Last week the verdict about Sean Bell shooting came down. This 23-year-old African American man received 50 bullets on his wedding day. The Queens judge said that prosecutors failed to prove their case. What interested me is that in the context of a presidential campaign with an African American running, Obama’s reaction was interesting. Democratic candidates were both asked to react to the verdict. Yet, Obama’s reaction was eagerly expected. The Senator from Illinois finally came out and said that “in a nation at laws it is important to respect the verdict that came down.”
On the one hand, this reaction is fair as a politician must respect the independence of justice and must avoid any comment regarding justice’s decisions. On the other hand, one could say that this reaction fits in a political calculus. Indeed, as Sean Bell shooting turned into a racial issue, it was crucial for Obama to answer to African American people’s anger, but not to appear as African American people spokesperson. One will say that Obama’s reaction was already that of a statesman, other could say that asking for measures that will avoid another drama is as lifeless as a political and diplomatic reaction in that case. Definitely a hard job…
2 comments:
I think there is some aspect of race involved in the Bell case, but given that one of the officers that was actually charged is black, it's probably not as big of a factor as it would be if the officers were all white. What is most disturbing about the case is the that the police, agents of the STATE, are allowed to pump 50 bullets into *anybody* and yet face no criminal repercussions for that act. One officer shot Bell 31 times, which required him to STOP and RELOAD his gun before he started to shoot even more rounds. Every living, breathing person should be absolutely disgusted that one, the prosecution and the media defamed Bell by calling him 'that type of person' for going to a strip club the night before his wedding; last time I checked, that seemed to be most COMMON bachelor party activity known to American MEN, black, white and candy-striped. Two, that an unarmed man who was CLEARLY the victim of excessive force by the NYPD has not received the criminal justice he deserved. Every candidate in the race, black or not, should recognize that this verdict is fundamentally flawed since those officers are walking the streets with no criminal record whatsoever.
I agree that this is definitely an issue that all candidates and people should be effected by, which is precisely why I find it interesting that there is focus placed on Obama's reaction and this being a 'black issue.' People should be just as concerned with the reactions of Clinton and McCain, because this is a issue of the justice system and its ability to uphold the rights and protections of American people; the system's ability to correctly administer justice. People really need to look beyond this whole black/white evaluation of things and realize that Obama is a candidate for president, something which extends far beyond his race, and that he is not going to be the representative of just one people, therefore sometimes he is going to give the politically correct answer-- it doesn't mean that he doesn't sympathize with black people as much as some believe he should, he just can't be pigeonholed into any boxed role. It is important to realize that anything he says in this situation is already given some extra meaning because of his race, regardless if his response is race related or not. Definitely hard to deal..
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