BY ITZÁ GARCÍA
NEW YORK - Four New York City cops killed Amadou Diallo, a 22-
year-old vendor from Guinea, here February 4 in a fusillade of
41 bullets. The unarmed man was struck by 19 bullets as he stood
in the doorway of the Bronx apartment building where he lived.
More than 1,000 people jammed onto the block where Diallo lived February 7, outraged at the killing. A majority of the protesters were from the neighborhood, which is predominantly West African immigrants. Many residents hung signs of protest out their windows. Members of Families Against Police Brutality held up photos of other victims of cop shootings. Iris Baez, whose son Anthony Baez was killed in a police chokehold in 1994, was among those who addressed the rally.
"It's an assassination - these cops are out of control," declared one woman who was a friend of Diallo. "We're like sitting ducks, none of us are safe."
Some 2,000 protesters turned out two days later for a mid-day rally outside the federal court building in Manhattan. Speakers included relatives of Diallo and families of others who have been killed by the police. Democratic Party politician Alfred Sharpton, Rev. Hubert Daugherty, and leaders of several West African associations also spoke.
Most of the protesters were West African immigrants and U.S.- born Blacks, but the action included a cross section of other working people in this city. Daniel Zuger, a taxi driver who is white, said he was there because, "We need to show solidarity." He noted that many cab drivers are from West Africa.
City officials have been scrambling to try to repair the political damage. New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani canceled travel plans and says he will attend the slain man's funeral, while calling for patience until "all the facts are in." The generally pro-cop New York Post ran a cover photo of Diallo with the headline, "In cold blood - police kill unarmed man in hail of 41 bullets." Some protesters made placards of this front page.
An editorial in the February 9 New York Times presented the killing as a case of some "bad apples," stating that 90 percent of New York cops never fire their guns. The editors called for a federal investigation of the killing, a call that has been repeated by figures such as Sharpton, Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields, former New York mayor Edward Koch, and a Black cops' organization.
The four cops who killed Diallo - Edward McMellon, Sean Carroll, Kenneth Boss, and Richard Murphy - are members of an elite plainclothes "street crime unit." Their lawyer defended the shooting, asserting that they had been looking for a rapist and Diallo fit the description "in a generic way." The four police, all of whom are white, remain at work, on desk duty.
Claudia Benson said she came to the February 9 rally "because I'm looking out for my sons' futures." Her cousin, Brenda Holder, added, "Enough is enough. This was a senseless slaughter." Both women plan to attend future protests. Another rally has been called for 12:00 noon, February 16, at the Bronx courthouse.