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Friday, April 25, 2008

Why Barack Obama Matters
Posted by Jill | 9:47 AM
3 NYPD detectives acquitted in 50-shot killing

Three detectives were acquitted of all charges Friday in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day, a case that put the NYPD at the center of another dispute involving allegations of excessive firepower.

Justice Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict in a Queens courtroom packed with spectators, including victim Sean Bell's fiancee and parents, as at least 200 people gathered outside the building.

As word of the verdict spread, many outside the courthouse began crying and yelled "No!" Some briefly jostled with police officers.

Bell, a 23-year-old black man, was killed in a hail of gunfire outside a seedy strip club in Queens on Nov. 25, 2006 — his wedding day — as he was leaving his bachelor party with two friends.

The officers, complaining that pretrial publicity had unfairly painted them as cold-blooded killers, opted to have the judge decide the case rather than a jury.

Officers Michael Oliver, 36, and Gescard Isnora, 29, stood trial for manslaughter while Officer Marc Cooper, 40, was charged only with reckless endangerment. Two other shooters weren't charged. Oliver squeezed off 31 shots; Isnora fired 11 rounds; and Cooper shot four times.


If not now, when?

This, folks, is why as bad as sexism is, racism is worse. Yes, there was a case here in NJ a few years ago of a bride murdered on her way to her own wedding by a violent ex-boyfriend. That was a tragic and horrific example of the toxicity of sexism and how men try to control women. But as heinous as it was, and as heinous as similar cases like it are, and even as pervasive as such cases, as well as the many incidences of rape, job discrimination, and other toxic examples of sexism in our society, they are not cases of state-sanctioned murder. The fact of the matter is that for the most part, Living While Female won't get you killed by the state. Living While Black still does.

Meanwhile....

Meanwhile....

The third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives and one of the country’s most influential African-American leaders sharply criticized former President Bill Clinton this afternoon for what he called Mr. Clinton’s “bizarre” conduct during the Democratic primary campaign.

Representative James E. Clyburn, an undeclared superdelegate from South Carolina who is the Democratic whip in the House, said that “black people are incensed over all of this,” referring to statements that Mr. Clinton had made in the course of the heated race between his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Senator Barack Obama.

Mr. Clinton was widely criticized by black leaders after he equated the eventual victory of Mr. Obama in South Carolina in January to that of the Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1988 – a parallel that many took as an attempt to diminish Mr. Obama’s success in the campaign. In a radio interview in Philadelphia on Monday, Mr. Clinton defended his remarks and said the Obama campaign had “played the race card on me” by making an issue of those comments.

In an interview with The New York Times late Thursday, Mr. Clyburn said Mr. Clinton’s conduct in this campaign had caused what might be an irreparable breach between Mr. Clinton and an African-American constituency that once revered him. “When he was going through his impeachment problems, it was the black community that bellied up to the bar,” Mr. Clyburn said. “I think black folks feel strongly that that this is a strange way for President Clinton to show his appreciation.”

Mr. Clyburn added that there appeared to be an almost “unanimous” view among African-Americans that Mr. and Mrs. Clinton were “committed to doing everything they possibly can to damage Obama to a point that he could never win.”

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4 Comments:
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I'm glad you wrote this, Jill. The verdict made me physically ill. I just can't believe it.
4/25/08, 1:52 PM  
Blogger Bob said...
Smart legal moves, not taking it to a jury & trying all three together.
4/25/08, 3:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I am disappointed by the verdict.
4/25/08, 3:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
i don't know if i can comment here but here goes.
a) The officers were crazed and by the way not all white. The verdict is an unspeakable travesty. If it was a trendy nightclub where a supposed crime might go down and someone of flashier social standing was gunned down (500 times) it would be assesed differently, regardless of all the conflicting testimony.
b) Obama matters deeply, but from the beginning Axelrod knew that in order to win the black vote the african-american community needed to be "motivated" away from the Clintons. There has been a perfect strategy to do this. Is it purely a guise that Bill Clinton has his headquarters in Harlem, has been working hard on issues relating to inner-city empowerment, African issues?
c) Sean Bell's family should have had a say in whether it was a jury or judge trial.
4/26/08, 12:55 PM  
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