OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — The name Oscar Grant reverberates in the Bay Area. Murals like this one at Oakland’s Fruitvale Station remember him.
It’s been 17 years since Grant was shot and killed by then BART police officer Johannes Mehserle, who was responding to a disturbance on a train at the Fruitvale station.
The January 1, 2009, shooting was captured on cellphone video, sparking protests and riots.
Now, a new exhibit is painting a more intimate portrait of Grant on what would have been his 40th birthday.
“You see this young man in a suit. You see this young man with his wife, with his child. He is doing pushups, just being silly,” said Dr. Xavier Buck as he points at childhood photos of Grant. “It juxtaposes what the mainstream narrative was and what people really know.”
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Buck is the founding director of the Black Panther Party Museum in Oakland, where the exhibit is on display.
He said showing Grant as a complete person is important.
“We’ve been demanding justice for many, many years in this country especially at this pivotal point where we have ICE pulling people out of their homes and ICE arresting people and ICE killing people. There’s no better time to talk about Oscar Grant’s legacy as somebody who protected his community. As a young man who was unarmed and still faced state-sanctioned violence,” said Buck.
The exhibit contains family photos of Grant as a baby, in a little league uniform and playing chess.
There is also a phone booth where visitors can hear messages for Grant collected over the last decade.
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It begins with a recording from Rev. Wanda Johnson, Grant’s mother.
“Dear Oscar you are so missed. My heart still aches for you. I think about you every single day,” it said.
“It really makes you realize that this is somebody who could have been your brother, could have been your son, could have been your father. It was a human being,” explains Buck.
Museum visitors can also write a birthday card for Oscar Grant. The entire exhibit is part of the “1-800 Happy Birthday” project, a digital archive that remembers people killed by police. .
“It was beautiful. Really moving. And it made me kind of emotional. I love that they continue to celebrate their life and their birthdays,” said Asantewaa Darka, who visited the exhibit.
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Right outside the exhibit is another installation to fallen members of the Black Panther Party. The exhibit shows 32 black berets representing the 32 Panthers who were killed between 1968 and 1971.
“Most people don’t know their names. People are still grieving. This has generational impact,” said Buck.
This year is the 60th anniversary of the Black Panther Party, which was founded in Oakland in 1966.
“It is important to correct the image of the party. We all know through FBI documents that they had a program to discredit, disrupt and destroy black leaders. This is a story about folks who did stand up to police brutality,” said Buck.
Decades later, video captured the police killing of Oscar Grant and others, leading to the Black Lives Matter movement.
“After Oscar Grant you get Trevon Martin and you get Michael Brown. You get Sandra Bland, you get George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. You get all these people who are captured on video and we’re literally watching them be killed,” said Buck, who advocates for police accountability.
The “Happy Heavenly Birthday Oscar” exhibit runs until April 11 at the Black Panther Party Museum.
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