The Sean Bell Tragedy

I am sick to my stomach and I really do not know what to say right this second. My cell and office phones have been blowing up all day, and people have been emailing me nonstop, to let me know that Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper, the three New York City police officers accused of shooting 50 times and murdering Sean Bell, were found not guilty on all counts: Oliver, who fired 31 times and reloaded once, and Isnora, who fired 11 times, had been charged with manslaughter, felony assault and reckless endangerment. They faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Cooper, who fired four times, faced up to a year in jail if convicted of reckless endangerment.

And that's it: Sean Bell, a mere 23 years of age, out partying the morning before the wedding to the mother of his two small children, dead, gone, forever. Sean Bell and his two friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, all unarmed, ambushed by New York's finest. His last day, November 25, 2006, is marked as another tragic one in New York City history. How many more? I once heard in a protest song. How many more?

But I knew this verdict was coming. I have lived in New York City for nearly two decades and, before that, worked as a news reporter for several publications throughout the city's five boroughs, and I cannot begin to tell you how many cases of police brutality and police misconduct I covered or witnessed, more often than not a person of color on the receiving end: Eleanor Bumpurs. Michael Stewart...Amadou Diallo...Sean Bell.

This is not to suggest that all police officers are trigger-happy and inhumane, because I do not believe that. They have a difficult and important job, and many of them do that job well, and maintain outstanding relationships with our communities. I know officers like that. But what I am saying is that New York, America, this society as a whole, still views the lives of Black people, of Latino people, of people of color, of women, of poor or working-class people, as less than valuable. It does not matter that two of the three officers charged in the Sean Bell case were officers of color and one White. What matters is the mindset of racism that permeates the New York Police Department, and far too many police departments across America. Shooting in self-defense is one thing, but it is never okay to shoot first and ask questions later, not even if a police officer "feels" threatened, not even if the source of that "feeling" is a Black or Latino person.

That is a twisted logic deeply rooted in the America social fabric, dating back to the founding fathers and their crazy calculations about slaves being three-fifths of a human being. And in spite of Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, and other successful Black individuals, by and large the masses of Black people, and Latino people, are perpetually viewed through this lens of not being quite human. William Kristol of the New York Times wrote what I felt was an incredibly ignorant and myopic March 24th column implying, strongly, that we should not have conversations about race in America, that such talk was dated. This piece was in response to Barack Obama's now famous meditation on race. But Kristol, like many in denial, had this to say: "The last thing we need now is a heated national conversation about race... Racial progress has in fact continued in America. A new national conversation about race isn't necessary to end what Obama calls the 'racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years'-- because we're not stuck in such a stalemate... This is all for the best. With respect to having a national conversation on race, my recommendation is: Let's not, and say we did." Well, Mr. Kristol, what, precisely, do you think Black New Yorkers are feeling this very moment as we absorb the Sean Bell verdict? Or do our thoughts, our feelings, our wounds, not matter?

"Black male lives are meaningless in America," a female friend just texted me, and what can I say to that? Who's going to help Nicole Paultre Bell, Sean Bell's grieving fiancé, explain to their two young daughters that the men who killed their daddy are not going to be punished?

I remember that November 2006 day so vividly, when word spread of the Sean Bell killing. And I remember the hastily assembled meetings by New York City's de facto Black leadership--the ministers, the elected officials, the grassroots activists--at Local 1199 in midtown Manhattan where it was stated, with great earnestness and finality, that after all these years, we were going to put together a comprehensive response to police brutality and misconduct. There were to be three levels of response: governmentally (local, state, and federal bills were going to be proposed, and task forces recommended); systemically within the police department (comprehensive proposals were called for to challenge police practices or to enforce ones already in place); and via the United States Justice Department, since any form of police brutality or misconduct is a violation of basic American civil rights. We met for a few months after the Sean Bell murder, divided into committees, then the entire thing died--again. There was a lot of research done, many hearings that were transcribed, much talk of a united front, then nothing, not even an email to say the plan was no longer being planned.

