In an effort to keep his memory alive, Oscar Grant’s family made a plea to BART’s board of directors to have Fruitvale Station named after him. In a statement to KGO-TV, Oscar Grant’s mother Wanda Johnson said, “it would be an atonement, it would be part of BART saying yes, this happened here, we vow that it won’t happen again and we vow to work with the communities and ensure that all people are treated equally.”
However, BART officials say that changing the name of the station isn’t possible,
“Our policy is stations cannot be named after individuals, it has to be tied to a location. So it’s location based. What we are doing, and we are working closely with the family, is BART has commissioned a mural and it’s going to go up at the Fruitvale station. It’s going to honor Oscar Grant.”
Oscar Grant was 22-year-old African American and was fatally shot on New Year’s Day in 2009 by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland California.
