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Sharpton Refuses Deal on Charges for Sean Bell Protest
By JOHN ELIGON Published: July 9, 2008
Most of the people who were arrested while protesting the Sean Bell police shooting verdict will have their cases dismissed. But prosecutors refused on Tuesday to drop charges against one defendant, the Rev. Al Sharpton. The Manhattan district attorney’s office wanted Mr. Sharpton to plead guilty to disorderly conduct because of his history of arrests for similar actions. Mr. Sharpton is often ready with calls of injustice, but he viewed his treatment in this case as a distinction.
“I am very honored that the court recognizes my background for standing up for what is right,” Mr. Sharpton said outside the criminal courthouse in Manhattan, where court officers rerouted foot traffic to avoid disturbing his almost ceremonious news conference. We have always stood to disobey when we felt the system was not working.” His legal team was not willing to accept the district attorney’s offer for Mr. Sharpton to avoid jail time or fines by pleading guilty. (Disorderly conduct is a violation, not a crime, and would not result in a criminal record.) So the case was put off to July 28 while Mr. Sharpton’s lawyers try to negotiate a better deal.
They hope to convince the district attorney that “it is more appropriate to give everyone the same disposition,” said Wylie Stecklow, one of Mr. Sharpton’s lawyers. “Everyone had, technically, the same culpable conduct.” More than 200 people were arrested on May 7 after they blocked several bridges and intersections in Brooklyn and Manhattan in protest of the acquittal of three police detectives involved in the shooting death of Mr. Bell. Among those arrested, and at Mr. Sharpton’s side on Tuesday, was Nicole Paultre Bell, the woman who was to marry Mr. Bell the day he was killed in November 2006.
Most of those arrested, including Ms. Bell, will have their charges dropped as long as they stay out of trouble for six months. Like Mr. Sharpton, two other protestors — Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, who were in Mr. Bell’s car and also were shot — were not offered dismissals because of previous arrests, according to a spokeswoman for the district attorney. Mr. Benefield has no criminal convictions, but has been arrested in the past, including a robbery charge that was dismissed, said his lawyer, Michael Hardy. Still, Mr. Benefield and Mr. Guzman, who has served prison terms for armed robbery and selling cocaine, will refuse to plead to the straight disorderly conduct charges, Mr. Hardy said.
“They were the victims, and, therefore, their position is they will be willing to do a day in jail since the cops did none,” he said. Mr. Sharpton has been willingly arrested at least 10 times since 1984, Mr. Hardy said. And it’s not about showmanship, he added. “In the movement, getting arrested was a badge of honor,” he said. “In the ’50s and ’60s, if you didn’t get arrested, you were suspect.”
Sharpton pleads not guilty in Sean Bell protest arrest
The Rev. Al Sharpton pleaded not guilty to a disorderly conduct charge yesterday stemming from a citywide demonstration in May that protested acquittals of three New York police officers in the death of Sean Bell. Sharpton said similar protests set next week for baseball's All-Star Game in the Bronx were called off because he felt "reasonably confident" state and national police reform bills will be passed.
"We are not jail freaks. We don't love handcuffs," Sharpton said after his hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court. "We are trying to move toward some kind of permanent change." Sharpton will appear next in court July 28, along with at least 30 others charged with disorderly conduct in the protest. More than 200 were arrested May 7 during the peaceful protests that blocked major streets and river crossings in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Bell's fiance, Nicole Paultre Bell, 23, her mother and a cousin were among those arrested. They appeared in court yesterday, where Judge Melissa Jackson said in six months their cases would be dismissed if they avoid future arrests.
"I felt that I needed to do what I needed to, to get justice," Paultre Bell said. More than half of the protesters arrested received the same terms as Paultre Bell, while others pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney's office said. A series of peaceful protests followed the Nov. 25, 2006, 50-shot killing of the unarmed Sean Bell, 23, before culminating in the May 7 event.
Sharpton sought the creation of a special prosecutor to probe officer misconduct and federal charges against detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper after they were cleared in April. The New York Police Department filed internal disciplinary charges against the three officers.
Washington Post
Focus on School Reform
A new coalition presses the presidential candidates to face the problems of public education.
