CBS2 Reports: Outrage over the Sean Bell verdict is spreading across the country. Sunday afternoon, leaders of the major civil rights organizations came to New York to say that they are prepared to ask thousands of their members to visit the city to tie it up in acts of civil disobedience.
At a National Action Network rally in Harlem Sunday, Charles Steele Jr., President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) told the packed house, “You still have to hit the streets! Still have to raise hell and go to jail!”
According to Steele, the Sean Bell Verdict means people will have to be arrested in the thousands when the call goes out for volunteers to commit acts of civil disobedience. The call is expected within weeks.
Judging by the support coming in from major organizations around the country — the NAACP, The Urban League — it seems many people are willing to tie up the streets of New York, if necessary.
Among them is Sean Bell’s father, William Bell, who spoke exclusively with CBS 2 News Sunday. He said he is prepared to be arrested.
“He’s gotta get justice,” said Bell. “I meant that.”
On Monday, Congressman John Conyers, who heads the Congressional Oversight Committee for the Justice Department, will come to Queens from Washington D.C. and walk the area from Club Kalua to where Sean Bell was shot – in anticipation of recommending the three officers be tried in federal court.
“It’s really sad nothing [has been] done about it,” added William Bell.
Civil rights advocates want sweeping reforms in the handling of police misconduct and brutality cases in the wake of the acquittal of three officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell. Two of Bell’s friends were wounded in a volley of 50 shots fired by the undercover officers and two colleagues; the officers said they thought they were in mortal danger, but no gun was found in Bell’s car.
As with previous fatal shooting incidents in which police were absolved of criminal responsibility, the case and the verdict have triggered widespread dismay and calls for protests. New York Gov. David Paterson is expected to support a proposal for a permanent state-level special prosecutor to investigate such incidents.
Meanwhile, The Reverend Al Sharpton led a rally in Harlem on Saturday amid calls for justice and protest in response to the acquittals of the three NYPD detectives who shot and killed Sean Bell. He promised several rallies in the coming days and to quote shut the city down.
People signed up to take part in upcoming acts of peaceful civil disobedience, possibly during rush hour for maximum impact.
“Shut it down, shut it down. Shut it down, shut it down,” demonstrators chanted. They held up white placards numbered one through fifty for the number of shots the officers fired.
(Source: WCBSTV)
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4 Responses
let them be busy whith this , rather then whith the crounhights story…
More violence will happen if these ‘civil disobedience’ incidents happen. Getting everyone upset and angry is not going to solve anything. The cops should not have gotten off scott-free. We,the public.don’t have all the facts.People may have wanted a certain type of outcome even without fully knowing what really happenened.The cops may have threatened witnesses and the judge may have been afraid to rule against the officers. I’m sure Bell was responsible through his behavior for getting the police suspicious but the police had no need to shoot 50 times. This was abuse of power. There must be a peaceful decent way to review the whole case without causing more violence.
The Sharpton gang proves once again that it is nothing more than a rabble rousing, anti-American cabal that will go to all lengths to get their name in the paper and annoy the white majority at the same time. When will the media finally get it that Al has been using them to further his own agenda. By giving him the headlines, they’re just feeding Al’s voracious appetite.
I wonder what they consider civil. It must not be very civil if they’re gonna get arrested in the thousands.