Black Voices
Web
SEARCH Search The Web Magnify Glass
x
RESOURCESsquare

50 Shots Reverberate Around NYC

Posted May 8th 2008 12:00AM by Faye Anderson
Filed under: BlackSpin, Al Sharpton, Sean Bell

Thousands of New Yorkers demonstrated across New York City to protest the acquittals of three police officers in the killing of Sean Bell in a barrage of 50 shots. The demonstrators carried signs that read "We Are All Sean Bell: This Damn System is Guilty" and chanted, "No justice, no peace."

As many as 200 protesters were arrested, including The Rev. Al Sharpton and Bell's fiancée Nicole Paultre Bell. ...



Sean Bell Case

    Valerie Bell, right, mother of the late Sean Bell, meets singer Patti LaBelle on stage during the "Divas With Heart" concert at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, May 4, 2008. LaBelle had invited Bell onto the stage during her song, "Two Steps." The concert benefits the Masonic Medical Research Laboratory in Utica, N.Y. (AP Photo/Scott Wynn/Scott Wynn Photography)

    AP

    Nicole Paultre Bell (L) and Trent Benefield (C) listen as Al Sharpton speaks about the Sean Bell trial during his live radio broadcast in New York May 3, 2008. Sharpton is organizing a rally on Wednesday to protest against the not guilty verdict of the three detectives involved in the shooting death of an unarmed black man. Sean Bell was killed in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day. REUTERS/Joshua Lott (UNITED STATES)

    Reuters

    Nicole Paultre Bell (L) and Trent Benefield listen as Al Sharpton speaks about the Sean Bell trial during his live radio broadcast in New York May 3, 2008. Sharpton is organizing a rally on Wednesday to protest against the not guilty verdict of the three detectives involved in the shooting death of an unarmed black man. Sean Bell was killed in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day. REUTERS/Joshua Lott (UNITED STATES)

    Reuters

    Nicole Paultre Bell (L) listens as Al Sharpton speaks about the Sean Bell trial during his live radio broadcast in New York May 3, 2008. Sharpton is organizing a rally on Wednesday to protest against the not guilty verdict of the three detectives involved in the shooting death of an unarmed black man. Sean Bell was killed in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day. REUTERS/Joshua Lott (UNITED STATES)

    Reuters

    Al Sharpton speaks about the Sean Bell trial during his live radio broadcast in New York May 3, 2008. Sharpton is organizing a rally on Wednesday to protest against the not guilty verdict of the three detectives involved in the shooting death of an unarmed black man. Sean Bell was killed in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day. REUTERS/Joshua Lott (UNITED STATES)

    Reuters

    Al Sharpton speaks about the Sean Bell trial during his live radio broadcast in New York May 3, 2008. Sharpton is organizing a rally on Wednesday to protest against the not guilty verdict of the three detectives involved in the shooting death of an unarmed black man. Sean Bell was killed in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day. REUTERS/Joshua Lott (UNITED STATES)

    Reuters

    Al Sharpton speaks about the Sean Bell trial during his live radio broadcast in New York May 3, 2008. Sharpton is organizing a rally on Wednesday to protest against the not guilty verdict of the three detectives involved in the shooting death of an unarmed black man. Sean Bell was killed in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day. REUTERS/Joshua Lott (UNITED STATES)

    Reuters

    Sean Bell's fiance, Nicole Paultre Bell, holds her daughter Jordyn during a news conference Sunday, April 27, 2008 at National Action headquarters in New York. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)

    AP

    People block the intersection of 125th Street and 7th Ave. during march to protest the acquittal of the three NYPD detectives on all charges stemming from the November 2006 killing of Sean Bell Sunday, April 27, 2008 in New York. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)

    AP

    Sean Bell's fiance, Nicole Paultre Bell, 3rd -left, sits with her mother, 2nd-left and shooting victim Joseph Guzman, 2nd-right, as Rev. Al Sharpton speaks, Sunday, April 27, 2008 at National Action headquarters in New York. The women at far right and left are unidentified. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)

    AP

Continue reading 50 Shots Reverberate Around NYC

Bell Case: A Glass Ceiling for Justice

Posted May 6th 2008 11:00PM by Madison J. Gray
Filed under: BlackSpin, Sean Bell

No Way to Find Them Guilty

Reuters

These are the blog postings I hate to write. My disdain comes because I know it will qualify something I hated hearing. But I must accept the outcome of the Sean Bell verdict, even if ultimately it is unfair to those affected.

No matter what i write, it will be unfair to a father, unfair to his fiance Nicole Paultre Bell, his children, his parents and Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, his friends. It is unfair to everyone seeking justice for a death that was not supposed to happen.

It is so unfair, it makes you want to scream, like the nun, pictured above. It was hard for so many people to accept the outcome when the not guilty verdict came down inside a courthouse in Queens, New York.

It is unfair, but what is the truth? The three policemen acquitted for killing Bell went free because there was no way to find them guilty.
Continue reading Bell Case: A Glass Ceiling for Justice

Mobilizing Justice for Sean Bell

Posted May 5th 2008 9:00AM by Faye Anderson
Filed under: BlackSpin, Rev. Al Sharpton, Sean Bell

In the quest for justice for Sean Bell, the Rev. Al Sharpton is mobilizing New Yorkers to participate in a months-long civil disobedience campaign. During the Saturday rally at the House of Justice, Sharpton said:
We will do it on a weekly basis building toward a citywide shutdown. Wednesday is the beginning as we move toward that date which we will announce once we are prepared.

