Photo: Vanissa Chan
On May 18, Liverpool Street in Jamaica Queens was renamed to honor Sean Bell, who the NYPD gunned down three and a half years earlier on the same street. Over 400 people showed up in the pouring rain to honor the Bell’s memory. His family was joined by members of the community, clergy, local politicians, as well as many activists, including members of the PSL. The celebration took place on what would have been Bell’s 27th birthday.
On Nov. 25, 2006, the night before Bell’s wedding was to take place, five NYPD officers fired 50 rounds into his car outside of a nightclub, killing him and wounding two of his friends. Neither Bell nor his friends were carrying a weapon. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the officers’ guilt, and the massive rallies calling for his conviction, the officers were acquitted on all charges in a bench trial (in which a judge makes the ruling, and there is no jury).
The morning before the street renaming Brooklyn district court Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr. announced that the civil suit related to Bell’s killing was set to begin. The NYPD’s internal investigation had stalled the civil suit for over 2 years, but now the city settlement proceedings are scheduled to begin July 20.
Today, Sean Bell Way is still adorned with the dozens of bullet holes that ricocheted in the adjacent buildings on the night he was killed. Nicole Paultre Bell, Sean’s fiancé said at the street renaming ceremony, “When little children walk up this block and ask their parents, ‘who is Sean Bell?’ they will always be able to pass that story on.”
Even after all the pain caused to the Bell family, and the NYC community at large, Michael Palladino, President of the Detectives’ Union, had the nerve to call the renaming “disgraceful… and a terrible insult.”
Palladino’s outrageous remarks are consistent with how the NYPD, and much of the corporate media, have portrayed Bell from the beginning as a “thug” whom the community is better off without. By repeating this lie over and over, and drawing on racist stereotyping, they have tried to flip reality on its head and portray the killer cops as victims acting in self-defense.
The real “terrible insult” is that police brutality and harassment continue to plague oppressed communities across the city and across the country. In a clear violation of basic civil liberties, the NYPD has stopped and frisked nearly 3 million people in five years. More than 80 percent of those stopped are Latino or Black. While the street renaming is an appropriate gesture to the Bell family, it does not substitute for justice. All too often politicians are willing to concede symbolic victories to oppressed communities as a way of avoiding substantive reform.
Long live the memory of Sean Bell! Rebuild the movement against police brutality!