Monday, July 7, 2008; A12
SAY WHAT YOU will about the Rev. Al Sharpton, it is hard to ignore -- or deter -- him. And that is good news for those interested in fixing the nation's troubled public schools. In giving his voice to school reform as a true civil rights issue, Mr. Sharpton may help change the nature of the debate. Equally significant is his willingness and that of other leaders in a recently formed coalition to challenge traditional allies in the cause of black and brown children.
Mr. Sharpton has joined New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein in heading a fast-growing national coalition of educators, politicians and academicians that aims to focus attention on the real issues of education reform. The Education Equality Project avoids the arcane language of policy in framing school improvement as a matter of basic human rights. How can America boast of equal opportunity when so many black and Latino children are denied a good education? How can we fully take pride in the likely Democratic presidential nomination of Sen. Barack Obama, Mr. Sharpton asks, when fewer than half of all black males graduate from high school?
The group is unsparing in its critique of a system more interested in the political interests of adults than the education rights of children. The system keeps unsuccessful teachers in classrooms, fails to place the best educators where they are needed most and rewards longevity over effectiveness. The Democratic Party's traditional ties to labor unions and civil rights organizations have helped keep that status quo in place. So it's encouraging that Mr. Sharpton is confronting these old friends about the need to bring reason to teacher contracts, revamp policies that consign poor children to the worst schools, and give parents more choice about where their sons and daughters go to school.
Encouraging Mr. Obama and his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, to debate these questions is a laudable aim of the group. Education was backstage during the primaries, and a clear picture has yet to emerge of either candidate's positions. Mr. McCain has not been forthcoming with any detailed plan; he is said to be preparing one for the fall. Mr. Obama, as the New York Times' David Brooks recently observed, has promised dozens of crowd-pleasing programs but has been elusive on such thorny issues as teacher tenure and school accountability.
To some extent, both candidates are freed of the political baggage that has constricted their predecessors. Mr. Obama managed to secure his apparent nomination without help from teachers unions, and Mr. McCain can thank President Bush for challenging the traditional Republican aversion to any federal role in education. Both candidates have an opportunity to discuss what makes sense for the nation's schools, rather than what makes for smart politics.
Forum cites lack of diversity in police forces The Journal News
MOUNT VERNON - A community forum yesterday generated calls for a "crisis intervention" in response to local police forces' lack of diversity and recent incidents of excessive force. About 200 people attended the Detective Christopher A. Ridley Law Enforcement Community Relations Forum yesterday at Grace Baptist Church. The event was named after Ridley, a Mount Vernon police officer mistakenly shot to death in White Plains by four Westchester county police officers during Ridley's intervention in a Jan. 25 street fight.
Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, District Attorney Janet DiFiore and other county and local elected and police officials from Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains and Yonkers sat on the panel. They answered questions about what policies the county's largest police forces can adopt to increase police diversity and sensitivity to prevent incidents like the Ridley shooting or the body-slamming of Irma Marquez last year. On Friday federal prosecutors charged Yonkers Police Officer Wayne Simoes with criminally violating Marquez's civil rights, after DiFiore's office prosecuted a case against Marquez without finding fault with Simoes' actions.
The Rev. Darin Moore of the United Black Clergy of Westchester began the forum by discussing the results of a national poll of black Americans released last week indicating that many of them feared or distrusted the police.Moore co-moderated the forum with Grace Baptist's senior pastor, the Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson; the Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network; and state Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, D-Mount Vernon. Audience members wrote their questions on cards that were then handed to the moderators, who asked panelists questions.
Richardson said racial diversity in local police forces is critical to reducing community distrust and incidents like those involving Ridley and Marquez. "I serve on the board of PepsiCo, and we can force the people who are hiring people to reflect the community we sell to," Richardson said. "If 24 percent of (Mount Vernon) police officers are black and 50 percent of the city is black, that is a crisis. There has to be a crisis intervention." The panelists described their police departments' efforts to diversify, and then panelists turned their attention to the district attorney's role in providing evidence and advice to grand juries. In her opening statements, DiFiore said that a district attorney cannot determine outcomes of grand jury decisions and that she would not criticize a grand jury's decision not to indict the four Westchester county police officers who shot Ridley. Sharpton then questioned DiFiore's ability to investigate local police and her role in deciding what evidence is given to grand juries to review. (To read the full text of the Article Click Here)
Rev. Al Sharpton's not looming so large
Sunday, June 29th 2008, 4:00 AM
Who doesn't love dieting tips from the stars? But from political pundits? Consider some advice from the Rev. Al Sharpton, who is sporting a wildly slimmer figure. The good reverend has dropped a solid 20 pounds in the past six months!
