Please, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good race rant. /sarc
Posted on 04/26/2008 7:53:51 AM PDT by pissant
They waited for hours, singing spirituals, praying and chanting for justice, but in a flash, the crowd gathered outside a Queens courthouse Friday erupted in anger and grief.
Men cursed and shouted. Women wailed and covered their faces. "Oh, no! No!" they yelled, as word spread that three police officers had been cleared of all charges in the 50-bullet shooting that took Sean Bell's life on his wedding day in 2006.
To some, the acquittal seemed like more proof that blacks can't get a fair shake in the criminal justice system.
Moments after the verdict was announced, Trent Benefield, a friend of Bell's who was wounded in the hail of gunfire, staggered down the courthouse steps with a look of angry disbelief on his face, a friend's arms tightly wrapped around his shoulders.
"Not guilty. Not guilty. It's real," he said, while dozens of people wearing Bell's face on hats, T-shirts and buttons burst into sobs.
Within an hour, the crowd of about 200 people had settled down and dispersed. Despite a few scuffles between members of the throng and police officers, no arrests were made.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who represented the Bell family, angrily denounced the verdicts on his radio show later and called on his followers to protest the outcome, but without violence.
He vowed to lead a campaign of "economic withdrawal" and civil disobedience that could include demonstrations at police headquarters and outside the judge's home.
"We are coming back to demonstrate to the federal government that New Yorkers will not take this abortion of justice lying down," Sharpton said. "We are going to close the city down in a nonviolent, effective way."
The protests were muted compared with past verdicts where officers were cleared in police shootings of black men, perhaps a result of improved race relations and the complicated nature of the Bell case.
Bell was black, but so were two of the three officers charged in the shooting, including the one who fired the first shot.
Supporters of the Bell family began arriving early at the courthouse. Few were able to get inside. Most waited in a long line on the sidewalk, leaning against police barricades.
A few carried signs reading "Justice for Sean Bell." One group held a banner proclaiming, "50 Shots. 50 More Reasons We Need Revolution."
Scores of officers wearing blue NYPD polo shirts, along with others in standard uniform, ringed the building and kept the sidewalk clear of swarming journalists.
Inside the packed courtroom, gasps could be heard when Justice Arthur Cooperman acquitted the officers. Bell's mother cried; her husband put his arm around her and shook his head. Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, rushed from the courtroom. Officer Michael Oliver, who fired the most shots, also cried.
Word spread immediately to the crowd outside, and the reaction was intense.
William Hardgraves, 48, an electrician from Harlem who brought his 12-year-old son and 23-year-old daughter to hear the verdict, paced angrily.
"I hoped it would be different this time. They shot him 50 times," Hardgraves said. "But of course, it wasn't."
Calvin Hunt of Harlem shared his anger.
"This was a disgrace, what happened today," he said.
If anyone can incite a riot, Al Sharpton can. That must have been his college major.
Now tell us how you feel about double jeopardy...
Rev. Al Sharpton vows to ‘close the city down’ after cops’ acquittal in Bell trial...
his main speaker will be tawana brawley and the big event will be in the ashes of freddy’s mart where he will call whites interlopers!!!!!
Are these the very people that celebrated when OJ was acquitted?
In this case it’s part of that grand NYC tradition of arguing about a thing until everyone gets bored and wanders away to get something to eat.
True,True.You just have to look at the murder rates in chicago,philly and new orleans. The media in New York was trying their best to whip-up rioting. I guess they raise their advertising rates during riots?
“Ummmm, weren’t 2 of the 3 cops black?”
Please, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good race rant. /sarc
I've had a couple of years' worth of popcorn waiting for the American so-called "Black Leadership" to be indicted, convicted and jailed under the RICO Laws.
Is it just me?
The article says 2 of the 3 were black.
Has anyone ever calculated how many black lives the NYPD saves in a given year by risking their own lives to apprehend criminals in black neighborhoods? We only hear when officers kill a black. Of course, any such acknowledgement would cut into Sharpton’s money machine and camera time.
The last riot NYC had was the Hasidim. I believe they set a cardboard box on fire.
Fat Liberal Al is practicing his riot squads for Denver
Thanks. First time I saw all three together. I has seen the first one once or twice.
Please, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good race rant. /sarc
Np!!!!
To be specific: one is Lebanese, one is Latino, one is Black. Fellow Freepers, I live in Queens/New York: so no shout-outs for riots, okay??? Peel beneath the surface, there is under-lying resentment that is always simmering in the Black community, and it only takes one incident to set the kettle off. The sad part is, it is always these incidents and the race stokers: Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Reverend Al Sharpton, Politicians: Charles Baron - I want to slap a White person: that shape and define the Black community, the good hard-working and educated folk never get a headline - oh, that’s right they are called: UNCLE TOMS....../Just Asking - seoul62........
"I can see the $50,000,000 coming, I can see the $50,000,000 coming. Praise the Lord!"
HILLARY: " So when do I get my cut?" 
I think Senator Obama's links to African-Americans who have virilent racist views against non-blacks is going to end up costing him the White House. If Obama gets the nomination a lot of Democrats will NOT want to vote for him, given the sordid history of African-American leadership since the 1960's.
You know ol' Al. If he doesn't get a piece of the proverbial pie, he'd rather that the pie didn't exist.
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