Anyhow, in the interim I spent a great deal of time, more time than I've spent in my entire New York life, in Queens, mainly in Jamaica, Queens, getting to know Sean Bell's family. I was particularly struck by Sean Bell's mother, Valerie Bell, and his father, William Bell. Two very decent and well-intentioned working-class New Yorkers, who had raised their children the best they could, who were now, suddenly, activists thrust into a spotlight they had never sought. The parents are what we the Black community calls "God-fearing, church-going folk." Indeed, what was so incredible was how much Mr. and Mrs. Bell believed in and referenced God. But that is our sojourn in America: when everything else fails us, we still have the Lord. And there they were, holding a 50-day vigil directly across from the 103rd precinct, on 168th Street, right off Jamaica Avenue and 91st Avenuein Jamaica, Queens, in the dead-cold winter air. They and their family members and close friends taking turns monitoring the makeshift altar of candles, cards, and photos. And I remember how we had to shame local leaders a few times into supporting Mr. and Mrs. Bell with donations of money, food, or other material needs. While much of the media and support flocked to Nicole Paultre Bell, Sean Bell's fiancé, and the sexiness of her being represented by the Reverend Al Sharpton and his lawyer pals Sanford Rubenstein and Michael Hardy, the media did not pay much attention to Sean Bell's parents and their kinfolk at all.

What was especially striking was the fact that Mrs. Bell got up every single morning, made her way to the vigil area, then to work in a local hospital all day, then to her church every single evening. She reminded me so much of my own mother, of any Black mother in America who has had to be the backbone of the family, often sacrificing her own health, her own wants and needs, her own hurt and pain, to be there for others in their time of need.

Mrs. Bell always told me that she truly believed justice would be done in this case. She really did. I never had the heart to tell her that it is rare for a police officer to be found guilty of murdering a civilian, no matter how glaring the evidence. Nor did I have the heart to tell Mrs. Bell that the media and the defense would seek to destroy her son's image and reputation, that Sean Bell would be reduced to a thug, as an unsavory character, to somehow justify the police shooting. Nor did I have the heart to tell Mrs. Bell that this pain of losing her son would be with her the remainder of her life. I did not share my suspicion that the parade of Black leaders, Black protests, media hype--all of it--was all part of someone's carefully concocted script, brushed off and brought to the parade every single time a case like this occurred. I have seen it before, and as long as we live in a city, a nation, that does not value all people as human, there will be more Sean Bells.

"I am Sean Bell," many of us chanted in the days and weeks immediately following his death. Yet very few of us showed up to the hearings after, and even fewer had the courage to question the vision, or lack thereof, of our own Black leadership who accomplished, ultimately, little to nothing at all. And very few of us realized that the powers-that-be in New York City have come to anticipate our reactions to matters like the Sean Bell tragedy: we get upset and become very emotional; we scream "No Justice! No Peace!"; we march, rally, and protest; we call the police and mayor all kinds of names and demand their resignations; we vow that this killing will be the last; and we will wait until the next tragedy hits, then this whole horrible cycle begins anew.

Plain and simple, racism creates abusive relationships. It does not matter if the perpetrator is a White sister or brother, or a person of color, because the most vulnerable in our society feel the heat of it. Real talk: this tragedy would have never gone down on the Upper Eastside of Manhattan or in Brooklyn Heights. I am not just speaking about the judge's decision, but the police officer's actions. Those shots would have never been fired at unarmed White people sitting in a car. Until we understand that racism is not just about who pulled the trigger in a police misconduct case, but is also about the geography of racism, and the psychology of racism, we are forever stuck having the same endless dialogue with no solution in sight.

And until America recognizes the civil and human rights of all its citizens, systemic racism and police misconduct, joined at the hip, will never end. That is, until White sisters and brothers realize they, too, are Sean Bell, this will never end. Save for a few committed souls, most White folks sit on the sidelines (as many did when we marched down Fifth Avenue in protest of Sean Bell's murder in December 2006), feel empathy, but fail to grasp that our struggle for justice is their struggle for justice. They, alas, are Sean Bell, and Amadou Diallo, and all those anonymous Black and Brown heads and bodies who've been victimized, whether they want to accept that reality or not. And the reality is that until police officers are forced to live in the communities they police, forced to learn the language, the culture, the mores of the communities they police, forced to change how they handle undercover assignments, this systemic racism, this police misconduct, will never end. And until Black and Latino people, the two communities most likely to suffer at the hands of police brutality and misconduct, refuse to accept the half-baked leadership we've been given for nearly forty years now, and start to question what is really going on behind the scenes with the handshakes, the eyewinks, the head nods, and the backroom deals at the expense of our lives, this systemic racism, this police misconduct, these kinds of miscarriages of justice, will never end.

