After Liang Trial, Mending Community Relations

The accidental shooting death of Akai Gurley by former NYPD officer Peter Liang has pitted two groups against each other.

The community of racial justice advocates, still reeling from the Eric Garner case, saw Judge Danny Chun's decision not to sentence Liang to prison for his felony conviction from the shooting as yet another example of police officials not being held accountable for the killing of an unarmed African American. And there are many in the Asian American community who believe that Liang was being scapegoated for other cases of police brutality.

Doug Lee is an activist who helped organize protests in support of Liang. He wrote letters petitioning Judge Danny Chun to give a lenient sentence. But he's also met with black leaders in the city. "We all agreed that we would not let this one incident divide us that we'll need to work together," he said. 

Lee admitted this case will always be divisive, but said both groups need to work together. "The backdrop of that is we have to keep harmony and stability in the community that we share," he said.

One of the black leaders Lee has met with this past year is Reverend Jacques Andre DeGraff, a social justice activist and pastor in Harlem. DeGraff agreed that passions are high now, but said it won't always be that way.

"This is a touchstone moment," he said. "So if we find ourselves at each others throats that would be an unfortunate end result."

DeGraff said both groups have a lot in common. Both have been mistreated by the government and ghettoized.

"I think we're still strangers in our own homeland. I don't know that we can ever assimilate, but as we integrate into America we still want to maintain our identities," he said. "And as we learn about each other we'll learn about the values that we share."

Both sides vow to hold future discussions.

Meanwhile, the coals are still burning in the Liang case. There is a civil suit pending. And Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, who recommended Liang not face jail time, said he'll fight the judge's downgraded manslaughter charges.