Beyondthe Book
What do all these pictures have in common or represent?
Who was Oscar Grant?
Oscar Grant 2009
In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2009, Oscar Juliuss Grant III was fatally shot by former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle. BART officers had responded to a call about a fight on the Fruitvale station platform in Oakland around 2am. Oscar, who according to reports was not among those fighting, was detained with several others. Bystanders captured videos of the incident.
Already restrained and unarmed, Oscar was fatally shot in the back by Officer Johannes Mehserle. Mehserle claims he intended to draw his Taser, but he instead drew his 9mm pistol when he shot Oscar in the back. Oscar was pronounced dead the next morning at Highland Hospital in Oakland.
Voices of Representation Connection
The book The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is based on this police brutality act on Oscar Grant in 2009
Angie Thomas highlights themes of racism, police brutality, and community in her books. She states that this story inspired her to write The Hate U Give because as more high-profile cases of police violence made headlines, including the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice, Thomas was motivated to expand her story into a full novel to address the systemic issue of racism and police brutality.
This is one of many stories of police brutality that have shown us the ways that communities come together to fight for change
Deep Dive into learning and sources
The website The Oscar Grant Foundation helps tell the story of Oscar Grant and bring change. Use this time to go and explore the website. Look for 3 main issues the website describes, 2 programs that this foundation supports for kids, and who you can contact to learn more or ask questions.
The movie Fruitvale Station 2013 is based on the story of Oscar Grant. "Though he once spent time in San Quentin, 22-year-old black man Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan) is now trying hard to live a clean life and support his girlfriend (Melonie Diaz) and young daughter (Ariana Neal). Flashbacks reveal the last day in Oscar's life, in which he accompanied his family and friends to San Francisco to watch fireworks on New Year's Eve, and, on the way back home, became swept up in an altercation with police that ended in tragedy. Based on a true story."
Why we should watch Fruitvale Station
"This is a story that we should know. It’s one that will help us understand our students better—perhaps teachers in urban environments more than others, but I believe that all teachers everywhere can gain insight and understanding of young people through this film. It captures the complexity of life, particularly of young adult life, and even more so, young adult lives that are vulnerable and subject to the structural racism in our country. It raises uncomfortable questions that those of us who work within public or private institutions need to be exploring.
In addition, by viewing this film, we acknowledge that a young man named Oscar Grant once lived, and that his life was ended long before it should have been. The officer who shot Grant, Johannes Mehserle, claimed that he meant to reach for and use his taser gun. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served 11 months of a two-year sentence. In watching Fruitvale Station, we are witnesses to this tragedy and injustice, and perhaps we remember that while Oscar Grant was one individual, there are many other Oscar Grants in this country." (Aguilar)
"I was angry. I was frustrated. I was hurt. So it was actually the frustration and anger and the pain that led me to write the short story that later became 'The Hate U Give.' I really wanted people to look at young black men in a different light. And that one word, 'thug,' because so many people look at the book title — it spells out the word 'thug.' That word is so often used to describe young black men. And I want people to look at that word in a different way. That came from Tupac Shakur and his 'thug life' tattoo. It stood for, 'The hate you give little infants f---- everybody.' He explained that as meaning that what society feeds into you has a way of affecting us all. So that's a message I wanted to get across. And I wanted to tell young people that your voice matters."
Angie Thomas has spoken out on the change and justice that needs to happen in our world. On her reaction to the shooting and killing of Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART Station
"I'm hearing two very different conversations about it. In my neighborhood: 'He was one of us. Oscar was an ex-con, but he was turning his life around. I knew guys just like him.' But in my school: 'Well, maybe he deserved it. He was a "Mexi-con." Why are people so upset? He should have just done what they say.'
Stanford University has an online exhibit called "Say Their Names". This supports the Black Lives Matter movement and highlights a list of people who have been effected by police brutality or social injustice.
Click the link above to explore Oscar Grant's page and see the other names and explore their stories
Watch this video on Oscar Grant 15 years later
The history of the black lives matter movement and black history month can be seen and explored through this story of Oscar Grant. This article from National Geographic explains this history of Black History Month as well as some of the heros from early Civil Rights Movements. This can be used to teach the history of the black lives matter movement and black history month.
Books that give minorities a voice, effects of police brutality, and community.
All American Boys, A Good Kind of Trouble, and How it Went Down all cover the themes of police brutality and speaking out against it along with how communities come together to make change. These can be read in the classroom as a whole or book clubs
This article from Learning for Justice explains how the police shooting of Oscar Grant effected the classroom and how the teacher used it dive deeper and explore other voice of different cases of police brutality.
