No Consensus on Response to Sean Bell's Death

New York, NY —

It’s been seven weeks since Sean Bell was killed in Queens, New York. Currently, a grand jury is deliberating whether to hand down any indictments on the police officers who fired 50 bullets at Bell and his two friends. But for all the outrage over the shootings, there are different opinions about how to respond to Sean Bell’s death. WNYC’s Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: On November 26, just one day after the death of Sean Bell, a press conference was held outside Mary Immaculate Hospital, in Jamaica, Queens. The group included Reverend Al Sharpton, and other local African American leaders. Several of them spoke of the need to stand together on the issue. And then Thomas White, a city councilman spoke.

WHITE: We’re not going to be hostile, we’re not going to be angry…

CROWD: Yes we are! (constant shouting forces White to stop)

REPORTER: Members of the crowd shouted Councilman White down. Clearly they were angry. And saw no point in being calm or patient about the matter, because the system had failed, yet again. Sean Bell was, for them, just the latest in a long line of black men killed at the hands of the police. Michael Jones is a Jamaica resident who showed up for Bell’s funeral.

JONES: Me and my friends here, we’re all college graduates. He’s working on his business degree. I work in corporate America. We’re not losers. But I got pulled over many times… I’m not even a criminal… the simple fact of the matter is the police are targeting any one of us.

REPORTER: For some black New Yorkers, attempts to address the situation through legislation would go nowhere. A number of groups started taking to the streets. These included the New Black Panthers, a group that modeled itself after the radical 60s organization known simply as the Black Panthers. The New Black Panthers claimed to have aligned with the Bloods gang over the Sean Bell killing.

RALLY: Panthers, fall out. Panthers, black power. Bloods, get your soldiers together.

SHAKA SHAKUR: We’re uniting our forces to take back the streets by any means necessary… the Panthers, the Bloods, the Crips, the Nation of Islam, and anybody else who fights against white supremacy.

REPORTER: The New Black Panthers received added attention by joining with an elected official, Councilman Charles Barron, a member of the original Black Panther party. Since Sean Bell’s death he has made increasingly confrontational statements aimed at the police. Barron has also suggested an explosive response from the black community is imminent.

In the early days after Bell’s death, Barron and Al Sharpton shared a stage in condemning the shooting. They also called for a special prosecutor to handle the investigation, rather than let the Queens District Attorney do the job.

But in certain fundamental ways, Charles Barron and Al Sharpton started speaking to different constituencies. Barron says the system is broken, and from Day 1 called for Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s resignation. He’s also downplayed the effectiveness of legislation.

Sharpton, on the other hand, has been moderate on the issue.

His stance is reflective of the Bell family itself, and of Nicole Paultre-Bell, Bell’s fiancée, who appeared with Sharpton on CNN’s Larry King show.

She and Sharpton both said the problem was with a few bad officers, not the police force as a whole. And that justice would take its course.

That sentiment was echoed at church services in Jamaica, a week after the shooting. Jamaica has a mixed-income population, but many of its residents are solidly middle-class. At the Greater Allen AME Cathedral, the Reverend Floyd Flake addressed the killing from the pulpit, alongside more mundane matters, such as financial strategies and home ownership. He said he was convinced that neither Sean Bell nor any of his friends had drugs or guns the night of the incident, but he also had a word for the policemen in his congregation.

FLAKE: We don’t know how it’s going to play out, but we do know one thing: there is a family that is suffering at the moment. Let’s be in prayer for them. We also have a lot of police officers in this church… we praise the lord for them… let’s be in prayer for all of them. Amen.

REPORTER: Down the street from the cathedral is the Community Church of Christ, which Sean Bell’s family attends. Bishop Lester Williams said religion has played a central role in the Bell family’s lives, and in their response to Sean’s death. He said that Valerie Bell’s grievance is with the individuals who shot her son, not with the NYPD.

WILLIAMS: Even if the verdict came back unfavorable, she would still have that quiet. She would be hurt, she would still cry, as she has done in her private moments, but I don’t think you would get a rise out of her, in terms of… because that’s not her character.

REPORTER: Bishop Williams believes the Sean Bell shooting represents a turning point in the city’s history. That it will lead to major changes in the relations between the NYPD and the communities they police. Recently, he said, police officials have started meeting with politicians and religious leaders in Jamaica, as a first step to repairing relations.

At the same time, he said they’re discussing changes that should’ve been implemented years ago. The level of distrust is so great, people are resorting to extreme measures.

WILLIAMS: People are arming themselves. It’s bad, but.... They’re thinking ‘How can we defend ourselves.

REPORTER: And while he and the Bell family have consistently spoken out for a legal resolution, he thinks an unfavorable verdict, or a failure to produce indictments, would play out badly with the community at large.

WILLIAMS: I would hate to think that would happen here in Queens, but when people are frustrated, and these frustrations have been pent up, and there’s no reason why there should not be a indictment, or why these policemen should not be fired or whatever, if that doesn’t happen… I’m not advocating any violence, and the family isn’t advocating any violence, at all, but I could not control the tides of the emotions of the people.

REPORTER: So far, the Queens DA has not produced any indictments. And to bring attention to that fact, Valerie Bell and others have begun a 50-day vigil. They’ve also started lobbying the new Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo. Their hope is that ultimately, the system will work. For WNYC, I’m Arun Venugopal.