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Vol. 71/No. 13      April 2, 2007

 
Jail 5 cops who killed Sean Bell!
(editorial)
 
A Queens grand jury recently indicted three of the five New York cops who fatally shot Sean Bell and wounded Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman. This is the result of one thing above all: the actions of those who protested loudly and visibly in the streets to demand the police be prosecuted and jailed. It was due to pressure by thousands of working people and others—and not the workings of the capitalist “justice” system, which so often has let killer cops go scot-free.

Now we join with others who have taken to the streets since the indictments were issued to demand that all five policemen be charged. Every single shot by each cop—including the officers who fired once or three times—was a criminal act that requires prosecution. If not, police will be emboldened to assume that, while 50 shots might be deemed “excessive,” they have a license to fire “a few” deadly bullets. Police association boss Michael Palladino made this clear in his brazen complaint that the charges were altogether unwarranted because they would show that “if you can’t get it done in three shots or less, you’re in trouble.”

Two cops face up to 25 years in prison and one faces up to one year. We join with protesters in demanding that the cops be given the maximum sentences.

Big-business voices, from Republican mayor Michael Bloomberg to Democratic Party city councilmen, will continue to try to demobilize protesters with calls for "calm" and divert them into relying on the courts and capitalist politicians. They argue that the killing of Bell was an “isolated” incident by cops who didn’t follow “guidelines” and that the solution is a slap on the wrist and “improved police training” or better “community relations.”

These rationalizations cover up the reality that the police killing of Sean Bell, like that of Amadou Diallo in 1999 and of Russian immigrant Anatoly Dimitriev in the Bronx last December, are not flukes. They are simply part of how the cops act on a daily basis as judge, jury, and executioner in working-class neighborhoods. The entire capitalist legal system—police, courts, and prisons—is designed to protect the property and state power of the ruling billionaire class against workers and farmers. And that class is represented in the government by the Democratic and Republican parties.

The only reliable recourse that working people have is our own collective action and solidarity. From the earlier rallies demanding the prosecution of the five New York cops to last year’s mass mobilizations for the legalization of undocumented workers, these actions are what is needed to defend the interests of the big majority.

Prosecute and jail all the killer cops!
 
 
Related articles:
‘Convict all five cops who killed Sean Bell!’
Say protesters after 3 N.Y. cops indicted  
 
 
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