officers. That, of course, led to their excitement, the violent atmosphere that they all engaged in, and when Tony Pirone took Oscar Grant to the ground, having already injured his brain several times – injuries, according to the report, exasperated a fall with Tony Pirone’s full weight and force on top of Oscar Grant, on his head, neck and shoulders. [Pirone] picked Oscar up and dropped him to the ground again.

Oscar Grant’s hands were trapped under him, so that when Johannes Mehserle, the officer who shot Oscar Grant, was attempting to handcuff Oscar Grant, Oscar Grant could not deliver his hands to the officers for handcuffing because Tony Pirone was on his back. This is the report. This is the understanding of the way police officers are engaged in their arrest, how they do the arrest and mechanisms for arrest or mechanisms for bringing hands to the back and when Oscar Grant’s hands were brought to the back. With his face down on the ground Mehserle rose up for the second time he reached for his gun.

The second time Mehserle grabbed the gun and shot Oscar and immediately afterwards, he said to other officers. ‘I thought he had a gun. I thought he was going for a gun,’ and only later, after they developed their story, after they developed their defense, with the help of Tony Pirone, other police officers, the BART police force in general, did Mehserle say that he was reaching for his taser. And that’s his cover story that is made up, fabricated totally after he already, immediately after the shooting said ‘I thought he was reaching for a gun.’

There was no gun, and there was no ability for him to reach for a gun. He was just so intensely engaged in violence that Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant with the help of Tony Pirone. The felonies of the attack, physical attacks on Oscar Grant’s other felonies, that would participate, that allowed us to determine that he participated in the felonious attacks, and is the basis for felony murder in this case. The law in 2009, 2010 up until the recent law was that, if you are engaged in felonious conduct and if you’re engaged in the participation in the acts that lead to a murder, whether you are the person who pulls the trigger or someone with you pulls the trigger, you are guilty of felony murder.

“These charges have been leveled against black people all across this country for ages, and the same manner, and with the same kind of analysis. There is no reason that this can’t be used against Tony Pirone. Even under the new law, which attempts to find some concern about the attitudes of the police officer, if the police officers engaged as a major participant in a felony and acts with reckless indifference to human life, he is guilty of felony murder. Everything that Tony Pirone did demonstrates that he was a major participant, he the lead officer there, and he acted with told reckless indifference to human life, to the life of Oscar Grant and others on the platform also. But in particular in this case, it’s Oscar Grant who was killed. We want that reckoning to come to be the basis of the police, the basis of the of the District Attorney arresting Tony Pirone and charging him with felony murder.
WS: “I was just wondering, Mr. Riley, with regards to this charge, was it levelled initially, or was just Johannes Mehserle charged and Pirone not charged at all, and if so, how did he get away with not being charged because he was the lead officer?

WR: Regarding this I was an activist not in the center of the work at that time, but I will follow up with Uncle Bobby if he can explain the details of what happened with the DA.

CJ: “Thank you, Walter, and that’s what I was going to say, because the listeners are probably wondering that very question. Why wasn’t he charged then? You know as Walter stated, of course, the murder happened on January 1, 2009, in Oakland, California. And for the listeners that may not remember or know the story of Oscar Grant, there was a movie also produced, called “Fruitvale Station,” that Ryan Croogler, the director of “Black Panther,” created and brought to the big screen, and it really laid out pretty much with 98% of accuracy of what happened on that platform.

“During the trial the part that Walter talked about on the platform was basically the murder, the resurrection I call it, is basically during the movement part, but also during the trial. It was during the trial that David Stein, the District Attorney, that was representing the family charging Johannes Mehserle for second-degree murder, stated to the family that we actually had Tony Pirone as a witness to the murder of Oscar Grant, and that, strategically, they felt that they will not bring charges against Tony Pirone at this moment in time because he was State evidence. But that backfired.

“Tony Pirone became a hostile witness and never admitted that basically Johannes Mehserle stated even though it’s record and recorded that he thought he was going for a gun. He actually tried to cover up that line. So since it backfired, David Stein stated to the family that we will have to get Tony Pirone with charges of murder after we finished his trial with Johannes Mehserle.

