In this conversation, we reflect on the 2009 police shooting of Oscar Grant by a BART officer and explore how the public response—fueled by bystander cell phone footage, community outrage, and mass protests—helped lay the groundwork for what would later become the Black Lives Matter movement. While BLM was officially founded in 2013, the mobilization around Grant’s death, and the trial that followed, ignited a national dialogue on police brutality, state violence, and systemic racism. Our discussion examines the emotional, political, and cultural impact of this pivotal moment in the modern struggle for Black liberation.