According to Sharpton's camp, the now-svelte talking head and activist works out four days a week on the treadmill and elliptical and has kept to a strict, almost starvation-style style diet. He eats only two meals daily, both before 6 p.m. His breakfast is two hard-boiled eggs and tomato, and his other meal is fish accompanied by a green salad. One day a week, just to mix it up, he throws some chicken on that salad.
Careful, Al. You are looking pretty, but this is how an E! "True Hollywood Story" always begins.
Don Imus once again brings race to airwaves By Associated Press NEW YORK --
Don Imus has once again injected race into his radio show. During an on-air conversation Monday about the arrests of suspended Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones, Imus asked, "What color is he?"Told by sports announcer Warner Wolf that Jones is "African-American," Imus responded: "There you go. Now we know."Civil rights leader Al Sharpton issued a statement calling the exchange disturbing "because it plays into stereotypes." He says his National Action Network was still deciding how to respond.Imus was fired from his previous show last year after he made a racially charged comment about the Rutgers women's basketball team.Representatives for Imus and WABC Radio haven't returned calls.
Sharpton gets big gun to fend off feds
BY JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Facing an escalating federal probe into his charity's finances, the Rev. Al Sharpton now has his own muscle: former Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Zachary Carter.
Sharpton said Thursday he hired Carter - a respected ex-prosecutor - to represent him and his National Action Network because he thinks the probe has become politicized. "When I see staff members of mine woken up at 6 a.m. and handed subpoenas...I don't trust this Justice Department," Sharpton told the Daily News. Federal agents rousted Sharpton's former chief of staff and several other NAN employees one morning last December to serve subpoenas issued by the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office seeking financial records. "Zachary Carter knows the workings of that office and is totally aware of what is proper," Sharpton said. He insisted he did not hire the former prosecutor because he fears criminal charges are looming.
"If I thought I had a problem like that, I'd have hired a gunslinger," he said. Prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service have been investigating whether Sharpton misstated the amount of money he raised during his 2004 run for President in order to qualify for matching federal funds. They are also looking into possible tax fraud involving the reverend and NAN. Recently, the probe took a new turn, sources said, when subpoenas were served on several corporations that have donated money to the charity. The move prompted speculation that the feds are examining whether the payments were made in response to threats by Sharpton of boycotts and demonstrations. "News Corp. [which owns the New York Post] bought two tables to my annual [Martin Luther King Jr.] dinner in 2005. So why is it when it's in their interest, it's called 'outreach' and when it's not, they say it's a shakedown?" Sharpton said. On Wednesday, Sharpton wrote a letter to Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, requesting a review of the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's actions for possible "abuse of power," a Sharpton spokeswoman said. Conyers is leading a probe into charges that nine U.S. attorneys were forced to resign for political reasons by former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.
"We are mindful of the clear political motivation of the Justice Department and the IRS under this present administration," Sharpton said. Carter, a partner in the Manhattan law firm Dorsey & Whitney, was hired about three months ago. "I have no comment beyond the fact that my firm has been retained in connection with this matter and that we are cooperating fully with the United States attorney's office," Carter said in a statement. Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell declined to respond to Sharpton's charges. Sharpton and NAN owe several million dollars in back taxes, but Sharpton attributed the problem to a fire at his Harlem headquarters that destroyed many records. Much of the amount owed consists of penalties he's vigorously disputing.
Op-ed by Bertha Lewis, Executive Director, New York ACORN
There they go again... Splayed across the cover of Sunday’s New York Post a supposed ‘expose’ on the Rev. Al Sharpton’s relationships with some of America’s largest corporations.
Omitted: any mention of the discriminatory track record of dozens of these same corporations. The glass ceilings. The class action lawsuits. The failure of these companies to invest in our community. The predilection of some of these companies to market some of their most dangerous and unhealthy products to our young men and women.
Omitted: Reverend Sharpton and the National Action Network’s critical role in shining a light on some of America’s most respected brands when they step out of line and disrespect our community. His role in marshalling the collective power of the mass media and our community’s unrecognized buying power to force positive change for employees of color, small business people and consumers in black and brown neighborhoods in New York City and across this country. It’s a double standard plain and simple.
