Where is the Justice? Closing arguments in the Sean Bell Case..

There has to be something said for turning off your TV at night before you go to bed. Usually I fall asleep with the TV on at night on a channel that will be running the morning news when I wake up. Well this morning was no different then any other morning, except that today I was disturbed by what I heard. As many of you know, today begins the closing arguments in the Sean Bell shooting case. As terrible as that shooting was, that was not the disturbing part for me this morning. What disturbed was hearing that the City of New York and the NYPD have decided to dispatch an additional 1,000 cops through Queens, mainly Jamaica, Queens on the day the verdict is read. This effort is being described as a peace keeping in order to curtail any reactions to the verdict. While that explanation sounds valid on the surface, it speaks to a level of expectation the city and the NYPD has for people of color in this city. Granted, if these cops get off and don't pay for what they have done, I like many others will be PISSED. I will have a plethora of emotions running through me, many of which will be directed at the NYPD and the justice system. While those emotions run high and deep in the community effected by this tragedy, there has been no indication up to this point that violence or disruption will occur in the wake of an unfavorable verdict. If anything, the family and friends of Sean Bell have remained adamant that violence is not the answer to violence. It is my opinion that dispatching 1,000 cops (who by the way will be getting paid overtime) to a neighborhood that clearly has poor relations with the NYPD will only further compound the problem and initiate problems rather then alleviate them. Furthermore, it is this view of our community as emotionally unstable, violent, disruptive, degenerates that led to the tragic death of this young man.
The irony of it all is simple astounding. It breaks my heart that even in an effort to achieve the justice granted to all citizens of this country, a neighborhood that was terrorized on that night in November will now be criminalized. It leaves me to wonder, where is the justice in that?

~Maliek~