“After the trial concluded and ended, we immediately went to see District Attorney Nancy O’Malley concerning the charges that should be applied to Tony Pirone for the murder of Oscar Grant. And, of course, Nancy O’Malley stated to us at that time, because the trial was down in Los Angeles, that the going back and forth to Los Angeles and the cost of this trial put Alameda County at the point to where they don’t have the money to proceed with the charges against Tony Pirone at this time. So that was basically eleven years ago. And here we are, it was brought up lightly during the time period right before 2014, but Tony Pirone left the country. He went into the military. He was fired by BART, but he decided to go across the earth. I believe it was to Afghanistan or somewhere, where he was basically brutalizing folks over there, if not murdering them. I’m sure he was murdering them.

“Anyhow, you know it was from that point that Tony Pirone became a missing, or put it this way, he escaped the charges. But, of course, our sister Elaine Brown never let us forget that Tony Pirone, who was the culprit on that platform, should be charged. And, if I can, I just want to kind of get a layout of the incident on January 1st on that platform.

“Tony Pirone punched Oscar, used racial epithets, and after what really came down to a hate crime, kneed Oscar. He lied in the investigative reports. When he took his picture that night he was smiling as if the murder was a funny thing. He was a very sick and violent person. The commuters on that train utilized their cell phones because they saw this irate officer acting the way that he was, that’s Tony Pirone, and they recorded it.

“It was the first time that technology in the cell phones were used in that way, and social media was used in a way that it was used to share with the world how heinous a police officer can act in the fashion that Tony Pirone was acting. And so it really got over a million views within the first week, but it was really the Oakland Community that embraced the family. That saw that video. That prayed for us and went back and forth, but most importantly shouted that “I am Oscar Grant!” And it was that movement that developed here in the Bay Area that was able to get, for the first time in California State history, an officer, that is, Johannes Mehserle arrested, charged, convicted and sent to jail. Now, he only did eleven months so we never counted that as a victory: it was just historical.

“But the officer who created that chaos, the reason why Oscar was murdered that day, was never charged and we’re here today saying that he should be charged for felony murder. There is no way that an officer should be walking these streets and possibly working for another policing agency, that conducted himself in the way that he did in murdering Oscar, today. And I just wanted to lay that there. ”

CJ: Wanda, I think Minister Abdul As-Sabur has come on and he can speak directly to the movement that occurred after the murder of Oscar Grant.

Min. Abdul Sabur Muhammmad: “Thank you. Greetings to all that are listening. And as Uncle Bobby was speaking, it really made me reflect on the fact of the importance of black journalists as we are unpacking the clear injustice against Oscar Grant that included the deeds of Tony Pirone.

“While we were in the preliminary hearings in Alameda County Courthouse, it was revealed at that time that not only did Tony Maroni instigate the incident, but in addition to brutalizing Oscar, he was the one that hurled racial epithets at Oscar. They didn’t come up much in court in Los Angeles. Tony Pirone, seconds before Oscar was slain, in addition to kicking him in the face, putting his knee on the back of his neck that could have cost his life in that part. Tony Pirone called Oscar, pardon my language, ‘a bitch ass nigga,’ two to three times. And this is just second before Oscar was slain. Tony Pirone was the head of a lynch lob. Mehserle brought the rope.

“But as the trial unfolded, I mentioned black journalists. That that came out in testimony remained a media secret for weeks, before one, I think someone from the San Francisco Chronicle, finally published what Pirone said.

“Now, mind you, Sister Wanda, there was a daily press conference after every hearing. Now I often did not speak in those press conferences. I just stood in support while attorney Burris would address the conference.  After the media members watched Tony Pirone on video first, deny and then admit when the videotape was placed before him, his language with Oscar Grant. Well, the media didn’t cover it. They had a press conference. They didn’t raise a question. It was that clear intention that they weren’t going to give the world the full weight of what occurred with Oscar Grant.
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“Now we were pitched strongly to ensure that Mr. Mehserle was convicted and unfortunately in our drives we may have let Mr. Pirone off the hook. However, we’re not the prosecutors. Alameda County is the prosecution. It was not our job to prosecute Tony Pirone. That was the job of the Alameda County district attorney, and of course when charges are brought the victims are represented by the state. So it will say State vs Johannes Mehserle and it should say State vs Anthony Pirone. We’re here now as we were then, to drive the State which has been responsible for much of our oppression, but to drive that very State to represent justice for black people.

“The question becomes are those representatives of the State willing participants in the drive toward justice. So we asked Ms. O’Malley to represent the drive toward justice, not to represent a criminal justice system which is often criminal toward the poor and the black, but to represent justice to the fullest extent. Oscar Grant’s family deserves justice. Nothing more, nothing less.”

