By John W. Lillpop
Johannes Mehserle, a former police officer of Caucasian ethnicity, damn near started a riot in downtown Oakland yesterday after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Yes, you read that right—he was found guilty of manslaughter, of the involuntary sort.
Mehserle could have been found not guilty, guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of voluntary manslaughter, or guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Unfortunately, Mehserle’s most egregious sin was not the manslaughter itself, but the fact that the victim was an unarmed black man.
In this community, so heavily populated by African-Americans, nothing short of an out right murder conviction, and imposition of the death penalty, right on the spot, in front of the jury, would do.
As reported at CNN.com, in part:
“Hundreds stormed the streets of downtown Oakland on Thursday night after a verdict in the trial of a white former police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man.
“Johannes Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter Thursday, a conviction that usually carries a maximum four-year sentence.
“But some in Oakland expected a tougher penalty for the former police officer, and took to the streets in protest.
“Crowds broke the glass of a Foot Locker and other stores. Others threw sneakers out of the store as police wearing gas masks stormed the area.”
In Oakland, you see, shedding of innocent black blood is unforgivable—but stealing a few pair of sneakers can ease the pain, if ever so slightly.
The CNN report continued:
“Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts said there were 50 arrests and he expected the number to double by the end of the night. At the high point of the protests about 8 p.m. (11 p.m. ET), there were an estimated 800 people in the streets, Batts said.
“By 10:30 p.m, there were about 75 left, Batts said.
“The protests were contained to the downtown area, police said.
“Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums downplayed the demonstrations.
‘People were preparing for everything to explode, but I am extremely happy that so far it has not, and I hope that it doesn't,’ Dellums said. ‘We're not going to tear our own community apart, because we've got issues that we've got to deal with.’”
Meaning, of course, that owing to the Obama-induced unemployment rate and attendant economic depression, “tearing down our own community” would be a major no-no.
Once again, Barack Obama, through awesome incompetence and mindless neglect, has saved the day, and the streets of Oakland, in one magnanimous gesture.
Now just who was the bigot who said, there is “No There There” about Oakland?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/08/subway.shooting.trial.riot/?hpt=T2