Our current leadership needs us to believe all we can ever be are victims, doomed to one recurring tragedy or another. It keeps these leaders gainfully employed, and it keeps us feeling completely helpless and powerless. Well, I am not helpless nor powerless, and neither are you. To prevent Sean Bell's memory from fading like dust into the air, the question is put to you, now: What are you going to do to change this picture once and for all? Mayor Bloomberg said this in a statement:

"There are no winners in a trial like this. An innocent man lost his life, a bride lost her groom, two daughters lost their father, and a mother and a father lost their son. No verdict could ever end the grief that those who knew and loved Sean Bell suffer."

No, the grief will never end, not for Sean Bell's parents and family, for his fiancé and children. But Mayor Bloomberg, you, me, we the people, can step up our games, make a commitment to real social justice in our city, in our nation, and, for once, penalize people, including police officers, who just randomly blow away lives. Sean Bell is never coming back, but we are here, and the biggest tragedy will be if we keep going about our lives, as if this never happened in the first place.

And a long as we have leadership, White leadership and Black leadership, mainstream leadership and grassroots leadership, that can do nothing more than exacerbate folks' very natural emotions in a tragedy like this, we will never progress as a human race. Instead a true leader needs to harness those emotions and turn them into action, as Dr. King did, as Gandhi did. In the absence of such action, so many of us, especially us Black and Latino males, will continue to have a very nervous relationship with the police, even the police of color, for fear that any of one of us could be the next Sean Bell.

Kevin Powell is a Brooklyn, New York-based writer, community activist, and author of 8 books. He can be reached at [e-mail].

Comments

[Eileen1]

We instruct juries that it is expected that multiple witnesses to the same event may vary in their recounting of minor aspects of what had been observed. However, where there are significant inconsistencies related to important facts, they should be considered.

Reference was made earlier to the credibility of witnesses. The court has found that the people's ability to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt was affected by a combination of the following factors: the prosecution witnesses' prior inconsistent statements, inconsistencies in testimony among prosecution witnesses, the renunciation of prior statements, criminal convictions, the interest of some witnesses in the outcome of the case, the demeanor on the witness stand of other witnesses and the motive witnesses may have had to lie and the effect it had on the truthfulness of a witness's testimony. These factors played a significant part in the people's ability to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and had the effect of eviscerating the credibility of those prosecution witnesses. And, at times, the testimony just didn't make sense.

[Nommo]

The failure to prepare the witnesses was one of the major blunders of the prosecution. Hell, if if were an auto accident, the attorneys would have had all involved through hours of depositions before they ever saw the inside of a courtroom. Another blunder, perhaps what made the case a done deal was to allow the cop's grand jury statements to be admitted into evidence, meaning that there was no reason for them to take the stand at all. Benefield and Guzman were further victimized by the attorneys who are supposed to protect them.

The DA has no interest in convicting cops. They never had any intention. This case will only matter is there is a vigorous Federal intervention and the city winds up paying at least 8 figures to all involved. Maybe then the taxpayers will sit up and take notice.

[Poboy]

Bull.

There are levels of credible evidence, where eyewitness testimony is among the lowest level.

Among the highest, are indisputable facts.

1. Dead and injured men.

2. Police officers evolvement.

3. Murder weapons.

4. No weapon among the dead and injured men.

5. Officers conflicting testimony.

This is overwhelming evidence that ANY rational judge could EASILY discern, under the law.

[Sarah76]

The author brings up an interesting point. In my county, if you work for the county you must live in the county. Maybe police officers should as well. I have also heard this point brought up for teachers. If these people that should be leaders and role models are truly part of the community they would be so much more knowledgeable about who they are trying to help and therefore more effective.