EB: “Yeah, I want to mention something to Sister Wanda, speaking of Wanda Sabir, that has given great impetus to this current movement, is there was a release of a document, as I mentioned earlier, from a law firm named Myers Nave. This law firm was hired by BART, the BART Board, BART General Counsel, to do an independent investigation.

“It completed its investigation in July of 2009, but nobody saw it until recently. It is that investigative report that gives us these details that were hidden all these years. We knew that Pirone was certainly a co-conspirator and a partner in a murder where Meserly was charged with, and he should have been charged, but now we have this evidence. One of the things that I think we can do in this moment with your listeners and you is to first recognize that we need to get the underlying documents of the Myers Nave report.

“We have asked for them and they have not been given to us. But who has the power to release those documents is the BART board, and we are appealing to the BART board and intend to meet and to make that demand, that the underlying documents of the report that they have, that nobody else has certain information about— in other words, autopsy reports, photographs, recordings, interviews with Pirone. They have approximately ten pages explaining all the brutal and violent acts of Tony Pirone run-in against Oscar.

“We want those documents because we want to show District Attorney O’Malley, who has been hesitant, as a matter of fact, has not said that she wouldn’t charge Pirone with felony murder, that there is a felony murder. I would say that we would encourage people to call the District Attorney’s office and join the demand that Pirone be arrested and charged with felony murder. And just for the sake of your broadcast, the general number for the Alameda County District Attorney’s office is 510-272-6222.  Now I don’t know what you’ll get when you call there, certainly not directly to O’Malley. But we need people to say, “Look, charge Pirone with felony murder. Stop playing around. We don’t want to wait till after Christmas for you to have another conversation. We want Pirone charged now, it has been eleven years and you know where he is, go get him, charge him, arrest him, and bring him to justice.” [It is after Christmas and Pirone is not charged to date.]

“If Wanda Johnson and Cephus Johnson and the family of Oscar Grant will ever have any start to having peace, then they need to have this case brought to justice so the real healing can begin. So I urge people to understand that the BART board can release these documents and we want that to happen, and we want them to address that to O’Malley’s office so they’ll be no excuse for why you don’t think felony murder is it correct charge.”

WS: I was wondering if, Mr. Walter Riley, and even you, Sister Elaine Brown, could maybe draw some parallels between the public lynching that happened with Oscar Grant and the brutality that his friends also suffered on that platform. They weren’t killed, but they also suffered. They were right there and they witnessed the killing of their friend. Not to mention all the people on BART. I mean it was a public spectacle that traumatized a lot of people and then those of us who witnessed it afterwards, we still feel it and I can’t even imagine what you feel, Reverend Johnson, and you, Uncle Bobby, as that was your blood that was slain and spilled on that platform. So we wonder if we could talk a little bit about the history repeating itself. I mean, I hadn’t even known that Pirone had his knee on Oscar’s neck and fractured the bones in his face and called him names. It’s just a replaying of the same kind of behavior over and over again.

WR: “Walter here, I think that it’s important for the public to be aware that that conduct, the actions of a Tony Pirone are the actions that we have dealt with so often in cases of police murder, but it’s the actions even where the police had not murdered someone that has to be considered here also.

“Tony Pirone’s conduct, his ability to get away with that conduct, encourages police conduct of this kind across the country. He’s not the only one that’s done it. One of the reasons he was able to think that he could act this way is because police had not been sanctioned for that kind of conduct before. When Tony Pirone is not sanctioned for it, it says to the police departments across the country that it’s okay to do that. They can come up with an excuse for it.

“If someone dies or someone is terribly injured as a result of that conduct, they can blame the individual, most often is what they try to do, or they might blame a particular officer that created the immediate harm. In this case, Tony Pirone set the stage for this conduct, and when police officers do this and are allowed to get away with it, it harms our community. It harms our sense of our ability to obtain justice. Our sense of our ability to obtain a sense of respect for us as people.

“The term Black Lives Matter, as all of us on this call know, results from all the hundreds of years of misconduct and abuse of our communities, the times when our people needed to have medical attention and didn’t get it, and the state of the hospitals, the medical system did not deliver, the times that people needed family support and did not get it because they are Black, the times that we needed economic support in our communities in the South and the North and the in the concentrated areas of residence that we’ve been involved in, we haven’t got clean up, we haven’t gotten often the kind of electricity or the housing, by and large, that would be adequately fit for housing. One of the platform’s the Black Panther Party, but also a platform of the United Nations, of international sense of human dignity and rights that have not been afforded to us, and it’s because we’re black.

