The gruesome event that unfolded at the Fruitvale BART station months ago on New Year's Day is hard to imagine when standing at the platform now. There are no flowers, flyers, or commotion. It is almost peaceful as the sun sets and the cool air rolls in. Like clockwork, passengers walk in and out of trains.

Downstairs stands one BART officer patrolling the area, quick to remind anyone not aware that the train agency is not immune to scandal or violence. Within a six-month span, BART has been directly involved with a few unfortunate events. These include a murder by a BART officer, a dispute with the widow of a former train inspector who died on the job, a stabbing at the Fruitvale station, and a recent shooting that left one young man dead at the Daly City station.

The most scandalous and widely known story is the death of twenty-two-year-old Oscar Grant at the hands of a BART officer at the Fruitvale station in Oakland on New Year's Day. Cell phone footage aids the damning case against Johannes Mehserle, a two-year veteran of the BART police force. The video, available to anyone with a computer and a search engine, shows Grant face down on the ground with three police officers in front of him. In less than a minute, Mehserle stands over Grant and fatally shoots him.

Following the event, angry residents have taken to blogging and to the streets to try to voice their message.

"You never think it's going to be your family." Jean Wade shifts and paces back and forth as she answers. She's not an organizer or a protester. It's clear that her answers aren't methodical--she's just speaking what she knows on the one-year anniversary of her aunt Anita Gay's death at the hands of Berkeley police.

At the same event, family and protesters join to remember Gay's life and to remind anyone willing to stop and listen that Grant and Gay's death aren't isolated events.

"Oscar Grant wasn't the first [to be killed at the hands of police officers]. This is an ongoing problem, but no one's paying attention. This incident is bringing attention to the issue of police brutality," says Christopher Cubillos, an organizer for Answer Coalition. Other protestors gathered at the corner of Martin Luther King Street and Ashby Avenue in Berkeley and carried signs listing the names of recent victims, dead at the hands of police officers. There are nine names and a space for a tenth.

Berkeley police killed Anita Gay last year in front of her apartment after a domestic disturbance call. The officer was not charged, as he pleaded self-defense. However, neighbors that witnessed the event are quick to take Gay's family's side, claiming there was no sense of danger, no need for shots to be shot.

While twenty-seven-year-old Mehserle is out on $3 million bail, Bay Area residents are still waiting for answers of accountability from BART. Riots have ensued on the streets of Oakland, angry residents have taken over town meetings, and websites and organizers have joined to make sure no one forgets Oscar Grant and the bigger issue he represents--police brutality and a failure to hold officials accountable.

No Justice No BART, a campaign of protests, describes themselves as an "ad hoc committee of radical folks who are part of the broader movement that has emerged in the wake of the murder of Oscar Grant III." Their list of demands includes the resignation of leading BART officials and a full conviction of Mehserle. They claim Grant's death is just another example of the criminalization of Oakland youth.

"The reality is that BART has done nothing to instill confidence in the public or secure justice for Oscar Grant," the administrators that run NJNB claim. "Do we need an investigation to tell us that those BART officers were breaking the law and covering up a murder when they confiscated cameras and cell phones from witnesses? Does BART need an investigation to do what their bosses--the public--demand of them, and fire these people for screwing up this bad? These questions aren't hard questions to answer, not to a reasonable person."

Another website, BartRage, was created to provide a "community for BART riders who are willing to share good and bad experiences." The site's mission statement claims that it "hop[es] to share with other riders/employees, and let our voices be heard to BART management that BART is important to commuters. We highly believe BART can improve their system and service by correctly utilizing our hard-earned fare. We support BART because it cuts down on pollution and helps our environment. Please spread the word to other BART riders."

The site boasts information ranging from info on late BART trains to responses to the recent protests and headlines. BartRage has been around since October 2005, and receives about two hundred thousand hits per month, with four thousand unique visitors.

According to site administrators, the "site gets lots of complaints from riders and even employees. It's amazing how many employees are on this site. They have used this to 'flame' each other or certain divisions within BART. Some BART Board of Directors have posted on the site to keep things 'truthful.'"

"Oscar's death has been the biggest topic on the site. Lots of riders also report things that occur even when the news doesn't hear about it. So quite a few riders rely on up-to-date alerts."

However, with a train system so expansive and convenient, spanning forty-three stations from Millbrae in the South Bay to Pittsburg and Fremont in the East Bay, and everything in between, can anyone who depends on Bay Area Rapid Transit take any action that will effectively hurt the transportation agency? There are few alternatives that are as cheap and as fast, so most have grudgingly continued to ride BART despite their outrage at the recent events.

It is notoriously difficult to prosecute an officer charged with murder, and all these events are adding to the list of supposed shady business. However, protesters, bloggers, families, and concerned residents continue to stand on corners, trying to convince people that police brutality is a real problem, and that you can't lose hope.

"They don't care about the black community," Jean Wade says, walking off to pick up one of the many kids at the vigil. "If it was white people dying, it'd be a different story, but every dog gets their day." Surrounded by signs demanding justice and oncoming traffic honking in support, Anita Gay's family stands as proof that the real victims of police brutality are the families left behind.

contact: sandrav@sfsu.edu | Sandra Ventura likes to sit and stare at her phone, hoping that she'll get that magical call saying that school and work are cancelled and she can sleep all day instead. She's still waiting.