When suburban moms campaign against corporate misdeeds they are Erin Brockovich. When our community fights to secure economic development benefits from Wall Street we are shakedown artists for sale. I cannot speak to the rest of corporate America’s relationship to Rev. Sharpton, but I can set the facts straight about one issue they mentioned at length that I do know something about: the Rev. Sharpton’s support for Atlantic Yards. The facts tell a different story. The New York Post made great hay out of the Rev. Sharpton’s support for Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development project in Downtown Brooklyn. The paper implied a deal between Sharpton and Forest City and called the Rev a hypocrite for backing this critical development when only years earlier he had joined me and hundreds of ACORN members in protesting the lack of living wage jobs and local hiring at another Forest City Project – the Atlantic Center mall in Downtown Brooklyn.
Well I was there for Atlantic Center and I brought the Rev. Sharpton to the dance at Atlantic Yards, and I can tell you that in both situations – Rev. Sharpton’s involvement had nothing to do with Forest City Ratner and everything to do with his support for ACORN members in Brooklyn and their fight for a living wage. In 2000 ACORN launched a national campaign in urban areas to force major retailers that sold to our community to pay their workers a living wage. With millions of dollars in subsidies going to the Walmarts and Kmarts and Home Depots, ACORN members were outraged that most of these companies barely paid the minimum wage – and forget about healthcare. In Brooklyn our campaign was aimed squarely at Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Center. Hundreds of ACORN members from Downtown Brooklyn and the surrounding neighborhood demanded Atlantic Center’s retail tenants do better by the neighborhood.
ACORN asked Rev. Sharpton to support us and help us shine a light on the national chains that were going into Atlantic Center with no promise of community hiring or a living wage. And as he has done so many times in the past on issue after issue, when we invited the Rev. Sharpton - he came. Whether the issue was ending police brutality, stopping the privatization of New York City schools, or demanding affordable housing – whenever ACORN has called, Rev. Sharpton has dropped everything and stood with us as a critical ally and trusted friend. That’s also how and why Rev. Sharpton ended up supporting Atlantic Yards. In late 2003, NY ACORN learned that Forest City Ratner was planning a major development above the Long Island Rail Road’s Vanderbilt Storage Yard. ACORN approached Forest City and began a spirited dialogue about its plans. Thousands of ACORN members came together in borough-wide and neighborhood meetings to learn about the project, discuss demands and develop our position.Our bottom line was simple: any development had to have an unprecedented commitment to affordability and provide real housing opportunities for a range of low-income and middle-income families and seniors.
Through months of negotiations we arrived at New York City’s first legally binding Community Benefits Agreement and a groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding between ACORN and Forest City Ratner about the housing component of the project. Under our agreement with Forest City Ratner, 50 percent of the 4,500 rental units in the project will be affordable to low-, moderate- and middle-income families. Rents will be set at an average of 30 percent of the middle of each income band. And unlike many affordable housing projects in New York City, units will be available for a range of household sizes from one to six people. Half of all affordable rental units will be two- and three-bedroom units. Beyond building new affordable units, all 4,500 rental units at Atlantic Yards will be rent-stabilized -- no small victory in an era where thousands of rent stabilized units return to the free market every year. Ten percent of the affordable units will be for senior citizens, providing much-needed housing to a population that is radically underserved by existing public and private programs. To make the project a reality we needed the support of elected officials at the local, state and federal level and again – as we have done so many times before – NY ACORN turned to Rev. Sharpton to stand with us as an ally.
Contrary to the New York Post, Rev. Sharpton’s support had nothing to do with Forest City Ratner and everything to do with his willingness to stand up for ACORN members and support their campaign for affordable housing. In 2004 he joined me, National Urban League President Marc Morial, Rev. Herbert Daughtry and many other community leaders in calling on New York officials to get this project moving. Rev. Sharpton was supporting ACORN members when he joined us in calling on Forest City Ratner to do better at Atlantic Center. And he was supporting us again when he joined our campaign to build Atlantic Yards. His support for this project is that of a twenty year ally and friend to ACORN members throughout this city. The Post’s story was grossly inaccurate in this regard. And the paper’s insistence that his motives are something other than improving the condition of the thousands of Brooklynites who will earn living wage jobs or affordable homes at Atlantic Yards, cheapens the effort of thousands of ACORN members and is the ultimate slap at our community.