“And when the term Black Lives Matter was initially being raised in the manner that it was raised, somewhat because of the electronic media, it resonated with me, it resonated with me and my senior years as yes, it’s time for us to concentrate on that and make that a part of our own community, not for somebody else but to say in our own community that we have a right for our lives to matter, and we have a right to demand our society or is organizing in such a way that our lives matter.

“When people are killed by the state, the police departments, we have to hold them accountable. We can’t allow them to deflect and claim that there are other problems, to talk about our own conditions in our yards or something, to talk about our housing situations and blame us for it. No, we live in society where the state has a responsibility to its citizens. We pay taxes, we do the work, and we did the hard labor of making this economic society viable. We want our lives to matter.

“And in this case, had it been any other group, certainly the police department would have taken some account of the conduct of Tony Pirone. The District Attorney at that time, Tom Orloff, would have taken more account of Tony Pirone. And proposing to make a deal with Tony Pirone, for him to testify, to turn State’s evidence, to be a witness against another cop, was a ridiculous plan to start with. They had the evidence against Mehserle. And there was no reason for them to believe that Tony Pirone was going to be helpful in that his testimony could have been elicited based upon the platform, based upon the record itself, based upon the Myers Nave report.

“Myers Nave is a firm that has represented police departments and cities and government entities for some time. They are often biased towards giving support for the entity. I would say, I’m going to say it here, that the Myers Nave report is lacking in respect for the black community and the black witnesses in this case. And they are bias and they have always been biased towards their clients; with their bias leanings they we’re not able to exonerate Tony Pirone because the evidence was there, it was there for them who would have done everything that was possible to exonerate Tony Pirone, and they didn’t, they couldn’t.

“The DA’s office could have charged Tony Pirone with murder at that time and it did not need him to be a State’s witness and that’s my analysis of it. But they made that determination at that time. They could have charged him immediately afterwards when he refused to cooperate, when he made it very clear he was not going to abide by the terms of whatever agreement they had.  They were looking for an excuse not to charge Tony Pirone or any other police officers. None of the police officers were charged with abuse and they were all engaged in some abuse or another.

“And in that department, Tony Pironei abused another person before he came over and grabbed Oscar Grant a second time. Pirone had at first banged the back of Oscar Grant’s head against the wall, causing brain injury, hit him in the face, causing upper-level injury, and did a running kick on Oscar Grant, causing continuous injury. The second time, he took Oscar Grant to the ground, slamming him into the ground, and with Oscar Grant’s head and body hitting the concrete and not more injury to Oscar Grant’s pain, falling on him with his full weight creating more injury Oscar Grant. From the time that he left, it’s important, as I see it, from the time that he came to Oscar Grant, the second felonious assault, taking him to the ground, and the time that Oscar Grant was shot, is 67 seconds. That’s all on tape. All of that is available to the DA at the present time, was available to the DA at that time, and all the additional interviews show that Tony Pirone was out of sorts. We need Tony Pirone charged in order to say to the world that officers who participate in and stand by and allow this kind of conduct are also guilty of murder.
“Tony Pirone needs to be charged as a principal for his participation in the murder of Oscar Grant so that we are able to say we’re making some steps forward. Our community mobilized before. To get Mehserle charged, we mobilized. We need to be mobilizing right now in large numbers to see that time Pirone is brought to justice in this case, and our message again that this is the part of our continuing struggle for our lives to matter, black lives have to matter. Tony Pirone has to be brought to Justice.”

EB: “Well, I’m happy to say something now because it’s getting to the end of your program I suppose. I would certainly want to see sister Wanda Johnson say something, but I want to say that the question of black lives matter is a good slogan for today. Since 1865, the police have been always there to brutalize us and arrest us. We were re-enslaved under the black codes and it goes on historically as to what policing has always been about. But I think people should know. I don’t see the police as being concerned with black lives. I think that we have to understand that we have to stand up for black lives to matter to us.

