NEW YORK—When an unarmed black man is shot down by police, it is no doubt a deeply troubling scene. Such is the case of Sean Bell, an African American man who was killed in a hailstorm of bullets in Queens, N.Y. the night before his wedding in November 2006.
The three police officers—who thought that Bell or someone else in his car had a gun—were acquitted in the killing last Friday, and since then New York has been witness to more troubling scenes. Enraged protesters are threatening to shut down the city for letting off these three policemen, who are themselves black, Hispanic, and Lebanese. Some of them have been heard shouting "Kill the police!," as reported by the Associated Press.
Amidst these divisive scenes, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has kept his cool, showing as much compassion to the family and friends of Sean Bell as he reasonably can while preserving social order—far more compassion, New York critics have said, than his predecessor Rudy Giuliani did in 1999, when unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo was similarly gunned down by police.
"There are no winners in a trial like this. An innocent man lost his life, a bride lost her groom, two daughters lost their father, and a mother and a father lost their son," said the Mayor in a statement last Friday.
When the shooting first occurred, the Mayor was also quick to point out that the use of 50 shots by the police indeed seemed like "excessive force."
Hand in hand with his compassion for those grieving, the Mayor also dished out some tough love in his message last Friday. And coming from a self-made billionaire, who has tirelessly fought the trafficking of illegal guns into his city and throughout the nation and is staunchly non-partisan, his words carried some real weight.
"America is a nation of laws, and though not everyone will agree with the verdicts and opinions issued by the courts, we accept their authority. Today's decision is no different," he said.
The Mayor's bottom line: "We don't expect violence or law-breaking, nor is there any place for it. We have come too far as society—and as a city—to be dragged back to those days."
Indeed, in a world where New York State is itself governed by a black man, Gov. David Patterson, and where another black man, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, has a very real chance of taking the White House in November, it becomes difficult to paint the story of Sean Bell in terms of black people versus white people, black people versus cops, or black people versus society.
The way the Mayor painted it in his final words last Friday, the story has been society versus itself and both sides need to put down their fists to come out on top.
"When I spoke with Nicole Paultre Bell [fiancé of Sean Bell] on the steps of City Hall this week, I told her that while we can't bring back the man that she was in love with, we can and will build and make things better," said the Mayor. "She replied 'Yes, and make sure it doesn't happen again,' and I agreed, 'Yes, that's exactly what we have to do.'"
"All of us have a responsibility to improve our neighborhoods and our City, and we can only do that by working together, respecting each other, and doing everything possible to prevent future tragedies and injustices," he said. Perhaps, these would be shallow words on any other occasion, but in light of the shooting of Sean Bell and with the lives of three police officers and one nation hanging in the balance, they're nothing short of profound.
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