April 27, 2008
Sharpton Promises to Shut Down NYC with Protests
Photograph from yesterday's Sean Bell protest by urbanblitz on Flickr
The Reverend Al Sharpton is planning a series of rallies and acts of civil disobedience in the wake of the acquittals of three police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell. Bell, who was a few hours from his wedding, was unarmed when undercover police fired at him 50 times outside a Queens strip club on November 25, 2008.
At yesterday's National Action Network rally, Sharpton said "he was meeting with labor and civil-rights leaders" this week to discuss a day of civil disobedience, "We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent citizens with no probable cause. his city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell."
After the rally, protesters marched for 20 blocks, carrying 50 numbered posters--each representing the shots fired. And, today, Sharpton said that Representative John Conyers will meet with Bell's family and visit the site of the shooting. From the Daily News:
"We are going to walk the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to show him how far the scene of the shooting was from the club.The NY Times has an article about the black community's reaction to the verdicts. Some are giving Mayor Bloomberg credit for being more open."It shows that the policeman had 50 different things he could have done in 2-1/2 blocks. If they thought that somebody was going to get a gun, he could have called for backup."
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whatever. You think black people are gonna strike in manhattan? they'd have to take a bus from east queens to get here. All 100 angry dudes. Sharpton does not have a million man march cause. It's actually embarrassing how little people are actually up in arms about it. Maybe cause they realize that the police officers who shot at the black guy were also black.
The city will be quaking in its boots when Al Sharpton threatens its economic existence. Other than KFC, Popeye's, McDonalds and the stores that sell rap music, most of the city is safe. I doubt if any bookstores will go out of business due to the boycott. I bet he's going to resurrect Tawana Brawley's virginity to proclaim the truth.
It's a shame he doesn't hang out in tawdry strip joints late at night and then drive his vehicle into undercover cop vehicles.
NYC has been overdue for some social unrest.
as usual, counterproductive.
It's in the best interest of ALL New Yorkers to be angry about the outcome of this trial. The NYPD has license to murder without retribution.
An innocent man died. Thats bad. And wrong. The police department should be more accountable to training these guys better. Its got nothing to do with race IMO. It definitely should not have happened the way it did.
Al Sharpton's people should burn down all the buildings in Harlem to show that the people of color will not tolerate this injustice. At the same time they will give the white gentrifiers a clean slate to build their high rise condos upon. Praise the lord and past the deed.
I wonder how many of those people who are protesting know that Sean Bell was a crack dealer.
"I wonder how many of those people who are protesting know that Sean Bell was a crack dealer."
Given the circumstances of this case, I don't care if he raped babies. The protest is about the actions of the police officers.
this is gonna be good. it will bring out the worst in all NY'ers just like the Giuliani administration and subsequent protests.
I foresee a spike in watermelon purchases.
thankfully Pb is cheap. I suggest stockpiling some for zombie attacks.
This is not a black and white issue, it's black and blue.
They should be retried in a federal court immediately. This time, with a JURY!
Given the circumstances of this case, I don't care if he raped babies. The protest is about the actions of the police officers.
What about the actions of Sean Bell? Sean Bell tried to run over the officers with his car. You don't think the police were justified in defending themselves?
And if you would honestly shed a tear for a baby raping pedophile, then you are a disgusting fucking piece of shit.
There was a protest today on the west end of 125th street. We walked past it on our way to the A train. The street was shut down for several blocks and buses were rerouted. My boyfriend took a few pictures. There were probably about 100 people there.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stynxno/2446319307/
The NY Times style guide will say something along the lines of how "authentic" this all is and then Jen Carlson will write an article about it 8 hours later.
Have you heard the latest? Protesting is SO IN!!!!!
-Jen Carlson
Reverend Al is a fly living off NYPD horses' manure.
How did this charlatan become a "community" leader? Is his community so utterly deranged?
