Monday, April 28, 2008

Fallout From Acquittlal in NY Shooting of "Groom"!


Ice Cube, Chamillionaire, and Al Sharpton are among the many millions that are totally disgusted with the lack of justice we saw Friday when the judge acquitted all 3 officers in the shooting death of Sean Bell in which they fired 50 shots at an unarmed man hitting him 16 times. This is definitely a disgusting travesty of what is supposed to be justice in America. It reminds black people of the Jim Crow era in which African Americans never received a fair shot in a court room. It also sends a loud message to youth that already do not trust the law, that the police will not be held accountable when they use excessive force, break the law, and murder innocent civilians. It tells black people that society values the lives of corrupt police officers more than regular people.
Via MTV:
Al Sharpton:
“I think that we need a cross-section of groups to come together,” Sharpton said from his National Action Network headquarters in Harlem. “We need to sit down immediately and plan a strategy and make it international, with the goals being a structural change in policing. I believe we can get to the federal government. Then we’re going to wait again for another trial. There’s something wrong with the law, and we must change that.”
Ice Cube:
“This is just another example that the justice system in America views a black life as worthless,”
Chamillionaire:
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that shooting an innocent, unarmed man 50-plus times is an excessive use of force. I’m sure a lot of people are as disappointed with this verdict as I am. It scares me to know what type of power is given to people who are supposed to be protecting us from harm. It seems like they are all just protecting themselves. The verdict sends a terrible message to people across the nation who already don’t have faith in the law or our justice system. It will be hard for people to see this as anything other than a case of police protection. Our prayers go out to the family and friends of Sean Bell.”
Bun B:
“The verdict is almost as tragic as the incident. We’ve already lost [a] life, and now we’ve got a loss of justice and loss of reciprocation for what’s happened. And it cuts you on so many levels.”
Bun insisted that the law has to change. “Some kind of legislation that holds police more accountable [is needed],” he said. ” … I would love to see the Sean Bell bill passed, you know what I’m saying? Something in his name. Let’s not mar his memory with violence. … I feel like people should be upset. They should be mad, but that’s what they expect for us to do with our anger. That’s what they expect us to do with our energy, is to put it back out and to take their negative energy and turn it into something even more negative. We gotta take that sh– and do it into something positive for this dude, because … Sean Bell could’ve been anybody, literally. Sean Bell wasn’t a celebrity. He wasn’t an athlete. … He was just a man trying to take care of his family, trying to do his thing, just do him. This could be anybody. Any man.”
What do you think?

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