By now, you've heard of the 2006 incident surrounding New York City Police that resulted in the death of an African American man named Sean Bell as he was leaving his Bachelor party. If If you haven't heard about this incident, shame on you. Most of the news media has talked little about the specifics of the police officers firing upon this unarmed man and his friends 51 times. Some aspects of the media, including Wikipedia and the NY Times, even place more of the emphasis of the incident on the fact that Bell and his friends had been arrested on separate occasions within their life. Much of the media attention also fails to mention the fact that Bell was shot 31 times by a single officer and the officers failed to identify themselves to Bell's party. For most of us, if we really think about it, we realize that you can't shoot a person 51 times without reloading multiple times.
Well, if you know these details then you also know that all 3 police officers in the incident were acquitted recently. Not only were the officers found not guilty, but since November 2006 when the incident happened, there has been no sort of administrative disciplinary action.
One part of the rationale of the State Supreme Court in finding the officers not guilty in the murder of Sean Bell is that they considered the witnesses, including Bell's 2 friends who were also injured in the assault, testimony that wasn't believable. What type of testimony is believable in the eyes of a city government that has rarely convicted members of a police force that have committed similar atrocities in the past (Also in case you wondered, search for the documentary "Every Mother's Son". It is a testimony of other murders by NYPD officers, this time against men of different races and ethnicities).
My biggest question to everyone reading this as well as the New York Supreme Court is what does it take to consider a human life, especially the life of a black male, valuable in the United States? Where is the line drawn that says a black man in the United States can get justice? If our background and upbringing are bad, is that justification that I could be killed by the police if they see fit? More importantly, who's going to explain to Sean Bell's daughter that her father isn't there in her life not because he didn't love her or her mother, but because of the actions of those who are sworn to protect us?
For most Black males, to live till 25 is not a guarantee and in many areas it is against the odds placed upon us by statisticians and the whatnot. For many of us, we live in a society that sees black men as either a threat, entertainment (rappers, actors, and athletes) or a burden on the nation's economy with the idea that we are all drug dealing welfare recipients just waiting to impregnate countless black females who are also drug dealing welfare recipients.
It may sound corny, but today cherish your life and enjoy what you have. As this case proves to me and to many other Black males throughout the country, in the right place and time, our lives are expendable.
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