CHARGES WILL BE DROPPED IN SEAN BELL PROTESTS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 18, 2008 --
Charges will be dropped against scores of protesters arrested during demonstrations over the acquittals of three police officers in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man on his wedding day, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Citywide demonstrations, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, clogged intersections and snarled traffic last month. More than 200 people were arrested, including Sharpton, Nicole Paultre Bell, the fiancee of slain groom Sean Bell, and two men also injured in the 2006 shooting. The charges included disorderly conduct for blocking traffic or refusing orders to disperse.
Brooklyn and Manhattan prosecutors said charges will be dismissed against 154 of the protesters after six months if the defendants stay out of trouble. Another nine pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. Because of the high volume of arrests, 61 cases, including those of Bell and Sharpton, are still pending in Manhattan. Those cases will likely be eventually dismissed as is the practice with most civil disobedience cases, prosecutors said.
Bell, 23, died in a hail of 50 bullets on Nov. 25, 2006, around the corner from a Queens topless bar where he had been celebrating his bachelor party and where undercover police were investigating complaints of prostitution.
Detectives Gescard Isnora, Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper were cleared of manslaughter and other charges in April after a two-month trial heard by a judge instead of a jury. The detectives said they opened fire on Bell's car because they believed he and his friends were armed and because the men defied orders to halt and tried to drive away. No weapon was recovered.
Obama Calls for More Responsibility From Black Fathers
By Julie Bosman NY Times - June 16, 2008
CHICAGO — Addressing a packed congregation at one of the city’s largest black churches, Senator Barack Obama on Sunday invoked his own absent father to deliver a sharp message to black men, saying “we need fathers to recognize that responsibility doesn’t just end at conception.”
In an address that was striking for its bluntness and where he chose to give it, Mr. Obama directly addressed one of the most delicate topics confronting black leaders: how much responsibility absent fathers bear for some of the intractable problems afflicting black Americans. Mr. Obama noted that “more than half of all black children live in single-parent households,” a number that he said had doubled since his own childhood.
“Too many fathers are M.I.A., too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes,” Mr. Obama said to a chorus of approving murmurs from the audience. “They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.” Accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, who sat in the front pew, Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, laid out his case in stark terms that would be difficult for a white candidate to make, telling the mostly black audience not to “just sit in the house watching ‘SportsCenter,’ ” and to stop praising themselves for mediocre accomplishments.
“Don’t get carried away with that eighth-grade graduation,” he said, bringing many members of the congregation to their feet, applauding. “You’re supposed to graduate from eighth grade.” His themes have also been sounded by the comedian Bill Cosby, who has stirred debate among black Americans by bluntly speaking about an epidemic of fatherlessness in African-American families while suggesting that some blacks use racism as a crutch to explain the lack of economic progress. Mr. Obama did not take his Father’s Day message to Trinity United Church of Christ, where he resigned as a member in May after a series of disputes over controversial remarks by the church’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Instead, he chose the 20,000-member Apostolic Church of God, a vast brick structure on the South Side near Lake Michigan. The church’s pastor, Byron Brazier, is an Obama supporter.
The address was not Mr. Obama’s first foray into the issue. On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama has frequently returned to the topic of parenting and personal responsibility, particularly for low-income black families. Speaking in Texas in February, Mr. Obama told the mostly black audience to take responsibility for the education and nutrition of their children, and lectured them for feeding their children “cold Popeyes” for breakfast. “I know how hard it is to get kids to eat properly,” Mr. Obama said at the time. The remarks Sunday were Mr. Obama’s first since he claimed the nomination that have addressed the problems confronting blacks in a comprehensive and straightforward way. While Mr. Obama’s remarks were directed at a black, churchgoing audience, his campaign hopes they resonate among white social conservatives in a race where these voters may be up for grabs.
