What a Nation gotta do to get some justice?
Civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton was arrested Wednesday as he and hundreds of demonstrators blocked traffic to protest the acquittal of three detectives in the 50-bullet shooting of an unarmed black man on his wedding day.
If you’re organizing a protest or know of any protests in your city, please email us or post it in comments. Let’s make this nation-wide.
William Bell, Valerie Bell, and Nicole Paultre Bell join Rev. Al Sharpton during his live radio broadcast as he speaks about the Sean Bell trial in New York City, April 26, 2008.
NEW YORK – Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to “close this city down” to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and wounded two friends.
“We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians,” Sharpton told an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office in the historically black Manhattan neighborhood. “This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell.”
It can’t be about showing some black examples of success at the top. It must be about where the quality of life for blacks is compared to the quality of life for others in this country and if we look at it from that perspective, it has not changed much as we would like to say it has changed. It’s easy to throw out one or two black names that made it in sports or entertainment or even politics, but what about the median income level of black to white, what about the education level, what about the level of business, what about the level on contracts? When we get into those issues we find that we are not that different from 1968’s Kerner Commission.
I know I keep hittin’ up Tavis lately, but it’s because it seems to be the only venue on TV having the real conversation about race that Obama’s speech called for. And which, by the way, Sharpton has been dogged for in the mainstream media for how long?
Be sure to watch Tavis all this week from Memphis as we remember Dr. King’s legacy on the anniversary of his assassination.