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We will never be sure of all the details. Separating fact from fiction may be nearly impossible. Determining what people really saw, only wanted to see, and pretended to see will require a great deal of discretion. So, we will take the events at face value.
It was New Year's Day 2009 in Oakland, California. At 2 a.m. a number of revelers aboard a mass transit subway got into a fight. Chaos ensued. The officers on board the train could not contain the fight, so additional officers were summoned. One of those new arrivals was Johannes Mehserle, an officer for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). He was directed to arrest Oscar Grant, a two-time convicted felon, who was resisting the other officers. Forced to lie prone, it appeared that Grant was reaching for a weapon and Mehserle fired in self-defense. He claimed he thought he was firing his Taser, when in fact he discharged his revolver. During the lengthy judicial proceedings Mehserle was portrayed in the extremes, from firing in self-defense to deliberately executing an individual. The court convicted him of involuntary manslaughter. The original incident and the verdict both caused race riots throughout Oakland.
Before sentencing Mehserle wrote a letter to the Grant family that was only made public after sentencing. The letter read in part, "I have and will continue to live every day of my life knowing that Grant should not have been shot. For now, and forever I will live, breathe, sleep, and not sleep with the memory…."
As mentioned earlier, we will never know the complete story, so we must side with the decision of the court. What is to be pointed out is not only is the Grant family in mourning but Mehserle is plagued with remorse.
Remorse is a common and very human feeling as we question our own actions and wonder about the behavior of others. In our lesson remorse is the feeling being expressed by Jeremiah as he wonders why the people of Judah have forsaken God, and in so doing are suffering so terribly. In fact, Jeremiah's mourning is so painful he asks, "Is there no balm in Gilead?" Is there no ointment to heal his wound and the wounds of his people?
It was New Year's Day 2009 in Oakland, California. At 2 a.m. a number of revelers aboard a mass transit subway got into a fight. Chaos ensued. The officers on board the train could not contain the fight, so additional officers were summoned. One of those new arrivals was Johannes Mehserle, an officer for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). He was directed to arrest Oscar Grant, a two-time convicted felon, who was resisting the other officers. Forced to lie prone, it appeared that Grant was reaching for a weapon and Mehserle fired in self-defense. He claimed he thought he was firing his Taser, when in fact he discharged his revolver. During the lengthy judicial proceedings Mehserle was portrayed in the extremes, from firing in self-defense to deliberately executing an individual. The court convicted him of involuntary manslaughter. The original incident and the verdict both caused race riots throughout Oakland.
Before sentencing Mehserle wrote a letter to the Grant family that was only made public after sentencing. The letter read in part, "I have and will continue to live every day of my life knowing that Grant should not have been shot. For now, and forever I will live, breathe, sleep, and not sleep with the memory…."
As mentioned earlier, we will never know the complete story, so we must side with the decision of the court. What is to be pointed out is not only is the Grant family in mourning but Mehserle is plagued with remorse.
Remorse is a common and very human feeling as we question our own actions and wonder about the behavior of others. In our lesson remorse is the feeling being expressed by Jeremiah as he wonders why the people of Judah have forsaken God, and in so doing are suffering so terribly. In fact, Jeremiah's mourning is so painful he asks, "Is there no balm in Gilead?" Is there no ointment to heal his wound and the wounds of his people?