Over years we witnessed Brawley's sex hoax and subsequent defamation of Steven Pagones, his defense of the Central Park "wilding" rapists, incitement of pogroms leading to the murders of Yankel Rosenbaum in Crown Heights and 8 victims in Freddy's Fashion Mart in Harlem. Yet, he's the guy everyone rushes to for an endorsement.
Why do young, black males like Bell inspire such fear in everyone, including NYPD detectives? Any particular reason, or is it just racism?
Dear SpearChucker,
"Sean Bell tried to run over the officers with his car. You don't think the police were justified in defending themselves?"
The police officer was under cover and he pulled a gun on these men. The men understandably felt threatened and attempted to get away. Do I think the police have the right to fire 50 bullets into unsuspecting New Yorkers? No, I don't.
"And if you would honestly shed a tear for a baby raping pedophile, then you are a disgusting fucking piece of shit."
As we both know, this isn't about a baby-raping pedophile it is about the NYPD being completely out of control. It is about living in a fascist state. If you are unconcerned about living in a facist state then you are the one who's morality is in question.
"whose" morality, not "who's"
The best is when people think they're going to shutdown the city, and they don't. I hope he gets arrested too.
oh Vanessa
are the police completely out of control? look at the stats - NYPD is one of the most restrained police departments in the nation. We live in one of the safest cities in America. You probably would prefer if the police loosened up a little bit, let some of those quality of life offenses be ignored. No big deal, right? Ignore those open containers or people jumping the turnstiles. It's all good. Because when the cops address those things you call it harassment, right?
You cannot call the entire department out of control based on one incident. Are there bad cops out there? Is the NYPD perfect? No way.
Maybe if they were paid more than $25k to start they would have better qualified recruits.
With more than 37,000 uniformed officers, the NYPD is by far the country's largest police force. Its police shootings often become fodder for the national news outlets, yet NYPD seldom gets a fair shake in the media. At the time this article was authored, December 9, 2006, NYPD has killed a total of 11 suspects. To put NYPD shooting restraint in better perspective, consider that so far this year, at least 19 people have been killed by police in Philadelphia. Las Vegas, which has about 2,170 police officers, has had 12 people shot and killed by police so far this year. In suburban Atlanta's DeKalb County, police have fatally shot 12 people so far this year. DeKalb County, with 700,000 residents, is one-tenth the size of the New York City.
The police officer was under cover and he pulled a gun on these men. The men understandably felt threatened and attempted to get away. Do I think the police have the right to fire 50 bullets into unsuspecting New Yorkers? No, I don't.
Unsuspecting? Says who? You? Were you there? Again, what you're saying is that the officers didn't have the right to defend themselves, yes?
Vanessa,
You may think Spear Chucker's morality is in question, but Bell's morality wasnt in question, he was a convicted drug dealer, selling drugs to the same community defending him. He was hanging out "hours before his wedding" in a place being investigated for prostitution. Maybe your beef is with the justice system, the cops were aquitted by the courts, the prosecution witnesses stories didnt match,the people in the community were lying in order to screw the cops. Your argument isnt holding water and using the term "facist" is a little extreme.
don't tell me, that stuff was from
heather macdonald.
Yup Rev. Al is a leader with the best credability, all the good folks with a beef should seek guidance from him and his racist buddy Charles Barron (a man of such character that he wouldn't shake my hand in Bed Stuy where I live when he was running for office a year or so ago...fyi, I'm white.) I have two words for you Rev. Al and his race baiting rhetoric; Tawana Brawley.
These guys need typographical help. Hand painted numbers are so unprofessional. Ain't nobody going to be afraid of them. They inspire as much fear as a girl scout lemonade stand.
VanessaNYC, I long ago gave up on these comments. There's no point in trying to freshen up the place when its a cesspool around here. This is Gothamist: a nest of racist, sexist, classist trolls, that are occasionally baited by the staff.
9/11 only shut the city down below 14th street..sharpton and his followers aren't going to make a dent.
"It's in the best interest of ALL New Yorkers to be angry about the outcome of this trial."
Do you serve Kool-Aid with your edicts?
@Ace: They should be retried in a federal court immediately. This time, with a JURY!
