We have a duty and a responsibility come together as a people to command the treatment we are due in a so-called civilized society. As long as we allow ourselves to be treated as sub-humans we will be given these reminders of the value our lives have to the rest of the world. We have the power to change this. Check out some of our powerful voices who responded to this travesty and think about what you intend to do in the future to make sure this kind of thing is not perpetuated any further. Enough is Enough.
Take some time and really check out daveyd.com because it is where I linked to most of the articles below.
http://www.myspace.com/jasiriX
Passing The Torch of Police Brutality: Sean Bell & The Solution
By: Adisa Banjoko, The Bishop of Hip-Hop
I got my first car when I was 18. “Now when you get pulled over, it’s a serious thing,” my dad said to me before he handed me the keys to a brown Toyota Celica. “You keep your hands on the wheel if you get stopped. Move slowly. If you are going to reach for anything like a wallet you tell him what you are going to do and do it slow. If you move too fast they will kill you. “
There was a seriousness in his eyes and his tone that I knew better than to ignore. But in my head, a part of me, said, “All right Pop slow down. This ain’t the deep South where you’re from. We live in the Bay and it’s the 1980s. ” (More)…
Sean Bell Tragedy
By Kevin Powell
I am sick to my stomach and I really do not know what to say right this second. My cell and office phones have been blowing up all day, and people have been emailing me nonstop, to let me know that Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper, the three New York City police officers accused of shooting 50 times and murdering Sean Bell, were found not guilty on all counts: Oliver, who fired 31 times and reloaded once, and Isnora, who fired 11 times, had been charged with manslaughter, felony assault and reckless endangerment. They faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Cooper, who fired four times, faced up to a year in jail if convicted of reckless endangerment. (More)
Immortal Technique Speaks Out on Police Brutality
by Immortal Technique
Sean Bell’s murder isn’t just about race. Although it is important to point out that that the idea that one cannot be prejudice against their own race is just ridiculous because there are glaring examples of it present in our everyday lives all the time. But I firmly believe this is much more about power. The power of a growing authoritarian state who will protect it’s praetorian guard at all costs, a city who values some lives over others, that doesn’t mind paying out as long as the PBA can spin the issues and use whatever legal maneuvering with a retiring judge to make the decisions it finds favorable. It is about the power of a government to torture or kill a human being and not have to answer to the people that its supposed to represent. If our only claim to democracy is the vote we somewhat take part in as a nation 25 times every century, and not the foundation of it’s institutions, then are we not truly a democracy in name only? But I am not here to preach to the choir, I actually presented this old journal entry of mine because I want to hear YOU SPEAK… We NEED to hear you speak. (More)
