Oscar Grant grew up in Oakland, California, with his mother. As a kid, the 22-year-old was active in church and sports, but he fell in with a gang and dropped out of school. In between run-ins with the police, he married his girlfriend and had a daughter. During what Oscar was determined would be his last stint behind bars, he earned his GED and discovered a knack for cutting hair. He was working to become a licensed barber and a full-time dad.
Oscar Grant was murdered by police on New Year’s Day, 2009, for riding the BART. The train was filled with raucous folks celebrating the New Year when several fights broke out on it. When it stopped at Fruitvale Station, cops forcibly pulled several people off the train, including Oscar. One of the cops punched and kneed him, fracturing his skull. As two others forced Oscar to the ground, the first cop called him a “bitch-ass nigger” and shot him in the back. He would be convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Black lives matter.