[MourningDude]

My cousin was gunned down by police. He wasn't a black man, he was white. He wasn't in New York City, he was in Ogden, Utah. He wasn't at a strip club, falling down drunk, he was taking his fiancee to the store. They weren't responding to a reported crime, it was a routine traffic stop.

Al Sharpton never showed up. The officers weren't prosecuted. It wasn't a media circus. Nobody ever blogged about my cousin's death. Perhaps if he WERE a black man, all of that would have happened.

So as far as I'm concerned, all the race baiters pushing this issue today can bite me.

[WAstateliberal]

You don't provide enough details to evaluate your post. Do you have a link to a newspaper article? As a former prosecutor, I know there would have been a story in the newspaper. There would have been mandatory administrative leave for the officer(s) and a mandatory internal investigation (not necessarily a legit one, but an investigation nonetheless). Traffic stops are one of the most dangerous situations for police officers. Can you provide more details, or perhaps a link?

The outrage over this was not just racial: This shooting was outrageous. It was an unbelievable overreaction to a situation that arguably did not require deadly force. Worse, the confrontation was precipitated by the police, not the eventual victims. The victims did nothing to engage these officers. That is a critical point. Last, the police did not follow generally accepted procedure for the use of force and contact of suspects. They were reckless and grossly unprofessional. This would never have happened BUT FOR them. That is the problem.

[Nommo]

That they did not even get them for reckless endangerment. They were shooting wildly and blindly. Bullets were found in the wall of a local house and the "air train" station where one shot barely missed a gentleman waiting for the train.

[gramofsam1]

Sorry about your cousin. I do have a question-- was he the guy in the story "Utah Man Slain in Shootout with Police"?
The guy in this story (your cousin?) pulled a gun on police when he was asked to exit his vehicle during a routine trafffic stop. Police said he had a history of crime and was "known to us". His female passenger (his fiancee?) had an outstanding warrant...­..
Maybe the cops in Ogden, Utah are gunning down lots of innocent motorists. But that's the only story I found on google. If it's your cousin's story, again I'm sorry for your loss-- but it seems you're comparing apples and oranges here. And maybe indulging in a bit of "race-baiting" yourself.

[MourningDude]

According to the "official account" Sean Bell was going for a gun, and tried to run over a police officer with his car.

With Bill Maw, there weren't any other witnesses that actually saw the encounter, since the girl was already in custody and didn't see it. According to the "official account", Bill fired a gun at the officers, to which they responded with gunfire of their own. Of course, when they looked at the guns, Bill's had not been fired, as they asserted, so they changed their story. It became that he had pulled the gun on them and was pointing it at them. Did that actually happen? Nobody knows.

What they do know is that one of the cops was a veteran that had had numerous run-ins with Bill before, and was glad he was no longer around. The other cop was a rookie that had never drawn a gun before, and would be likely to follow along with whatever the veteran said happened.

So, yes, I think there is plenty of room for raising questions about Bill Maw. Now of course, they have elaborated it to say that he was a "known white supremacist", which is ridiculous. He had no tattoos like the other people they claim he associated with. More likely he joined a gang while in jail to keep from being harrassed and beaten there.

Al Sharpton could have made plenty of hay over the case if he were black.

[RickyJ]

I agree with you. I believe that there is probably more to be gained by having a discussion of improving the rules of engagement for police civilian encounters. I would like to see the statistics that would back up Mr. Powell's assertion that, "Those shots would have never been fired at unarmed White people sitting in a car". I am disappointed that the Huffington Post only has published articles such as this one on the case. I would be interested in seeing a critical analysis of the judge's reasoning. Unlike juries, he has to explain his decision.

[ZimboChick]

I have been weeping all day. I so not know how people with children, sons, brothers and nephews think that its ok for someone's son, father, nephew, uncle to die like this. Even a cow does not die like this. I cannot imagine the crippling pain Mrs Bell is feeling right now. You will be ok Mrs Bell. God will not be mocked. The judge and the policemen and plenty others who are grinning at the situation, can rest assured that the universe has taken notice. They have done unto others as they would like done unto them. African Americans you need to wake up and unite. You need to work collectively. I wont say much I am spent....