I'm gonna go ahead an assume you know that a jury trial is a right guaranteed to the accused, not the state. New York did not decide to waive a jury trial, the officers did... with the assumption that judges are better equipped to follow the rule of law than the normal citizenry who usually vote on their feelings, which attorney they like better, and how much they hate cops. Probably a good call on their part.
@VanessaNYC: It is about living in a fascist state.
I'll take overused, inflammatory words designed to make a point that always fail and make their user look stupid for $1000, please.
World trade center attack disaster did not shut down
this city nor will Rev. Sharpton.
If we did not have the NYPD involved in this upcoming civil unrest they would not be looking
forward to all that potential overtime.......cool.
The very people who wish to go against our police
now want to enrich their pockets with overtime!
This is old news already.
No one writing here would wish to be a undercover
cop and have make a split decision on to shoot
or be shot at. Cops have killed cops in "friendly
fire" too, It's tragic ,but an accident of panic.
Many of the commenters on this post are the ones who make me this much closer to deleting Gothamist from my bookmarks. Can we have a comment voting system, please? Like Reddit or Digg, where blatantly trolling, racist or ignorant comments below a threshold will be hidden, to not give them attention they clamor for.
Vanessa sure does has a chip on her shoulder when it comes to cops.
Wonder who she'll call should she get mugged or worse.
FDNY?
Regardless of who Sean Bell was, or what he did, the actions of the NYPD, and the verdict, are cause for concern. This has happened again and again: police panic, open fire and end up killing someone that didn't need to be killed. How are the police being trained at the Academy, that their first immediate response is to pull their weapons? Does anyone who knows how to handle firearms responsibly think that 50 shots are necessary to subdue a victim who isn't returning fire?
Forget about race. Personally, I'm worried about being on the street, or in the vicinity, when a cop goes off on one of these shooting sprees. The way they handle situations is dangerous to everyone.
"...Many of the commenters on this post are the ones who make me this much closer to deleting Gothamist from my bookmarks. Can we have a comment voting system, please? Like Reddit or Digg, where blatantly trolling, racist or ignorant comments below a threshold will be hidden, to not give them attention they clamor for."
then it will just become the usual flag this scenario where differnt viewpoints no matter how legitimate will become supressed!
"...Wonder who she'll call should she get mugged or worse."
fear of being mugged does not trump fear acceptance of a police state!
"...are the police completely out of control? look at the stats - NYPD is one of the most restrained police departments in the nation."
low number of deadly shootings does not mean there isnt general all around blatantly racist unequal enforcement of laws where minorities are unfairly targeted for arrest and aggresive enforcement.
"The men understandably felt threatened and attempted to get away."
lets see a real reenactment 3d computer modeling of how this happened, where where the key players, the unmarked cars, the actual speed actions of sean bells car and time elapsed, how fast and acurately can 4 guys pump 50 shots into a supposedly dangerous moving vehecle both in the path and not in the supposedly lifethreatening trajectory of a car which was really parked, i want to see how these pigs approached this car on foot and with unmarked vehicles.
How could Sharpton ever possibly organize a group of people who for some reason can't ever show up on time for anything?
We are being acclimatized to consider this as normal and it's working, the typical reaction is simply, "oh well that's the way it has to be in order for everyone to be safe". The lazy and selfish reaction to this climate of fear is severely damaging our society, the masses are sleepwalking towards a police state, they see it, but it doesn't register
Only through constant activism, lobbying and vigilance can we escort martial law away from American shores and live peacefully in a society where we do not cower in fear of the armed security guard barking orders at us when simply walking down the street, "citizen, show me your papers."
Are all of you who continue to use racist babble to describe all black people, leading exemplary lives?
Of course not. You're under-achievers, not satisfied with your own miserable lives. You're not intelligent enough to make more of yourselves, so you try to use racism to make yourselves feel superior to someone-- anyone. How sad. It hasn't worked, has it?
Al Sharpton does not represent anyone but himself. You should question the media for continuing to go to him for his opinions.
