publish.nyc.indymedia.org | Community Response to Sean Bell Verdict Continues

May 12, 2008 11:11PM EDT [general.addtranslation] Download Article (PDF) [ insert language bar ]

Community Response to Sean Bell Verdict Continues

By NYC IMC

Calls for justice continue to sound in response to Judge Cooperman's acquittal of 3 of the 5 NYPD officers involved in the murder of Sean Bell, announced April 25, 2008.

Pray-In Blockades on May 7: In response to calls from the family of Sean Bell, Rev. Al Sharpton, and other religious and community leaders, thousands of New Yorkers converged on a half-dozen selected intersections Wednesday afternoon for a series of dramatic pray-in traffic blockades. Dozens were arrested including Nicole Paultre-Bell, Joseph Guzman, Trent Benefield, and members of NAACP and SEIU. From the Newswire: Brooklyn Bridge Action | Hudson & Canal Action | Protest Info

Initial Response: On the evening of the verdict's announcement, about 800 people gathered in Queens to voice their outrage. Chanting “50 shots equals murder!” and "We are all Sean Bell!" they marched from the District Attorney’s office to the heart of Jamaica, where the shooting took place. From the Newswire: Calls for Justice Are Loud in Sean Bell Case from People's Justice with photos by Thomas Marczewsk | Sounding the Bell for Justice by Yonathan Dessalegn & Amy L. Dalton | “50 Shots Equals Murder!” Sean Bell Supporters Take It to the Streets by John Tarleton | We Are All Sean Bell: Images of People's Justice by Michael Gould-Wartofsky | PICS: Confrontation at Police Precinct | Rebellion in Queens | Update from Harlem

More from the Newswire: Three Cops Acquitted In Killing of Sean Bell by NYC-IMC | Killer Cops Acquited - Protest Today by John Brown | Killer Cops Walk…Again! by NY Labor Black League and Spartacist League | Eyewitness: The Sean Bell Verdict by Rosa Clemente | Police officers acquitted for killing a Black man...AGAIN?! and Don't Mourn Sean Bell from Boston Indymedia | Sean Bell's Second Slaying by Mumia Abu-Jamal

Related: Obama Supports Sean Bell Verdict | "What Are You Trying To Force Us To Do?" comments by Louis Farrakhan | Democracy Now Coverage

Past Coverage: Photos from Funeral by Stanley W. Rogulski | Photos from Stop Police Brutality March by Antrim Caskey | Report on Feb 17 Vigil by October 22 Coalition | | | More from the Indypendent

Keywords: Analysis, Local, Government, Human Rights, Police & Prisons,

By NYC IMC http://

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FOR SEAN BELL

Apr 28, 2008 07:17PM EDT

FRANCESS MILKYCARMEL@YAHOO.COM

I AM RAGED AS A HISPANIC/ BLACK TEEN THE COPS ARE ABUSING THEIR PRIVILAGES AND THEIR BADGES. WHEN I HEARD THAT ALL THE CHARGES WERE DROPPED I WAS THINKING IN MY MIND THEY KILLED,THEY SHOT HIM,THEY HELD THE GUN AND KILLED HIM.IT SURELY WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT AND I THINK RACISM PLAYS A BIG PART IN THIS.I MEAN THAT IS LIKE ONE OF THE FINAL EXPLANATION.SEAN BELL SHOWED NO SIGN OF THREAT TO THE COPS.EVEN IF THE COPS THOUGHT HE WAS REACHING FOR A GUN THEY COULD HAVE JUST CHECKED HIM,THEY JUST ASSUMED HE WAS A THREAT.THE COPS DID NOT EVEN SEE THE GUN.I AM RAGED THAT THIS CASE WOULD GO UNJUSTIFIED AND MANY SAY RACISM AND I AM ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO SCREAM FOR JUSTICE BECAUSE I ALSO BELIEVE THIS IS PART OF THIS CASE.IT NEEDS TO STOP. WHAT WOULD THIS WORLD BE WHEN WE ARE JUDGING EACHOTHER BY RACES?ITS UNFAIRAND ITS UNJUST.THOSE COPS DESERVE TO GO TO JAIL. YOU KNOW I NEVER SEE COPS CHASING WHITE PEOPLE ON THE STREETS ONLY BLACK AND HISPANIC ,AND SO MANY PEOPLE WHO DO NOT KNOW US ALWAYS JUDGE US UNFAIRLY. THEY CANT MAKE WHO WE ARE!WE ARE A PROUD NATOIN AND WE WILL RISE ABOVE ALL THEIR LOW EXPECTATIONS FOR US.WE WILL SHOW THEM WE ARE NOT ALL ALWAYS DOING SHADY LIKE THEY ACCUSE US OF AND THAT WHAT THEY DID IS WRONG AND NOT TO JUDGE US UNFAIRLY.