Oakland BART Officials Buff Mural Tribute to Gary King Jr.

On Thursday September 24, Bay Area Rapid Transit workers removed the mural tribute to Gary King Jr., an unarmed 20-year old man brutally killed by a police officer in 2007. From Bay Area graffiti culture blog Endless Canvas:

"The mural was painted at the end of 2007, after police officer Patrick Gonzales beat, tazered, and shot 20 year old, unarmed and innocent, Gary King Jr in the back. Gary passed away in hand cuffs next to this pillar, while his young cousin had to watch, unable to put pressure on the wounds because officer Gonzales put a gun to his head and said that he would kill him if he touched Gary.

Gary ran a construction company with his father and was a productive member of the community. His life was stolen before he got to see the birth of his baby girl.

If the more recent murder of Oscar Grant wasn’t enough, the act of buffing Gary’s memorial is a symbol of BART’s complete disrespect of the community and human life.

We will never forget Gary or any of the lives stolen by Police.

We cropped off his face to make it more ominous, because this worker is a pawn at the bottom of the politics around BART disrespecting human life."

Locals are demanding that BART pay to restore the mural and state in writing that it will never be removed again. Check out the high resolution flier and BART contact info to get active with along Oakland locals.

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