The meeting was held at the headquarters of Services Employees International Union Local 1199. Union President George Gresham expressed his outrage that the police officers were acquitted on all charges, saying:
How do you tell your son to be leery of the police but at the same time go to the police when you need help?
There will be several actions within the next 10 days. These policemen should know they have not, I repeat not, closed this case.The actions may include boycotts and civil disobedience. While a consensus is being developed on short-term and long term strategies, there's unanimity that the judge's verdict cannot stand. African American leaders will continue to pressure Congress and the Justice Department to bring federal charges.
One participant noted the candidate of "change," Barack Obama, would have the black community accept an unjust verdict:
We're a nation of laws, so we respect the verdict that came down. Resorting to violence to express displeasure over a verdict is something that is completely unacceptable and is counterproductive.Never mind that in the sixteen months since Bell was killed, all the protests have been peaceful. The response makes one wonder whether an Obama Justice Department would simply say, "Case closed."
A blogger recently wrote:
A dear friend of mine, who is a big Obama supporter, said to me, "Why not state the relations between the police and communities of color MUST change? I'm afraid that if he were President, it would be more of the same. He will be constantly trying to prove that can appeal to whites, without being too black. Obama should not take Black folks for granted.By contrast, Hillary Clinton has called for a federal investigation:
This tragedy has deeply saddened New Yorkers - and all Americans. My thoughts are with Nicole and her children and the rest of Sean's family during this difficult time. The court has given its verdict, and now we await the conclusion of a Department of Justice civil rights investigation. We must also embrace this opportunity to take steps - in our communities, in our law enforcement agencies, and in our government - to make sure this does not happen again.The struggle continues.
Comments: (19)
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By: p freeman on 4/30/2008 3:30PM
First of all, I would like to give my deepest condolescences to the Bell family. We should take heed of what Nicole is doing by being silent. There should be a silent protest on a specific day and time where everyone who is aware of the should stop what they are doing and stand up and be silent for 5-10 minutes. I believe that it would make a great impact of seeing the solidarity with the silence.
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By: Robert Lewis Foley Jr on 4/30/2008 4:48PM
Dear Friends,
An earnest and respectful request that the US Attorney General commence a federal probe of the shooting death of Sean Bell, and the subsequent astonishing and distressing acquittal of the NYPD officers responsible for Sean Bell's untimely and violent death.
Please go to the online petition site below:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/federal-probe-into-the-shooting-death-of-sean-bell-and-subsequent-acquittal-of-those-nypd-officers
Robert Lewis Foley, Jr.
Please unite your voice with ours and share this with everyone you know who is concerned about justice, human rights and the sanctity of human life.
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By: Blaqgod on 4/30/2008 10:26PM
It's time that justice opens it eyes for its been blind for too long
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By: JAA on 5/01/2008 10:36AM
It appears that the phrase 'New York's finest' makes one wonder. Finest what? Thugs, murderers, gangstas, liars, outright thieves of souls with no respect for the sanctity of life itself. It also appears that profiling has no end in that these "officers of the law" played to the profile that they used as justification for this hideous crime against our community, society, and country.
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By: Hutch on 5/01/2008 11:39AM
First I want to make the following perfectly clear.........I was not at the trial or the scene nor do I know anyone involved. In other words, I know about as much as 99% of you as far as what really happened. I do have one small edge on some of you. I'm a forty six year old retired cop. I was a trainer for two years at our academy, a Community Police Action Officer for a year, one of the Governor's body guards for two years, was the commander of a station, worked on the under cover unit and retired as the bomb squad commander. NEVER was there a complaint filed against me reguarding race and I had a lot of complaints filed against me. If a cop in't getting complained on they are not doing their job.
So, knowing only what I know I have to say that I would have shot my weapon with intent. That many times? I hope not but in the heat of the moment and with the imformation available I can't honestly say. I can say this right off the bat. If it's a racial complaint and Sharpton, Jackson or the New (Improved) Black Panther Party are involved, the whole complaint an those who do honestly feel it was racially motivated have lost a lot of credibility. They are scavengers that prey on those involved in these situation for their own personal agenda and exposure. They are huge stumbling blocks on the path to racial healing. They have made their livings off of these incidents and are very good at pursuading people. I'm white and if I listen to them for very long I start wanting to whip my own ass. This doesn't mean by any stretch that they are right. I've met very many cops from many different places, both black and white. I'm sure a couple were racist but never to the point that I could tell by their actions or words.
