Maybe the smartest thing Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper ever did was opt for a bench trial instead of a jury trial.
If you're a cop, who is accused of excessive force, of using 50 shots because you think there is a threat of someone hitting you with a car outside a nightclub early on a Saturday morning, what you want to do is avoid people who you know would convict you of killing an unarmed man.
So you let the judge decide your fate. And guess what? Justice Arthur Cooperman is letting Oliver, Isnora and Cooper fly like the pigeons they are. Personally, I think it's wrong, but after Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo and a host of other less publicized egregious abuses of power, I'm not surprised and neither should you be. ...
But if you're Sean Bell, or any black man who lives in New York, the dumbest thing you can do is be a black man living in New York.
That's because if the wrong cops suspect you, and they feel there is reasonable cause to suspect you of having a weapon -- even if it turns out to be clear that you don't -- you don't get an eight-week trial. You don't get a lawyer to present evidence. You don't get witness and expert testimony, you don't get a media barrage.
No, if you're Bell, or a black man living in New York, or any municipality where rogue cops are allowed to roam freely, then justice for you is a bullet in your back. You don't even get to face your killer as he shoots you.
Again, none of this is to just put all cops on blast. Hell, there are a LOT of cops who are going to be mad about this.
In fact, police should be the ones most angry. Because now, the onus is on them to prove that they are trustworthy. They can no longer be seen as the victims in any case. People will feel that the police are the aggressors and the relationship between the community and the cops will be further soured.
So I won't feel sorry for because I've seen a lot of arrogant people on the NYPD force in action. But I've also seen some very good public servants on the force as well. They will be the ones who suffer this summer.
As for the lonely corner in Jamaica, Queens, which sits about 200 yards from the E train, there will be an uneasy marker for a man whose life was not worth much to three cops who thought shooting a man who was not doing anything wrong was the right thing to do.
More to come.
+ Judge Clears Cops in Groom's Slaying
Comments: (36)
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By: LEROY TOMBA on 4/25/2008 11:17AM
REMEMBER """O.J."""? REMEMBER ALL THE DANCING IN THE STREETS OF THE GHETTOS? BET THOSE SAME FOLKS ARE NOT DANCING TODAY! ONLY DIFFERENCE THE POOR GOLDMAN/BROWN FAMILIES WHO WON A HUGE JUDGEMENT AGAINST THAT O.J. SCUMBAG WILL NEVER SEE A DIME [O.J. SCUMBAG IS STILL LOOKING FOR THE KILLER ON THE GOLF COURSES DAILY]. THIS "GROUP" WILL SUE AND COLLECT FROM THE N.Y.C. POLICE DEPT. IN CIVAL COURT. SO YOU CAN ALL DANCE THEN.
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By: donald williams on 4/25/2008 11:39AM
in your poll i voted yes it was fair.... i wanted you educated christian uncle toms to think that i am hip like you. Yet, the real is - i dont vote in this white gov. , i dont go to this white school , i dont expect any justic from this white court, and i dont march or protest this white racist way of life... but if you toms ever go black and seek freedom , i will be the first to put his life on the frontline
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By: blackie_chan on 4/25/2008 12:02PM
Justice is not blind, deaf & dumb. That would be Law since law is made from the blind, deaf & dumb. Justice is not theirs for they can not control it. It is universal and will visit them.
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By: Zyskandar A Jaimot on 4/25/2008 1:34PM
Can ‘BLACKS’ get a ‘fair trial’ in the AMERICAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM???
With the verdicts today[April 24, 2008] of the trial in NEW YORK CITY of police officers subsequently acquitted after a late-night shooting in front of a strip-club where a ‘BLACK/HISPANIC’ one SEAN BELL was shot to death because the police thought he and members of his bachelor-party [as he was the prospective groom] were armed AND the sentencing of WESLEY SNIPES, ‘BLACK’ MOVIE-ACTOR to the maximum sentence of three years in jail for ‘failing to pay taxes and threatening with bodily harm federal officials/investigators’ – CAN MINORITIES GET A ‘FAIR TRIAL’ IN THE UNITED STATES JUSTICE SYSTEM??? Is this perception of minorities( i.e., that is BLACKS, HISPANICS, GAYS, MOSLEMS etc.) a wholly ridiculous notion that they can not receive justice in AMERICA’s court system??? Or has the bias/prejudice/bigotry of our worst dreams somehow infected what should be a desired pristine judicial system???
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By: T in Baltimore on 4/25/2008 3:23PM
50 BULLETS shot into a car when the police never saw a gun is ridiculous. One of the officers even reloaded his weapon.
These days police are too quick to use deadly force. Obviously, a person inside of a vehicle has a diminished ability to hear what is occuring outside of the vehicle. Why didn't the police identify themselves to the men before they got into the vehicle? If the police felt they were in danger, they could have shot out the tires to immobilize the car.
No one deserves this kind of MIS-treatment. THIS WAS AN UNJUSTIFIED MURDER!!
