Sacramento band Trash Talk came together with other bands, including Bay Area duo, Two Gallants on Sunday to host a benefit show in Berkeley for the family of Oscar Grant.

Grant was shot and killed on New Year’s Day at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland. BART police officer Johannes Mehserle has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Cell phone videos show that Grant was unarmed and facedown on the ground when shot in the back.

Mehserle’s attorney Michael Rains said the officer was reaching for his Taser when he accidentally pulled his service gun instead, according to the Associated Press on Jan. 31.

Whether the shooting was intentional or accidental, it has caused an extreme public outcry.

“It’s a sign. Yeah, we have a man of color in the white house. Yeah, things are changing. But America is still a messed up place. It’s still the same place it always has been. Everyone just looks the other way,” said Spencer Pollard, Trash Talk’s bassist.

Demonstrators crowded the Fruitvale BART station on Jan. 7, as a sign of protest.

Unfortunately, a protest that could have been peaceful and still meaningful turned violent and destructive.

Several different buildings were vandalized that night. Rioters set cars ablaze and smashed windows of locally owned businesses such as Creative African Braids.

“I feel like Oakland should make some noise. This is how we need to fight back. It’s for the murder of a black male,” said Nia Sykes, one of the protestors, in the Jan. 8, issue of the San Francisco Chronicle.

However, when asked how she felt about the smashed windows of a shop owned by a local black female, Sykes, according to the article, displayed little sympathy.

When protesting turns to rioting, the messages of the fight can get lost among the destruction. Although previous protests turned to violent riots, the benefit show displayed a more diplomatic form of activism.

Trash Talk and the other bands made their opinions clear without causing more damage. The bands worked to raise money for a hurt family while protesting against what appears to have been an unwarranted murder.

“The incident actually didn’t get a whole lot of media coverage, so this is a way of raising awareness about it as well as helping out Oscar’s family,” Pollard said.

While it is important to fight against injustices such as police brutality, it is also important not to cause further destruction.

In times like these, enough pain has already been endured. Violence and rioting will not help to fix the situation.

Nonviolent protests are much more effective than demonstrations of vengeance and destruction.

Leidhra Johnson can be reached at [email protected]