My 2 Cents Are Priceless: Another Smack In The Face: Fuck You Very Much, Judicial System!

This past week marked the 1-year anniversary of the Sean Bell verdict. And it seemed like a lifetime ago, but I still remember that morning, finding out that those 3 cops were gonna walk. I was so pissed the fuck off & was ready to get shit poppin'. That day made me realize that people are gonna have to wake the fuck up & ride for what they stand for!

And after the verdict, I've been thinkin' of ways to immobilize my peers. I was protestin' on the streets of NYC for the next month, and then people stopped caring. It pissed me off to the point where I was like "I gotta come up with a way to get our generation out of this party & bullshit mentality that we have a majority of the time." Besides a small percentage, nobody else is givin' a shit about what's goin' on. You can't come off preachy, cause niggas don't like to be told what they should do. I guess another life is gonna have to be taken for people to realize that there's alot to be done.

So I post this, the blog I wrote after the verdict last year. I edited a few lines & added some links, but it is pretty much the same...

Not Guilty. Acquitted on all charges. The news left me stunned & numb for a few moments. In those few moments, all I could do was think about the victims: Louima, Diallo, Dorismond, Stansbury. And if you want to take it back further, Clifford Glover, Michael Stewart, Eleanor Bumpurs. The list is long & endless! If we don't take a stand against this elitist regime, more names will be added to this tragic list. It's about time for the people to let politicians & the judicial system know that we won't allow them to gun down innocent civilians (who mostly are African-American) like their lives don't mean shit!

You would begin to think that this was it. This was the case where justice would prevail. After years of gettin' played & gangbanged by the judicial system, the circumstances of this case had us thinking that justice was a reality, an inevitable occurrence. 50 shots at 3 unarmed men is straight-up murder! An execution of barbaric proportions! The only argument was how much time the cops would recieve. The facts of this case was enough evidence to get a conviction from the people's perspective.

The police not identifying themselves or showing their badges with their guns drawn, ready to fire, is clearly a violation of police protocol (Nobody has to be in the force to know that!). Their own commanding officer said that the officers were allegedly drinking inside the club that night (which is very believable, being that the cops were undercover, so they had to blend in with the patrons, thus not raising any suspicion among the patrons. People in the hood have a 6th sense for knowing who's a cop), but you don't hear too much about that, thanks to Michael Palladino & Ray Kelly. No breathalyzer test was conducted on the officers on the scene of the incident (another violation of police procedure), so there is no concrete evidence that they were under the influence. However, their actions do speak for itself. If they were sober, they would've followed standard procedures, instead of firing 50 wreckless shots into the car & surrounding area. One bullet got all the way up near the AirTrain! What if a innocent bystander got shot? Faggot-ass Michael Oliver reloaded his gun after the first clip of emptied! They thought one of the brothers had a gun...Ok, so let's ask ourselves this question: If you're firing shots at someone & they're not shooting back at you, what does that tell you?

If someone had the advantage of havin' a gun over me & they rammed me with THEIR car.....I'm unarmed. My survival instincts would kick in & tell me to escape by any means necessary. And the strip club argument is useless. Just because you go to one that has prostitution & drug transactions (which just about every strip & gentleman's club in the NYC area has, even the most affluent ones), does not mean that you're involved in those activities.....And it has always been civilians vs. cops in NYC! Clifford Glover (1972), Michael Stewart (1983), Eleanor Bumpurs (1984), Anthony Baez (1994), Yong Xin Huang (1995), Abner Louima (1997) , Gidone Busch (1999), Amadou Diallo (1999) , Patrick Dorismond (2000) , Timothy Stansbury Jr. (2004), THE LIST GOES ON.....I don't know about anywhere else, but in NYC, I've seen brothers in suits get harassed by DT's. I, myself, got arrested simply for walkin' down the block, and I see examples of this every single day. If you don't know anyone who has gotten harassed by police, it's a good thing, believe me! Cause I've been getting that kind of treatment from them since I was 13....And I never was in a gang or doing anything illegal.

From my point of view, and the court of public opinion (cause best believe I'm not the only one who feels this way), a punishment is necessary. But with all the facts, testimony from over 60 witnesses & numerous violations of departmental policies, Judge Cooperman figures that the shooting was "justified". Those are not his exact words, though his verdict clearly stated that. His verdict was 100% political, not judicial! I have no idea what kinda political benefit he can get from rendering this type of verdict. Maybe he's tryna get his rep up in the world of government. I never heard of him before the trial & I don't give a fuck about him now! He said that the witnesses who testified on behalf of the prosecution, all had contradicting stories. So did the defense's witnesses when they were called up to the stand. And if you didn't notice, the defense changed up their story midway thru the trial. First, one of the victims had a gun in the car. Then, one of the victims was going to the car to get a gun. How could you not notice that obvious contradiction? Obviously, the judge didn't. It's either that, or he had his mind made up before the trial, thus raising some type of suspicion that the DA took a dive on this case. The system does work on these type of favors, so I wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be true.

Judge Cooperman justified his verdict, determining his decision based on the demeanor of one of the victims in the courtroom. That victim was Joseph Guzman. He was shot 16 times. If you're getting insulted when they call you up on the stand & ask you questions that don't have nothing to do with the trial, you'd be defensive also! He also said that their not credible because the victims have been arrested in the past. Also, he said that Trent Benefield's testimony wasn't believable because he couldn't remember whether he was shot inside the car or as he was running for his own life! Ok, so you tellin' me cause I got arrested in the past, the justice system will not give me the time of day? Bullshit! Anthony Rico, one of the defense lawyers for the 3 cops, did a masterful job of putting the victims on trial, assassinating the character of a deceased man & making the 50 shots the cops fired look like spilled baby milk.

As far as Richard Brown (the District Attorney of Queens who led the prosecution) is concerned, he's gonna have to answer some questions. Why the hell didn't he call up the defendants to the stand? He reads their grand jury testimony into the record, helping them avoid any type of cross-examination. And he could've easily got a criminal negligent homicide charge to stick, which doesn't stray too far from the prosecution's case. He led a laid-back prosecution....And regardless of what he says or does from this point on, he'll never escape the suspicion that he took a dive....

All in all, I ain't the only one who feels this way...
50 Shots = Murder.....

I used the following articles as reference to this blog:
Village Voice (Tom Robbins: Sean Bell's Legacy Apr. 30-May 6th 2008)
Revolution (Voice Of The Revolutionary Communist Party) (May 1, 2008)
Our People (Vol.9, 8)