Last night I got a taste of what being a journalist is all about. Armed with a flip cam I captured truly remarkable images of what happened in downtown Oakland. Several very valuable lessons were learned last night.

If you remember I wrote a blog Tuesday about my conflicting feelings leading up to the verdict in the Oscar Grant trial. I felt both a desire to peacefully and violently protest. I realized soon before the verdict was announced, that there was another component that wasn’t considered.

I wanted to peacefully protest because activism runs in my blood. Ask anyone who attended Life Academy High School with me. I was renowned for my involvement in protests and rallies around issues of illegal immigration and the wars overseas.

I wanted to violently protest but because of what happen to Oscar Grant and what his family had to endure over the last year. I couldn’t imagine what it was like to have to cope with losing someone in such a unjust way.

An hour before the verdict was to be announced, I realized the left out component. I wanted to be protesting because I’m a journalist, one whose main objective is to give the people a voice they would otherwise not have.

 I was able to protest peacefully and do my job as a journalist but what I realized this morning was that all of the reasons above have common treads. One is of being the element or component of standing for what is right, and the other is speaking my mind in response to act of injustice.

I’m proud of every decision I made last night, and truly believe that I passed my crash course in in the field investigative journalism with flying colors.