Johannes Mehserle, the BART Officer who shot and killed unarmed Oscar Grant on New Year’s day on a platform in Oakland, was arrested yesterday in Nevada on suspicion of murder.

Claro this is important because it is rare that a law enforcement officer is arrested for killing a person of color. Pero, a arrest does not justice make. We have to be cautious and not allow BART, officials, and the media to play the one bad apple song, that Mehserle wasn’t part of a system that devalues the lives of people of color. That this was an isolated incident. That it won’t happen again.

We cannot expect for the same system that imprisons our community in disproportionate numbers to be the source of justice for Oscar Grant.

There will be a rally and march this afternoon in Oakland. Information after the jump.

Edited to add that apparently BART police have a history of shooting unarmed black men. From Pam’s House Blend:

Oscar Grant is the third man murdered by BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police in the past 17 years. All three victims were Black and none posed a serious threat. In each case, BART and county authorities have failed to hold the officers accountable.

…In the previous cases, BART’s internal investigations concluded that the officers felt threatened by the victims and were justified in pulling the trigger. It’s unbelievable given the circumstances of the killings:

- In 1992, 19-year-old Jerrold Hall was shot in the back by a BART officer as he tried to leave the parking lot of a station. The officer was responding to reports of an armed robbery and said he suspected that Hall and a friend were involved. The officer tried to detain the two, Hall ran and then the officer shot him in the back and killed him. Hall was unarmed, but the officer said he thought Hall was on his way to get a gun and return for a showdown.4

- In 2001, a mentally ill man named Bruce Seward was the next victim of the rogue force. Seward, 42, was naked and had been sleeping on a bench outside the BART station when an officer approached him. Seward did grab the officer’s nightstick at one point, but there were several options for subduing him. Instead, the officer shot and killed him.5

In addition to BART’s internal investigation, Alameda County’s District Attorney is also investigating Oscar Grant’s murder–but the office’s record on investigating police killings is horrible too. In both cases just described, the District Attorney bought BART’s argument that the officers felt threatened. As a result, the cops were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Via / SF Gate