On the evening of December 31, 2008, a 22-year-old black man in the Bay Area of California wished his mother a happy birthday, kissed his daughter good night, and went out to celebrate New Year’s Eve with his girlfriend.
He rode the Bay Area Rapid Transit train, or BART, as it’s called in California. There was an altercation on the train. And then, unexpectedly, the unarmed man was shot and killed by a white BART police officer.
Such is the plot of a new film in theaters nationwide today, called “Fruitvale Station.” Based on a true story, it stars Michael B. Jordan, as Oscar Grant, the victim of the shooting.
Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson is the uncle of the late Oscar Grant, and founder of the Oscar Grant Foundation, which assists families who’ve been the victims of gun violence. He talks with the Takeaway about his late nephew, the film, and what he messages he hopes viewers take away from “Fruitvale Station.”
Below is the official statement from the BART Communications Department:
A young man lost his life because of the actions of a former BART police officer and BART took responsibility as a civil matter for the terrible tragedy that occurred on the platform of the Fruitvale BART Station on the morning of January 1, 2009. It is heartbreaking to us that no one can change that sad day and we continue to deeply regret the loss of Mr. Grant’s life. While we cannot alter the past, we immediately began to see this tragedy as a catalyst to change the future of BART, our customers and the communities we serve.
While BART continues to experience unprecedented success as the Bay Area’s premier public transit system, this tragedy has justifiably made us take a hard look at ourselves to understand how we can prevent a tragedy like this from occurring again.
We brought in two firms to conduct independent review of our police department and have used this information learned to make a number of major improvements to our policing services. As a result we increased both the scope and amount of officer training including increased firearm, Taser and cultural diversity training. We have also implemented independent citizen oversight of our police force and empowered an independent Police Auditor.
From the first day, we expressed our regret and sympathies to the family of Oscar Grant and to this day our hearts continue to pour out to them.
We believe that overwhelmingly BART police and BART staff are good and dedicated public servants who are desirous of serving the needs of the communities through which BART travels. It was extremely unfortunate that it took this tragic loss of life for us to reexamine and improve critical parts of our mission in serving our public. We want to assure the public that under the leadership of Police Chief Kenton Rainey we are determined to earn the trust and confidence of our communities and customers by meeting the high standards they expect and deserve.
Guests: Cephus Johnson
Produced by: Kristen Meinzer
Editors: T.J. Raphael