While researching and learning more about my topic I realize there is a lot I do not know about the history of police brutality and racism in our country. I learned that there people have been standing up for change and bringing justice to the acts of police brutality since before we were taught in schools. I will use this in my future to better teach the ideas of justice and racism in our country. The ideas, websites, and other resources I have found, I will use to teach my future classes. I will also use these resources for my better understanding of these ideas and topics. Before researching Oscar Grant and the connection to the book The Hate U Give I just thought the book was a generalized idea of the police brutality in our country. As I was finding resources I was coming across a lot of different articles talking about how the movie Fruitvale Station should be shown in the classroom. I have never seen or heard of this film before researching and I now understand the importance of learning about these topics in school. I came from a very diverse area of Chicago suburbs and I would have never known about these different incidents of police brutality being connected if I was not looking into them now. I will use all that I have learned to focus on justice and police brutality in our country in my future classroom to better my students.
Sources: Oscar Grant . Stanford University Say Their Names. (n.d.). https://exhibits.stanford.edu/saytheirnames/feature/oscar-grant Oscar Grant Foundation About . Oscar Grant Foundation. (2025, October 13). https://oscargrantfoundation.org/about/ YouTube. (2024, February 27). Remembering Oscar Grant 15 Years Later. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO44-xN3P70 Boatner, K. (2023, February 1). Black history month. History. https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/black-history-month “the hate U give” author Angie Thomas on ya fiction, being black in america and more. Here & Now. (2018, February 28). https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/02/26/the-hate-u-give-angie-thomas Thomas, J. E. (2010, November 10). The L.A. Riots Echo loudly in my classroom. Learning for Justice. https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/the-la-riots-echo-loudly-in-my-classroom Aguilar, E. (2013, September 10). Educators: See this film!. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/fruitvale-station-see-this-film-educators-elena-aguilar?qt-discussion_replies=0
Thank you!
Beyond the Book
Madi Orlowski
Created on October 12, 2025
Start designing with a free template
Discover more than 1500 professional designs like these:
View
Blackboard Presentation
View
Genial Storytale Presentation
View
Historical Presentation
View
Psychedelic Presentation
View
Memories Presentation
View
Animated Chalkboard Presentation
View
Chalkboard Presentation
Explore all templates
Transcript
Beyondthe Book
What do all these pictures have in common or represent?
Who was Oscar Grant?
Oscar Grant 2009
In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2009, Oscar Juliuss Grant III was fatally shot by former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle. BART officers had responded to a call about a fight on the Fruitvale station platform in Oakland around 2am. Oscar, who according to reports was not among those fighting, was detained with several others. Bystanders captured videos of the incident.
Already restrained and unarmed, Oscar was fatally shot in the back by Officer Johannes Mehserle. Mehserle claims he intended to draw his Taser, but he instead drew his 9mm pistol when he shot Oscar in the back. Oscar was pronounced dead the next morning at Highland Hospital in Oakland.
Voices of Representation Connection
The book The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is based on this police brutality act on Oscar Grant in 2009
Angie Thomas highlights themes of racism, police brutality, and community in her books. She states that this story inspired her to write The Hate U Give because as more high-profile cases of police violence made headlines, including the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice, Thomas was motivated to expand her story into a full novel to address the systemic issue of racism and police brutality.
This is one of many stories of police brutality that have shown us the ways that communities come together to fight for change
Deep Dive into learning and sources
The website The Oscar Grant Foundation helps tell the story of Oscar Grant and bring change. Use this time to go and explore the website. Look for 3 main issues the website describes, 2 programs that this foundation supports for kids, and who you can contact to learn more or ask questions.
The movie Fruitvale Station 2013 is based on the story of Oscar Grant. "Though he once spent time in San Quentin, 22-year-old black man Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan) is now trying hard to live a clean life and support his girlfriend (Melonie Diaz) and young daughter (Ariana Neal). Flashbacks reveal the last day in Oscar's life, in which he accompanied his family and friends to San Francisco to watch fireworks on New Year's Eve, and, on the way back home, became swept up in an altercation with police that ended in tragedy. Based on a true story."