I am black, I live in Harlem, and I doubt any of you so wrapped up in your hatred, have lives comparable in any way to mine. I probably have more resources, a lovelier (and larger) place to live, and good relationships with people from countless backgrounds and races. I have a small, loving, very close-knit family. I have the good fortune to love and be loved by many other people totally unrelated to, or like me. My life is good, despite decades of unfortunate and painful experiences with people like so many of you.
The same few of you with the small brains and big mouths, have not taken the time to notice that Sharpton cannot manage to fill his own 'Action Network' auditorium (that seems to seat about 200), but that he can fill the airwaves and sites like this, with comments from you pathetic, sad, people.
There is a racial component to the Sean Bell murder. We have no precedent for unarmed white New Yorkers shot dozens of times by the police. We have too many instances where this has happened to unarmed black New Yorkers. This must change.
After you're through posting your hate speech here, you might consider picking up a book, or taking a class. Fill your minds with something enriching, instead of tired old racist cliches, that in the end, achieve nothing. Try to do better. Really.
"There is a racial component to the Sean Bell murder. We have no precedent for unarmed white New Yorkers shot dozens of times by the police. We have too many instances where this has happened to unarmed black New Yorkers. This must change."
That's wrong on several levels.
First, how do you say there's a racial component when two of the three officers are black? That argument fails.
Second, you say there's no precedent? What about the emotionally disturbed Orthodox Jew shot dead by police in 1999 -- his "weapon" was a hammer. Not a gun, like the cops believed in the Bell case, not a car, like Bell used to ram into Isnora, but a hammer. He was white.
The black community built their own stereotypes, carrying guns, engaging in violence. The Bloods and Crips are black gangs -- what white gangs are there? Are white people heading into black neighborhoods, robbing black people? Assaulting black people? Not the last time I checked. I'm a criminal defense attorney... my clients are predominately black. Are you suggesting that white people commit more crimes? No, they don't. It's a cycle of criminal activity that Sharpton would be better off combating in the black community, instead of foisting the blame upon NYPD or whitey. Educate the community, invest in the community, and break the cycle of violence and crime that lands so many young black men in prison. The majority of my clients ARE guilty -- they aren't just being targeted for no reason.
We are being acclimatized to consider this as normal and it's working... The lazy and selfish reaction to this climate of fear is severely damaging our society, the masses are sleepwalking towards a police state, they see it, but it doesn't register
Only through constant activism, lobbying and vigilance can we escort martial law away from American shores and live peacefully in a society where we do not cower in fear of the armed security guard barking orders at us when simply walking down the street, "citizen, show me your papers."
ihatebrokers is being overly dramatic again... first it was the pope, now the police. The police f_cked up and overreacted when someone they seemed to think was dangerous drove his car into them. That's not part of a conspiracy to steer us into accepting a police state; nor is there a "climate of fear that is severely damaging our society."
It must be strange to live in such a state of paranoia, imagining grandiose conspiracies behind every bad thing that happens.
second paragraph in my comment was quoted from ihatedealbrokers, should have been italicized to differentiate from my own.
or maybe i did it deliberately in a scheme to deprive him of his identity
The Reality- the only thing Negroes are really unhappy about- are being associated with a quickly identified, 'color-coded' sub-culture that embraces: oversized neck-chain jewelry; bright teeth; 'rap music', (devoid of music); a comedic 'dress code'; speaking in an American patois (BVE)
-and a sub-culture which eschews education and marriage and invented the term 'baby-father'!
Geez- what a culture! (er- 'sub-culture'!)
Jesse Califano
while there might be a racial element to what happened, since the cop most responsible for what took place is black, it's a little hard to pin the "racist" label on him. It certainly seems possible that he and other law enforcement officers might have preconceived notions about certain groups. But those notions, especially from a black officer, might be based not on skin color but on other things. Clothes, mannerisms, location, etc.
If someone is "acting" like a criminal, it's kind of understandable that someone observing the situation might conclude he could be one. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's not illogical to conclude it's a duck.