We will submit to an arrest. If you're not going to lock up the guilty in this town, then I guess you're going to have to lock up the innocent.
Continue reading Mobilizing Justice for Sean Bell

Sharpton Plots Justice for Sean Bell

Posted Apr 30th 2008 11:00AM by Faye Anderson
Filed under: BlackSpin, Al Sharpton, Sean Bell

The Rev. Al Sharpton has convened a strategy session to plan the community's response to the verdict in the Sean Bell case. The participants included Bell's parents, shooting victims Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, Bell's fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, as well as local and state elected officials, and civil rights, church and community leaders.

The meeting was held at the headquarters of Services Employees International Union Local 1199. Union President George Gresham expressed his outrage that the police officers were acquitted on all charges, saying:
How do you tell your son to be leery of the police but at the same time go to the police when you need help?

Continue reading Sharpton Plots Justice for Sean Bell

Reactions: Sean Bell Verdict, Feds Involved

Posted Apr 28th 2008 10:00AM by Faye Anderson
Filed under: BlackSpin, Sean Bell

The Sean Bell verdict has sparked outrage in the African American community. Here's a snapshot of some of the reactions over the weekend.

The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice plans to conduct "an independent review of the facts and circumstances surrounding the Nov. 25, 2006, shooting." Still yesterday, the Black Leadership Forum held a news conference at the headquarters of the National Action Network. Rev. Al Sharpton asserted:
The decision in the Sean Bell case was not a miscarriage of justice, but rather an abortion of justice.


Continue reading Reactions: Sean Bell Verdict, Feds Involved

Justice Served for Sean Bell?

Posted Apr 25th 2008 10:22AM by Branden Cobb
Filed under: BlackSpin, Sean Bell, Breaking News

Not Guilty on all counts; that's the verdict handed down in the trial of three detectives accused of gunning down unarmed bridegroom Sean Bell in Jamaica, Queens on November 25, 2006.

Today, Judge Arthur Cooperman said while he found the actions of Det. Michael Oliver, Det. Gesnard Isnora and Det. Mark Cooper "careless" he didn't think it rose to the level of making them criminally responsible for Bell's death. His words were more than Bell's Fiancee' Nicole Paultre could take.

She quickly stood up in the middle of his reading, breaking the silence in the courtroom by saying "I'm outta here." She then hustled into the hallway. Grief stricken Bell's mother began crying softly as the Judge finished talking.


Continue reading Justice Served for Sean Bell?

Update: Sean Bell Trial Gets More Complex

Posted Apr 2nd 2008 11:05AM by Madison J. Gray
Filed under: BlackSpin, Sean Bell

Last week, the New York Times reported that one of police shooting victim Sean Bell's friends has testified that he heard Bell arguing with someone outside of Club Kalua the night he was killed, and that the man had threatened to kill him.

The story has tons more detail including one of the main witnesses, Jean Nelson, giving testimony that corroborates the defense of three police detectives accused of shooting bell to death; how Bell's autopsy revealed that his blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit to drive.

The case is getting deeper as it goes on this week with more witnesses. ...

Continue reading Update: Sean Bell Trial Gets More Complex

Is Justice for Sean Bell Any Closer?

Posted Mar 10th 2008 3:00PM by Madison J. Gray
Filed under: BlackSpin, Sean Bell

As expected, there's a lot of confusion and contradiction in the police shooting case of Sean Bell. While Queens waits for the outcome, and Bell's family waits for justice, the lawyers are running the show.

The damn lawyers!

In this New York Daily News story, Bell's folks seem to think that the prosecutors aren't being tough enough on the cops involved. ...

Continue reading Is Justice for Sean Bell Any Closer?

Analyzing 50 Shots: No Easy Explanations in the Sean Bell Trial

Posted Feb 29th 2008 6:00AM by Madison J. Gray
Filed under: BlackSpin, Sean Bell

About a year and a few months ago, I visited a somber site in South Jamaica, Queens, right off Sutphin Blvd., about 200 yards from where the E, J, and Z subway lines meet and where you can get the AirTrain to Kennedy International Airport.

It was a cold night on that lonely corner of Liverpool and 94th Ave., and I was the last one there, having covered a protest demonstration that wound through the neighborhood. As night fell, a few people walked by from the train station and passed by a shrine to a young man who two weeks earlier was supposed to have been married to his girlfriend.

But instead, in a hail of at least 50 bullets fired by New York City policemen, a young man took the final breaths of his short life. And when the smoke cleared, everyone had a version of what happened, everyone took sides and everyone had an opinion.

But the only one who knew the truth, was 23-year-old Sean Bell, who in the bullet rain, took his last breath just a few hours before he was to be married. And the truth is buried with him somewhere in Long Island.

Continue reading Analyzing 50 Shots: No Easy Explanations in the Sean Bell Trial

Comments

Most Recent Comments

(7 Days)

Most Commented On


More on Black Voices

Hot Topics

More On AOL

AOL Black Voices, the premiere site for African-American culture and community, offers African-American message boards, profiles and chats, Africa-American sports, Africa-American news, African-American entertainment, African-American style and beauty, relationship advice and more. Share your voice at BV!

© 2008 AOL LLC. All Rights Reserved.

AOL@Black Voices © 2007 AOL LLC. All Rights Reserved.

BACK TO TOP