History and Murder: The Case of Oscar Grant

Oakland’s history directly led to the 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant. Policies by the Federal, State, and local governments implemented by Oakland, criminalized, over and over, the black population of West and East Oakland. Each major moment in history, and the billions of others between, led to the perception that the residents of West and East Oakland are criminals, but as you go back, you can reveal the origin and therefore the fraudulence of those perceptions. In 1937, redlining planned the proscenium, from which all future perception was based. The actual construction of that proscenium, was through the construction of major freeways, beginning in 1957. Through Urban Renewal in the 60s, West and East Oakland were cleared under the guise of removing criminality. In the 70s and 80s, the War on Drugs was associated with West Oakland, however, the Port and USPS were where the criminal activity was largely taking place. By 2000, police themselves (Oakland Riders) began falsifying crime in West Oakland perpetuating that perception. In 2009, the culmination of criminalization of people of color and their associated locations resulted in the murder of Oakland’s own Oscar Grant. This short video reveals this history.

The colors are maintained throughout the video to signify roles. In purple is the perceived perpetrator; in yellow is the criminal act; in red is the actual perpetrator.

To make the video, I dug through archival video, image, and radio. I compiled these in After Effects, but required the use of Photoshop, Illustrator, ArcGIS, and Rhino to make most of the scenes.