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By: WANDA RICHARDSON on 4/25/2008 4:08PM
Racial tension is already high, and for a verdict to come out like this, is not making things any better. This young man was unarmed, and this was a pure case of overkill. Rodney King has not been forgotten. Noose on High School grounds not forgotten. Black men drugged until their skin is removed,Blacks being shot down in the streets by police officers, will not be forgotten. How much more do you think the Black Community is goin to take before something happens? You are playing with a time bomb, and no one is going to like the outcome...This has to change!!!!
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By: Lafonda on 4/25/2008 5:09PM
PLAY WITH THE BULL AND YOU GET THE HORNS!
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By: DeafDiva on 4/25/2008 7:45PM
The title of this article makes me upset. I am deaf and there is nothing wrong with a person being blind and Deaf. We are very smart people.T his title is wrong and should be change. I am a big fan of blackvoices and for me to come here and to see this title make me think that you guys think being blind and deaf are really dumb. Think again!!! I going to report this article to AOL.
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By: Kim Butler on 4/25/2008 6:34PM
Justice was far from being served in the Sean Bell case. I just think this is a sad situation, and to fire 50 shots at at unarmed man is so unjust it is ridiculous. I do hope that the family family get the justice they deserve. A civil suit will need to be filed even though no amount of money will make up for Sean's life! He left behind those twi beautiful little kids and his fiance as well as his mother and any other family. I do not personally know them and my heart goes out to them all. I do not think that those police or whatever they are called will be able to live with their conscience haunting them for the rest of their life, I hope it bothers the shit out of them. My prayers and my heart goes out to Seans family and I say to them keep their head up and keep praying tht justice will prevail!
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By: Elmo Jones on 4/25/2008 8:33PM
The last time a Black man was set upon by out of control thug policemen in California, the streets went wild and they tore up some shit. It hasn't happened since, and things changed there. The whole racist system was brought down, it is not perfect, but the citizens showed heart.
So much heart that in fact 2 years later O.J. Simpson got a fair trial, and was exonerated on murder charges of a white woman. Unheard of in the United States until that time. Yes the community celebrated, they had the right for they had put in the work. So many Black men have suffered death and mutilation for this ruse, if O.J. got away with one I ain’t mad at ‘em.
A Black man was mayor at the time of the Rodney King ass whooping, Tom Bradley. It doesn't matter who committed the crime against the Black community, another Black man has been murdered by those hired and entrusted to protect and serve all of the citizens. And again in New York, no one has to answer for it. This only strengthens the ideology that the life of an African American citizen is worth a lot less than others. And by any means necessary we must prove that this will not stand.
These goons even have the right to criminalize Black men for the act of procreation. Asserting that these laws apply to all Americans equally is another simple ruse the powerless and disenfranchised are forced to accept. This law cannot be as equal for those who are in charge in the workplace, as it is for those who are the last hired and the first fired. The latter will end up in jail more times than not, facilitating a very necessary weapon against a large bloc of Black men, the criminal record. Not for murder, or evil perpetrated by born criminals, but the simple act of making babies to carry on our names. Of course this weapon would be totally ineffective if our own people weren’t party to it.
The reason these laws were written in the first place. Crack cocaine will get you more time in jail simply because Black drug users step on it a time or two more than white drug users. Plenty of disparity there. And plenty Black men have paid the price of being caught in this modern day slave net. Let’s stay on point here, this is not about using illegal drugs. It is about the government using the laws on the books to target and destroy certain citizens it illegally takes upon itself to deem undesirable to the overall fabric of this society. In other words, they don’t want you bangin’ their daughters. And if they can affectedly control when where and if ever you leave your seed, then they can keep you as undesirable as need be.
We must stand up and claim our basic human rights, by first taking away the right of our natural enemy to write laws that affect us directly. Or the right to handle us while we are toothless and afraid to arm ourselves against such invasion. As American citizens we can look to no one else for help. If it does arrive, it must be after they have developed a healthy respect for us, and our struggle. For if we are to own the results, then we must lead the fight.
The right to procreate, to pass on the genes of survival is inherent to all animals and life forms who subsist on their own. How can we even come up to their level if the police state is still in control of our population numbers? Who makes children, and decides whether or not we have the right to live after the fact, and not be victimized by state sponsored violence.
We can no longer sit quietly by while white America continues to piss on us. While at the same time making love to those sellouts who blindly believe that their out of control libidos are their personal tickets into whiteness. White America is expert at gathering all the necessary information to destroy enemies. And in the throes of passion, the keys to our very existence are being copied and used against us. All the people who gave their lives, their pain and grief, that we may even survive to this point deserve better for the sacrifices they made.
Strange how someone can put something so succinctly that it brings everything into sharp focus. A young sister on another blog had a post that read "How can you make someone a priority, who only makes you an option?" We're being played for the trinkets and the leavings like a starry eyed teenage girl, and it is about time this stops.
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