The Tragedy of Sean Bell and the Instability of the Justice System in America  

I have been wanting to mention the Sean Bell situation for awhile now, but haven't. This is one of those situations that cause me pain in my heart, not because I knew the man, or his family, but because as a human being it just pains me to realize that this kind of thing happens in the year 2008. Call me naive, but I always felt like one day we're going to get to that time when people aren't being singled out because of the color of their skin, or their sex, or creed, or whether the person they are sexually attracted to is of the same gender as they are. When people are able to just live. Live without the fear of whether or not a simple trip to the corner store is going to be the last thing you ever do. Live without the fear of when you drop your kids off at school, will they be there when you go to pick them up?

Living without the fear of telling your parents or loved ones that you happen to love a bit different than the status quo in our society and then finding out that they reject you for that. And most of all, living without the fear that you can be gunned down by three police officers shooting 50 times, despite the fact that you don't have a weapon on you.

Call me naive all you want, but that's what I envision for this country and this world. However it's obvious we are not there yet. And from the looks of it, we'll never get there. And that pains me. It causes me grief to no end and I have not had the words for what to say. Recently the rapper Jay Z has set up a trust fund for the children of Sean Bell. I commend him for this, and while there were a lot of people who before finding this out were criticizing Jay Z for not stepping up and saying something about the fact that the three cops who shot and killed Sean Bell, the night before his wedding were acquitted and let go free, I did not. Because I understood.



This is a situation that just really calls into question everything you believe in. I'm not naive enough to think that this doesn't happen. I've seen police brutality in my lifetime. I've seen the misconduct that doesn't get reported, I've seen the profiling, the violating of civil rights, and the fear in friend's eyes at the thought of a police officer pulling him over, even though he hasn't done anything wrong.

So while I have no illusions about the fact that this goes on in the world, it still fucks with me everytime I read a story about the latest Sean Bell. The latest Amadou Diallo. The latest Eleanor Bumpers. The latest Patrick Bailey. The latest Mumia Abu Jamal.

And I cry because I don't want to believe this happens. I know it does. I mean, only a foolish person would believe it doesn't happen. But still I find myself shocked because I just don't want to believe that this would happen. And that the God that I believe in (and still believe in) would allow this to happen.

Sean Bell's widow Nicole Paultre Bell has been working with Jay Z with his Roc-a-wear "I Will Not Lose" campaign. You can see the video below:



There have been calls for violence in New York City. While I am a fairly non-agressive person, and am not a violent guy by nature, something needs to be done. I don't advocate violence against police officers, because that is not going to help anything, only hurt.

But something needs to be done. Voices need to be heard, and things need to be changed. As long as there are seemingly different rules for whites than there are for blacks things will never change. As long as there are different rules for police officers, and citizens, there will never be a change in this country. Until we are able to walk the streets without fear of losing our lives to those we should NEVER have to fear, the police officers that are paid to "protect and serve" than this country, and this world, will never change.

Sometimes change requires violence. History has shown that. I think that there is going to be some shit going down in New York City, and the fact that it hasn't been burned to the ground now, I think is a good thing. We don't need a repeat of Los Angeles in 1992. For all the burning and looting and killing that went on after the LAPD's acquittal of the Rodney King beating, nothing has changed there. There are still corrupt cops, there are still racial profiling, and there is still the same shit that went on before.

So violence and just violence, will never change anything. I don't pretend to know what's needed. I don't pretend to have the answers. I just know that despite the fact that I've just typed a whole lot more than I meant to when I started this, I have no idea of what to say about this whole mess. And I'm not the only one.

But we need answers. We need people to stand up and say that they're not going to put up with the status quo of racism that has pervaded our society for too long.

We need a Howard Beale to step up and tell us to go to the proverbial window and make it clear that we are mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore!

And until then.....shit will stay the same.