I have thought about this quite a bit and I would hate to ever have to admit this but if 100 people were charged with the same crime, 50 white and 50 black all with the same evidence against them and only the whites were convicted I would be aggrivated but still so very glad that at least fifty of the dirtbags got what they deserved. Whenever I arrested someone who resisted or fought me attempting to get away or get my weapon, I was never thinking "hey, I'm stomping a white/black guy" I just thought "no matter what I have to do to this person, I will go home tonight." I have worked in areas where I was the ONLY cop working in the county for an entire shift. A county where 70% of the people owned guns and backup was at best 45 minutes away. You run from call to call with no break. You must have the respect of the people and a "no nonsense" attitude. You don't care what color someone is. The stress is unbelievable when you are racing towards a "shots fired" call under these conditions and you may be very "unfriendly" when you arrive and begin taking control. It has nothing to do with color just human reaction to stress.
Another problem that should be obvious to everyone is that there is a HUGE difference in how clor plays out in "cops vs robbers" incidents. If a black cop shoots a white dirtbag it's back page news and Sharpton's pager won't go off even if the cop was off duty, drunk and beat a white female bartender on video for refusing to serve him because he was wasted. Jesse won't get a phone call if a young white couple in TN are car jacked by five blacks who spend the next few days torturing them with fire and physical/sexual abuse, raping the woman in front of the man repeatedley, mutilating them while they were still alive, then unceremoniously dumping the bodies along the road. Savages like these, black or white, need to have their stomachs packed with drayno and sat in the corner and laughed at. I'm betting that most of you never even heard of these crimes. What we forget is that there is racism on both sides of the fence, good and bad people on both sides of the fence it's just easier to pick out some of the black racists. That's because of black churches like Pastor Wright's and the numerous other pro black or "blacks only" organizations and clubs. White people would NEVER get away with anything like this. I sure as hell would never join any oragnization that even "implied" whites only. Jesse Jackson can make boiling an egg a racist event. The New (Improved) Black Panther Party is allowed to open their sewers and spew their hate and other garbage unhindered and un contested. This organization is EXACTLY the same as the filthy white version which whites themselve's beat down. The KKK. The ONLY difference in these two groups of roaches is color. EVERYONE should be tired of hearing about the bonds of slavery. Yes it is an embarrassing time in our history, but we have to get past it to get together. You never hear anyone complaining about the thousands of blacks that bought their own slaves once they were free. Of course some bought members of their families out of bondage but a big percent bought slaves for commercial and agricultural reasons. It's sad to say but I'm sure that as long as people like Jackson, Sharpton and members of these hate groups, black and white, are welcomed, we will never be an "us." As long as we allow people to profit from our seperation, to convince us that one is out to get the other or one has something the the can't have, it's hopeless................It's such a shame that in 2008, we still have candidates for elected office working for the "black vote" or the "white vote." I wonder how or if it will end?
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By: Miss T on 5/01/2008 1:27PM
My prayers go out to this family. How in the world do you fire off fifty shots at uanarmmed persons? When did they realize that these people were not returning fire? This is indeed a serious miscarriage of justice. This is not over! They need better training for these officers, if they are that damn nervous they do not need to be on the force.
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By: Miss T on 5/01/2008 1:41PM
In reference to Hillary calling for a Federal Investigation she should have since she is a NY Senator.
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By: a on 5/01/2008 7:22PM
HUTCH...You say you have experience in all you mention but you fail to look at the facts. The cops doing the killing were black also. Where race plays a part is if it was a white man gunned down on his wedding day someone would serve time. You wrote all that to say nothing. Stop putting together useless senarios to justify what is so obvious. Why is it that white people are always on the defensive for what will always exist. No one dedicates thier lives to fighting inequality if it doesn't exist.
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By: Ester on 5/01/2008 5:43PM
Rev. Al. Senator Obama and Rev. Jackson are not the problem. If a police Department placed an officer on duty with no backup and expect him/her to handle the entire county shame on them. We don't solve one problem by creating another problem. The issue in the Sean Bell's case has to do with excessive force. At least that's the way I see it based on the information in the news. We need to be clear on what Rev. Al is trying to do. Regardless of the background of the person killed and the person's injured. (I don't know if they had priors or not and that's not the issue). The question is why were 51 shots fired at unarmed person's? How does New York define excessive force? How does the law define excessive force? I am retired from Correcions. Corrections was my chosen profesion. I'm proud of that. But I would not be proud of who we were and what we did if we violated the offenders right to be treated as human beings.
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By: Cheryl on 5/01/2008 6:20PM
I feel so bad for Sean Bell's family. It's bad enough to lose him like that, but there was no justice served at all.
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