[hoodrat]

All of this goes back precisely to what Rev. Wright expressed - on the double standard of American Justice, as it's applied towards people of color. Make no mistake - ALL the officers color was BLUE. And that's a mindset - not a race. The porchmonkeys that were accomplices are double damned - both for participating and their silence. May the chickens come home to roost on them - cause some just do the job without bringing their baggage and some do. The ones that do - are always in the flashpoints of situations like this, and make it bad for the rest. This is going on around the country. Difference between someone strapping a weapon on as tools of the trade - and a tool that straps a weapon on for power. Cop/Thug/C­itizen/Sol­dier - all have their "tools".

[desthmoneses]

maybe I read the post wrong, but weren't 46 of the 50 bullets fired by the black cops

[Nommo]

One cop was Black. He was the one that actually apologized to the Bell family. The white cop fired 31, the latino cop 11. The Black cop fired once. These were vice cops looking in a strip club for drugs and prostitution. Have you ever been in a strip club of any kind? The music is crazy loud so that if you are talking with another person, you are so close that no one else could possibly hear your conversation, of course, there is a reason for that. You think that the people who work in the club do not recognize undercover cops?

Note that for all the time they spent in the club, there was no talk of drugs or prostitutes, just a dead man and his two friends shot up for no reason at all. All those cops in the club and they uncovered nothing so they had to make something up. The collective stupidity of law enforcement places all of us in severe danger.

[Desiderata]

I never knew Sean Bell.
He wasn't from my neighborhood,
My Town;
Even my state.

And 50 bullets denied
He was even a citizen of my country.

And what do we whites know about Sean?
Only that he died the night before his wedding;
Shot by cops who shoot first and ask questions later.
But not in our neighborhood.

These things don't happen to us,
So these things don't really happen at all
In any neighborhood, town and state
Of these United States of America.

"God damn America!"
Why would anybody say that?

[CyrusBeaucephus]

Great post

[GwenElle]

Beautifully expressed. Thank you.

[SharedHumanity]

And never mind the likelihood of convicting someone who is only 3/5 of a citizen.

[mafeoc]

Anyone see the press conference? Marc Cooper's apology had the warmth and sincerity of an eviction notice. The head of the police union proved himself a true penis.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/POLICE_SHOOTING?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Novista]

And on a tangent ...

"crazy calculations about slaves being three-fifths of a human being"

Is not crazy given the reason that was done. Research and learn.

[fishsandwichesr2good]

Actually, it was the slave holding states that wanted slaves to be given a full count. The motivation was to boost their census numbers and therefore their representation in Congress. That's what I find ironic whenever someone uses the three-fifths thing as a basis for arguing about institutionalized racism.

[dshwa]

Your sense of irony is way off then. Were the southern states trying to get more representation in order to pass pro-black legislation? In order to better the lives of the slaves? Were the southern states trying to say that slaves were equal to whites? The fact that there was a negotiation about how much of a person a black slave was and that the topic was debated entirely in terms of political calculus and not at all about personhood is overwhelming proof of an institutionalized racisim.

[GwenElle]

I haven't done the research either on the three-fifths rule, but if the *founding fathers* were trying to create some kind of *political compromise* why not make the slaveholders, those who enslaved other human beings, three-fifths of a human being, or some fraction thereof? But oh, I forget . . . anyone who has the blind audacity to believe that it is his right to enslave another must be some kind of a *god* . Calculus does not apply to the gods.

There is nothing that can ever be or that should ever be suggested as reasonable for enslaving people. Enslaving human beings is a kind of evil. Pure and simple. Okay!

[gramofsam1]

Bloomberg is half-right. Of course no verdict could end the pain that Bell's family has suffered and will suffer.
But THIS verdict will compound that pain, THIS verdict says that Sean Bell did not deserve a minimum level of care and caution from the police officers who have sworn to protect and defend, THIS verdict is the legal equivalent of spitting on Bell's memory and his family and eveyone who loved him. This verdict is unforgivable.