Why we should watch Fruitvale Station
"This is a story that we should know. It’s one that will help us understand our students better—perhaps teachers in urban environments more than others, but I believe that all teachers everywhere can gain insight and understanding of young people through this film. It captures the complexity of life, particularly of young adult life, and even more so, young adult lives that are vulnerable and subject to the structural racism in our country. It raises uncomfortable questions that those of us who work within public or private institutions need to be exploring. In addition, by viewing this film, we acknowledge that a young man named Oscar Grant once lived, and that his life was ended long before it should have been. The officer who shot Grant, Johannes Mehserle, claimed that he meant to reach for and use his taser gun. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served 11 months of a two-year sentence. In watching Fruitvale Station, we are witnesses to this tragedy and injustice, and perhaps we remember that while Oscar Grant was one individual, there are many other Oscar Grants in this country." (Aguilar)
"I was angry. I was frustrated. I was hurt. So it was actually the frustration and anger and the pain that led me to write the short story that later became 'The Hate U Give.' I really wanted people to look at young black men in a different light. And that one word, 'thug,' because so many people look at the book title — it spells out the word 'thug.' That word is so often used to describe young black men. And I want people to look at that word in a different way. That came from Tupac Shakur and his 'thug life' tattoo. It stood for, 'The hate you give little infants f---- everybody.' He explained that as meaning that what society feeds into you has a way of affecting us all. So that's a message I wanted to get across. And I wanted to tell young people that your voice matters."
Angie Thomas has spoken out on the change and justice that needs to happen in our world. On her reaction to the shooting and killing of Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART Station "I'm hearing two very different conversations about it. In my neighborhood: 'He was one of us. Oscar was an ex-con, but he was turning his life around. I knew guys just like him.' But in my school: 'Well, maybe he deserved it. He was a "Mexi-con." Why are people so upset? He should have just done what they say.'
Stanford University has an online exhibit called "Say Their Names". This supports the Black Lives Matter movement and highlights a list of people who have been effected by police brutality or social injustice.
Click the link above to explore Oscar Grant's page and see the other names and explore their stories
Watch this video on Oscar Grant 15 years later
The history of the black lives matter movement and black history month can be seen and explored through this story of Oscar Grant. This article from National Geographic explains this history of Black History Month as well as some of the heros from early Civil Rights Movements. This can be used to teach the history of the black lives matter movement and black history month.
Books that give minorities a voice, effects of police brutality, and community.
All American Boys, A Good Kind of Trouble, and How it Went Down all cover the themes of police brutality and speaking out against it along with how communities come together to make change. These can be read in the classroom as a whole or book clubs
This article from Learning for Justice explains how the police shooting of Oscar Grant effected the classroom and how the teacher used it dive deeper and explore other voice of different cases of police brutality.
While researching and learning more about my topic I realize there is a lot I do not know about the history of police brutality and racism in our country. I learned that there people have been standing up for change and bringing justice to the acts of police brutality since before we were taught in schools. I will use this in my future to better teach the ideas of justice and racism in our country. The ideas, websites, and other resources I have found, I will use to teach my future classes. I will also use these resources for my better understanding of these ideas and topics. Before researching Oscar Grant and the connection to the book The Hate U Give I just thought the book was a generalized idea of the police brutality in our country. As I was finding resources I was coming across a lot of different articles talking about how the movie Fruitvale Station should be shown in the classroom. I have never seen or heard of this film before researching and I now understand the importance of learning about these topics in school. I came from a very diverse area of Chicago suburbs and I would have never known about these different incidents of police brutality being connected if I was not looking into them now. I will use all that I have learned to focus on justice and police brutality in our country in my future classroom to better my students.
Sources: Oscar Grant . Stanford University Say Their Names. (n.d.). https://exhibits.stanford.edu/saytheirnames/feature/oscar-grant Oscar Grant Foundation About . Oscar Grant Foundation. (2025, October 13). https://oscargrantfoundation.org/about/ YouTube. (2024, February 27). Remembering Oscar Grant 15 Years Later. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO44-xN3P70 Boatner, K. (2023, February 1). Black history month. History. https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/black-history-month “the hate U give” author Angie Thomas on ya fiction, being black in america and more. Here & Now. (2018, February 28). https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/02/26/the-hate-u-give-angie-thomas Thomas, J. E. (2010, November 10). The L.A. Riots Echo loudly in my classroom. Learning for Justice. https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/the-la-riots-echo-loudly-in-my-classroom Aguilar, E. (2013, September 10). Educators: See this film!. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/fruitvale-station-see-this-film-educators-elena-aguilar?qt-discussion_replies=0
Thank you!