“So we have to stand up and stop sitting down and allowing and changing nothing. We’re glad that people filmed the murder of Oscar Grant. [However], you filmed a murder. You filmed the murder of George Floyd. I think we have to do something more than pick up our cell phones and film the murder of our people.[1]

“That’s just my philosophical spin on that issue. But I do think that we want people to understand that this man is guilty of felony murder. The Myers Nave firm has to release these things to us and then we need to use this opportunity so that we can lay the pattern as the original movement for justice for Oscar Grant and spark the entire country to stop just sitting down hoping that these people are going to do the right thing, and taking an active role in pushing them to do the right thing.

“The most non-violent thing we can do at this point is to push for Tony Pirone to be charged with murder. There is no surprise, racism in America; I mean what, this is a surprise? When did this become a surprise? We spent 250 years as enslaved in this country in building up the economy and all the things that we already know. So there’s no surprise in the oppression of black people that has been going on since we were dragged, kicking and screaming from the continent. We have been oppressed. We have never been free in America. That has to be looked at. We can’t be soft-pedaling this stuff. Pirone is a murderer and the mechanism that we have to deal with him – a nonviolent mechanism – is to go and get the District Attorney to charge him as she would charge any ordinary black person, especially with felony murder. I really hope that we can get Reverend Wanda Johnson and ask her to say something before we close this panel discussion. Thank you very much.”

WS: “Certainly, and I had a question for you Reverend Johnson. I was wondering if you could maybe tell us how your granddaughter is doing? And if anyone on the panel knows how Oscar’s friends are doing, because I know they were really impacted by seeing their friend killed, or shot and then killed.

Min. ASM: “In answer to how Oscar’s friends are doing. Of course, Uncle Bobby is very close with many of them. And as Mr. Pirone was instigating violence that led to the murder of Oscar. I mean, let’s be clear Pirone jumped on the train, snatched Oscar and his friends off the train, went back and retrieved one of Oscar’s friends, by the name of Michael Greer. Michael Greer had prior injuries to his head unrelated, and they watched as Pirone testified in court, of him taking down Greer without any cause, potentially injuring Greer.

“Oscar and his friends were crying out from the wall that day, “Leave him alone! Why are you bothering him?” So Oscar became a target because he was a willing voice in defense of his friend. So that running knee kick that attorney Riley mentioned a moment ago, that was Pirone’s response to Oscar standing up and using his voice in defense of his friend.

“Others of Oscar’s friends have not lost their lives unnecessarily at the hands of law enforcement. His friends will be forever affected by having to witness their best friend having his life taken right before their very eyes while they felt defenseless. And so his friends have taken time and are still taking time to recover from the murder of their friend.

“To take it a step further, when his friends came to court to participate as witnesses to the trial, more than one time the Alameda County bailiff had sheriffs remove his friends from the courtroom. They came under immediate harassment from law enforcement. Law enforcement would find excuses to remove them, such as, “Your cell phone is in your hand. You have to leave.

“We saw you walking in the back row in the audience. You have to leave.” Literally, his friends had to fight to even participate in the court hearing they were made to endure as we all witnessed untold atrocity. We saw it on video. They saw it lying and I’m very thankful to Allah to get acquainted with some of them and to offer whatever comfort we can do to help them to just survive after witnessing such a murder. They are grown men now. They were grown then, but they’re growing now as parents and husbands. We wish them well, we keep prayers for them, and if they should be listening, we love them. And  whatever we can do to help them overcome the pain of yesterday, that they might survive today, that’s why we’re here as a loving Community for them. Thank you.”

WR: “I want to make one point, is that we want the BART board to agree to release all of the documents. The Myers Nave report belongs to Bart. Myers Nave was hired by Bart to do the report. So Myers Navy will claim that their client has to release the report. The public needs to know that the report, if we don’t get the report, that it’s because the BART Board has not released it to us. We want the underlying documents. The report is not complete without the underlying documents. We need all of those things and we need everything that’s left out from the BART board itself.”

WS: “Right, so I know, Sister Elaine, you said people should call the DA’s office, at (510)-272-6222, and leave a message. If they don’t get a live person about reopening the case and charging this officer, Anthony Pirone with felony murder. And I was wondering, is there a phone number to get in touch with the BART board with regards to releasing the underlying documents, this report by Myers Nave? Is there a phone number that people should call or an email address or something?

EB: “Trying to get it now, they can certainly look it up. But if we can get someone to just make the call and drop something. We need to have people do something other than commiserate with us and with sister Wanda, and with the family, and all the people that have been traumatized, and that is a very big part of everything as you well know.

