The Janitor over on The Urban Politico shares his thoughts on the charges recently dropped against the officers involved in Sean Bell's slaying
I remember walking down 125th street in Harlem back in April of 2008 when the announcement came down that the 3 cops who shot Sean Bell were acquitted. Instantly, you could almost feel the emotion sweep through the City like a dark plague. I saw Blacks and Latinos walking down the street with frustration and tears in their eyes; one elderly Black man walked straight up to a police officer and asked "is a Black man's life still worth nothing?!" I remember thinking to myself as a brand new lawyer at the time: "Wow. How in the hell do you beat a case like that? 50 bullets fired. 3 unarmed men shot. One man dead (on his wedding night to boot). And not even so much as manslaughter charge? Wow." I got that feeling all over again when it was just recently announced that the same 3 cops who were acquitted back in '08 dodged yet another bullet. As it turns out, the Department of Justice has decided to drop the Federal Civil Rights charges against them. Again…wow.
Continue reading at The Urban Politico