I'm not saying that Bell and his friends had what was coming to them. There is no crime in being out at a strip club at 4am. However, some of the surrounding details -- it sounded like they were trying to talk a girl into group sex, and one of them allegedly said he was going to get a gun, followed by Bell driving into the cop after an identification, all would understandably lead the cops to think they were in danger. Again, I'm not saying the cops didn't overreact. 50 shots seems like an overreaction to me.
But if everything did go down as the cops described, which is what the judge apparently believed, the use of force was justified.
Bell's past history would also suggest he wasn't a choirboy. Of course, the cops did not know that at the time, just as they did not know that Bell was getting married that day. They were reacting to the situation presented on the information they had available to them at the time.
Maybe if they reacted differently, Bell would just have been arrested and thrown in jail on his wedding day instead of being killed. Or maybe one of the cops would have been seriously injured or killed. Can't change what happened.
I'm guessing every cop's worst nightmare is being confronted with a situation where some level of force is called for. If you fail to respond, you could be seriously injured or killed; if you respond and the perp is killed, you will be put on trial, labeled a racist, fired and/or sent to jail.
You people are holding back your true feelings. Please say what you really feel about this situation.
jesse califano is OLD! baby-father???
Heard Sharpton saying over the weekend that "the fight is not over".
Sean's fiancée, Nicole Paultre, is saying she wants "justice".
Justice is not getting what YOU want. Justice is not trying and trying again until you get the outcome YOU are searching for. That's not how this country works.
Justice is the judgment of persons or causes by judicial process and the maintenance or administration of what is just by law, as by judicial or other proceedings.
Judge Arthur Cooperman made his ruling and therefore justice has been served. That's it. It's over. We're not editing the Constitution for Sean Bell.
There is no "fight".
Now I heard Sharpton is protesting outside Judge Cooperman's HOME>?!?!?!
Al Sharpton is a terrorist.
holyfrijole- How many times was the mentally disturbed Jewish man shot?
He was not shot 50 times, 41 times, 30 times or even 10 times. If I recall, he was shot once. Another emotionally disturbed person was shot by the police years ago, armed with a kitchen knife. She was in her late 60's, and was resisting eviction. She was black.
Unarmed whites are simply not gunned down by the police in this city, with the ferocity black citizens are. Yes, two of the Sean Bell murderers were black. But the white cop emptied his weapon, reloaded it, and emptied it again. That is unacceptable to me, and should be to any New Yorker.
Lastly, black people did not create the stereotypes we are all painted with. People like you are holding that down. And if you really are a "defense attorney", God help the people who suffer under your dubious 'service' to them. Your reasoning, perceptions and arguments are all fatally flawed.
Ah so white people invented the stereotypes we see in hiphop?
Figures it was a white guy who invented the whole African Medallion, going to College, Educating Oneself, Poetry, Positivity, and going back to Africa phase of hiphop.
Unarmed whites are simply not gunned down by the police in this city, with the ferocity black citizens are. Yes, two of the Sean Bell murderers were black. But the white cop emptied his weapon, reloaded it, and emptied it again. That is unacceptable to me, and should be to any New Yorker.
While i agree that the number of shots fired seems excessive, let's not forget that Sean Bell & crew were in a moving car. It wasn't as if they were standing in the middle of a well-lit street being riddled by bullets. When your target is shielded by a barricade, inside a moving vehicle at night, etc., more shots are understandable once the decision to use deadly force is made. I think crazy jewish guy with hammer was shot during the day while standing on the street. Much easier to fire a shot, see that your target is down, and cease fire under those circumstances.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Bumpurs
When dealing with emotional distrubed people the racial characteristics are not important.
So saying a white guy with a hammer was shot does not mean there is no racial tension.
It just brings up a whole other can of worms, how police treat mentally disturbed individuals or ED's.
Saying a black cop shot a black suspect does not mean there is no indifference.
Does that make it OK that minorities get shot and killed at a disproportionate rate. Nope.