“We also want to take action—we have an opportunity here that is rare. And we’re hoping that we can use this opportunity to create a roadmap for other people across the country. You know, Breonna Taylor asleep in her bed, I mean, what more can you do? You’ve done nothing in your own bed. So we know that there are horrible cases around the world, but this is all done with support.

“I want to mention that the BART police, we’re not sure what they do exactly anyway, but most of them are at this time being paid over $200,000 a year to murder. They certainly didn’t protect the young sister (Nia Wilson) that was stabbed to death, and they have murdered Oscar Grant. So it’s really questionable as to what the purpose of the BART police might be. But in any case if people can look it up and call or email the board of directors at BART and ask them to release the documents regarding the murder of Oscar Grant by Tony Pirone.

“The public number for the BART Mainline office is (510) 464-6000. The complaint office number where you can leave a voicemail, which should be filed of our concerns, is (510) 464-7134.”
WS: “If there aren’t any more comments, I was wondering, Uncle Bobby, if you could maybe have the last word here.”

CJ: “As I stated earlier, it was the community that embraced us, stood with us, cried with us, went back and forth to court with us, and that brought, for the first time in California State history, the success of having an officer arrested, charged, and convicted and sent to jail.

“We are clear, as this Coalition has stated over and over, that it’s going to take the community to bring about the possible reopening of this case. Not only just the reopening of the case, but the charges of ‘felony murder’ on Tony Pirone. We as a family, and I’m sure the Coalition, asks that the community embrace this movement, support this movement. Make those phone calls. And when we send out, whether it be flyers, or announcements, about whether it be a press conference or even a speak out or what have you, concerning bringing charges of felony murder on Tony Pirone, that the community be involved.

“It takes a mass movement to really bring about these real systemic changes. And as long as the DA thinks nobody is paying attention or cares about this case, another black man like my nephew will be just another Black man murdered in this country. Our intent, in closing, is to pave the way, as sister Elaine said, for others to have a roadmap to reopening cases all across this country where these Black folks, these young brothers and sisters and children, that have been murdered by these wretched police officers, be charged.

“I think it was Elaine that said this too. no longer will we sit back and just let you kill our children. we will hunt you down, we will bring you to court, and we will put you in jail for the murder of our children. And that’s a real serious statement that I believe we all are standing and living by today.

WS: “Uncle Bobby, is there is there a website that people can follow to make sure that they’re up on what’s happening with regards to this charge of felony murder and where we are in that process against Tony Pirone.

CJ: “Yes, so we’re updating our website to include all the steps and processes that are taking place behind this charge of Tony Pirone with felony murder. On www.lovenotbloodcampaign.com. it’s there that you will be able to see the update, and of course you can also go to the www.oscargrantfoundation.com.

“Both websites will have details on how our community can be involved in what’s going on.

“Thank you for giving us this opportunity.

WS: “Oh, you’re quite welcome. And definitely we can have you on again to give us updates. And I want to let people know again that the DA’s office number is (510) 272-6222. BART’s Mainline office is (510) 464-6000. The complaint office number is (510) 464-7134. We need to leave lots of messages until there’s no more space to request those underlying reports from Myers Nave, the attorneys for BART. As well as to ask Nancy O’Malley, District Attorney, to charge officer Pirone with felony murder.

“Well, thank you all so much for joining us. I don’t want to keep you from your busy days. It’s been really great to be enlightened about what’s happening around this case because, as I mentioned, I hadn’t known about Anthony Pirone’s role in all of this as the instigator. And you that report, we charge genocide, is still pertinent. And this certainly, as you know, what we talk about when we talk about Maafa, the reoccurring disaster: the killing of black people, killing people of African descent. And we do, as sister Elaine said, need to stop watching and stop it. So this is an opportunity for everyone who is listening, and those who aren’t listening, who are listening to other people, that this is the first step for setting a precedent that you are not going to get away with killing black people. These people that are funded by our tax dollars. They are our employees and they’re killing us.”
“You all take good care”

“Peace and blessings.”
We close with Mama C’s “That Black Panther Spirit is Alive and Well in East Africa.

[1] I want to interject, that for George Floyd there were people who tried to intervene and a gun was drawn on them by the other officer near the officer with his knee on Floyd’s neck. People were also shouting at the officer.