Seventeen years after a BART Police officer killed Oscar Grant at Fruitvale Station, his family and a multigenerational movement, drawing 125 people, gathered on New Year’s Day 2026 to remember him.
Due to potential rainfall, event organizers moved the annual vigil from the station to the nearby Oscar Grant Youth Empowerment Zone.
Oscar Grant’s family presses on
Oscar Grant III’s mother, Rev. Wanda Johnson, wore a black t-shirt with her son’s picture and the 2026 theme “Still Pressing on.”
“We’re working to build our community and fund scholarships for students going to college,” Johnson said. She co-founded the Oscar Grant Foundation, which hosts backpack giveaways, sponsors a youth basketball team, and grants scholarships to high school students. “It’s important to work to make sure our youth have a better tomorrow.”
Grant’s daughter, Tatiana Grant, also attended. She is engaged and a mother of two. Her children will never meet their grandfather, who was killed when she was just four years old.
Even as the family mourns their son, nephew, brother, father, they still press on.
Movement activists reflect on sacrifices
Cat Brooks, executive director of the Anti Police-Terror Project, recited a poem she penned in 2009.
“How do I explain to my three year old why I’m marching in the streets
How do I explain to my three year old why she aint seen me all week
How do I explain to my three year old what his death has done to me
How do I explain to my three year old another Black man killed in the street.”
Brook’s daughter is now 20-years-old. She’s one of multiple movement babies, children who grew up in the Justice for Oscar Grant movement. Brooks reflected on the emotional toll on activists and organizers, especially children who watched their parents protest.
Justice movement remembered
Congresswoman Lateefah Simon called the location fitting, considering the venue grew out of the struggle organizing for justice for Oscar Grant. Simon, who previously served on the BART board, remembered both the movement and the young man who never got the opportunity to grow old.
“The movement for Oscar Grant has taught us one thing: they think we will forget. Hell no!” Simon said. “We have not forgot. Generations know about this man.”
A renewed call for justice
George Galvis, executive director of Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ) said the remembrance was also a call to action.
“The way we maintain the legacy of Oscar Grant is to continue the fight,” Galvis said. He recalled that it was the Justice for Oscar Grant Movement that pushed former District Attorney Tom Orloff to charge BART Police officer Johannes Mehserle.
Galvis critiqued actions of the recently appointed District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson, such as charging minors as adults and dropping charges against San Leandro Police who killed Steven Taylor. “If we are going to honor the legacy, she’s got to go!” Galvis said.
While many movement activists and protesters have shifted to different organizations or causes, Galvis hopes people will refocus on criminal justice reform in Alameda County.
Annual vigil features song, dance
Each year, the annual vigil combines praise and protest, song and speeches, and memory and movement building.
One praise dancer blended faith-infused turf dancing – Boogaloo and strutting – with the sounds of Fred Hammond. Her dreadlocks swayed side to side as she hit the “smeeze” to gospel music. Community organizer Jabari Shaw shared a poem written shortly after the murder of Oscar Grant called “I am Oscar Grant.” Other singers also performed soulful gospel songs.
Attorneys John Burris and Adanté Pointer, who represented the family, and Nation of Islam Minister Abdul Sabur Muhammad, who counseled the family, also spoke. Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson, Grant’s uncle, and Beatrice X Johnson, who co-founded the Love Not Blood Campaign, also attended. Grant’s father, Oscar Grant, Jr, and his sister, Chantay Moore, were present too.
The event also included members of other families impacted by violence, like the families of Demouria Hogg, Pedi Perez, and Giovanni “DJ Gio” Razo Pizano.
The Oscar Grant Foundation will host its annual gala in Oakland on Feb. 28, what would be Grant’s 40th birthday.
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