Remember when the only thing you had to worry about when boating in McCovey cove was not to kick up too many waves for the guy putting on his miniature golf-inspired dinghy? Boy, have times changed since then. Thanks to the visibility of a nationally televised game and a few rather dour banners, Johannes Mehserle and Oscar Grant are back in the spotlight.
An SFist reader snapped this glaring photo of the “Justice 4 Johannes” sailboat, which reportedly belongs to Todd Mehserle, father of Johannes, the former BART cop convicted of killing Oscar Grant. The boat has reportedly appeared at several of the Giants games this season, and is quite visible from the stands.
Some people appeared to be supportive of this message: NBCBayArea‘s adjective-based rating system even shows 75% of their readers as “thrilled” at one report of the banner/boat, 86% at another.
Given what they describe as the “positive light given to Johannes Mehserle both in recent local media news stories and through the massive banner hung on his brothers’ sailboat,” an organization called Oakland for Justice has set sail with their own boat, bearing what they say is a 40-foot banner displaying the message “Justice 4 Oscar Grant,” which they say will float in McCovey Cove near AT&T Park during the remainder of the Giants’ season.
Todd Mehserle, who also says he plans be out in McCovey Cove for every home game for the rest of the season, encourages those who feel his son was wrongly convicted to write to the judge responsible for Johannes’ sentencing (scheduled for Nov 5) or sign a petition on his website, which says it will help visitors “(d)iscover the truth the other side doesn’t want you to know!”
Oakland for Justice takes a strong tone as well, saying that “(b)eyond jailing Mehserle, we seek a more comprehensive form of justice which would demand a disbanding or at the least disarming of BART police, the firing of officers complicit in the cover up of Oscar Grant’s murder, repealing or revising the CA Police Bill of Rights.”
Photo of Justice for Oakland boat: IndyBay