[geste]

I am thousands of miles away and am no way an expert on the facts of this case, but:

50 rounds

Not guilty???

[Shanti]

Yeah, only 50 rounds! I guess they would need a couple of hundred rounds to convict! This is a travesty to say the least and the same ol same ol. Why do these people like Mumia ect. keep getting treated like second class citizens? How in the hell can you expect justice when the court is unjust!

[GwenElle]

Agreed!!

[GeorgeShieman]

Dial in to Eureka calif..whe­re two police officers just plead not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

We ousted the good old boy D.A... and the new D.A. had to face a recall election..­total of three elections in four years.. Police officers , in a town of 28.000 shot and killed three people in a short period of time.

Outsider named Police chief..fac­ing animosity from police rank and file after all the shooters either taken off the street..or removed from dept. Five other officers removed..f­rom Dept/

See www.times-standard.com and www.eurekareporter.com

see also.. paulwatch.­. all details of one shooting.

Town folks are hopeful..p­oliticians are hopeful..c­ops are questionab­le...

See April 20th article in Times Standard..­quotes by Tony Bouza from Minneapolis.

Hang on to your hat....the citizens finally have a chance to make all the decisions.

george shieman [e-mail]

[GwenElle]

When are we going to start to issue non-lethal weapons to officers who are obviously poorly trained, of poor judgment and dubious motives? I respect that police officers have a tough job to do in stressful, often uncertain circumstances, but it is precisely for these reasons that they need to be issued non-lethal weapons (and I ain't talking about tasers, tear gas and bully clubs). If they have non-lethal weapons, then it would be a very tough standard of proof to justify using lethal force.

[pcplz]

I am sure that they will use non lethal weapons when criminals use the same. C'mon, now.

[MariaHopeful]

Caught a piece of a project done by ABC where the AA wife/girlfriend was been beaten by her AA husband/boyfriend. The general response by the majority community was "We can't have this behavior here, please take it somewhere else." When it was the the white couple, these same people became proactive. They intervened on behalf of the woman, they called 911 and they were generally protective. Research shows that perfectly normal people generally associate deviant behavior with blacks and honesty and goodness with whites. So I am not surprised that time and again police officers will react with overwhelming force against black young men. Those police officers would not have fired so much shots against a dog. Michael Vicks is in prison for inhumane treatment against dogs but in every single instance it has been judged OK for police to shoot unarmed black men. And it goes even further. How many of us believe that we would have readily applied shock & awe in a European country? How many of us believe that it is OK to drop 5000 lbs bombs on a house to get one man in a white neighborhood. What happened to the native Americans? What happened during slavery? The one major, horrific crime that happened to people with white skin resulted in them getting their own homeland at the expense of people of a darker hue. And then we act surprised at Rev Wright's snippets. Hmmm.

[GwenElle]

I totally get what you are saying!

I in no way condone Michael Vick's actions. The lives of animals and their rights must be protected from the malicious actions of humans. However, it is beyond bizarre to live in a country in which the lives of innocent animals engenders more outrage than the murder of an innocent black man. I am totally unable to digest that reality.

There is something awry in our very souls.

[NoMoreHawks]

Vick poured water on dogs already battered from fights, then he electrocuted them. He put nooses around their necks and watched them choke to death when hung. He deserved all he gets from the courts and then some. Good riddance, I say.

[lafrance]

I don't live in New York. I am here in the midwest. My heart breaks for the family and the children and the almost wife of Mr. Bell.
I am white but, I felt justice was not done and was very sad to see the outcome today.
There are many people you or Mr. Bell';s family will never know who have you in our thoughts.
I am so sorry about this tragedy made worse by the farce of the final judgment today.

[Mesaywar]

I've been sitting here for a while trying to find the right words.
As a person who grew up with the draw first ask questions later mentality of the 103 precint in Queens, all I could come up with is "no one is surprised.­" No one was surprised by the murder. No one was surprised by the case. No one was surprised by the demonization of the victims. No one is surprised by the acquittals. No one will be surprised by the death of the next young man who moves his hands too fast or old grandmother who opens her door too slow in the presence of a NYC police officer.