On Friday, Mr. Obama said he would co-sponsor a bill, with Senator Evan Bayh, Democrat of Indiana, that his campaign said would address the “national epidemic of absentee fathers.” If passed, the legislation would increase enforcement of child support payments and strengthen services for domestic violence prevention. “We need families to raise our children,” he said at the service on Sunday. “We need fathers to recognize that responsibility doesn’t just end at conception. That doesn’t just make you a father. What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child. Any fool can have a child. That doesn’t make you a father. It’s the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.” Mr. Obama spoke of the burden that single parenthood placed on his mother, who raised him with the help of his maternal grandparents. “I know the toll it took on me, not having a father in the house,” he continued. “The hole in your heart when you don’t have a male figure in the home who can guide you and lead you. So I resolved many years ago that it was my obligation to break the cycle — that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father to my children.” (To read more on Sen. Obama’s Speech Click Here)
Father's Day's lost to me: Sean Bell dad
By Kamelia Angelova
Saturday, June 14th 2008, 8:28 PM
Father's Day will never be the same for Sean Bell's dad, who will mark the day by calling for justice for young black men.
At a protest march in Queens Saturday, William Bell said the fatal shooting of his son on his wedding day in 2006 has forever marred the holiday.
"It used to be about my son, not anymore. We used to go to the park, play ball, do father-and-son things," he said. "Tomorrow, I'm going to visit some churches, speak to some people. It's not about me anymore."
Hundreds of demonstrators joined the Bell family at Roy Wilkins Park in Jamaica Saturday for a Journey for Justice march, organized to coincide with Father's Day.
Marchers started at four spots in southeast Queens and ended at the park, where speakers included the Rev. Al Sharpton and Bell's parents. William Bell was presented a Father's Day plaque.
"People came out and showed their support. It makes me feel good," he said. "This makes him alive in our hearts. We're here not only for Sean but for justice for all."
Sean Bell was unarmed when he was shot by three detectives near a Queens strip club in December 2006.
The cops were acquitted in April. "We should not forget that tomorrow is one sad day for William Bell," Sharpton said. "He will remember that Sean is not there to wish him a happy Father's Day."
Sharpton wants change in police shooting investigations
By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
The Rev. Al Sharpton and the mother of a man shot to death by an officer met with police and city officials Friday, and the civil rights leader called for the police department to change the way it investigates shootings by officers.
Sharpton also toured the site on Sylvania Avenue where Aaron Winchester was shot twice in the back by an officer on May 20, meeting with witnesses who said the police account of events varied from what they saw.
He said he had strong words for interim Chief David Graham and the other leaders with whom he and about 10 others met privately in the Government Center uptown Friday morning.
“At this point, it's like the police are investigating themselves and finding themselves innocent,” Sharpton said in a news conference afterward.
Police didn't comment on the meeting.
Sharpton pointed to an Observer analysis that showed that 31 of the last 31 internal investigations of police-involved shootings completed by CMPD absolved the officers of guilt. The perception of independence is important even if the officers are innocent, Sharpton said.
In Charlotte, officer-involved shootings are investigated by the department's homicide unit, which presents its findings to the District Attorney's Office. The department also conducts an internal investigation.
In the past, CMPD has been resistant to outside agencies investigating shootings by its officers, but a 2007 law requires the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate such shootings if the family of the dead person requests it.
Earlier this month, District Attorney Peter Gilchrist asked the SBI to get involved. The family also said it would petition the bureau, and the Winchesters' lawyers have questioned some of the witnesses of the fatal shooting.
But Sharpton and the state chapter of the NAACP have requested wholesale change – an outside investigation every time an officer kills someone.
He also decried what he called “a pattern of unacceptable police activity.”
“Citizens have the right to question the officers in Charlotte, but that seems not to be the case,” he said. “To believe that even in the pursuit of a crime that an officer has a right to be judge, jury and executioner is morally wrong.”
After his meeting, Sharpton and a caravan of media went to the site of the May 20 shooting.
And so for the second time in three weeks, Mac Huntley, Ruth Thompson and Mozelle McMullen watched as TV cameras and people in suits filled their quiet, tree-lined street just north of uptown.
The trio and two other eyewitnesses disputed the official police account of the shooting. Police say Winchester ran after Officer David Jester stopped him about a domestic disturbance and ensuing car crash. Police say Winchester removed a silver handgun from his back right pocket and “started to turn toward the officer with the gun in his hand.”
But witnesses interviewed by the Observer say they didn't see Winchester reach for a gun, hold a gun, or turn toward the officer, even slightly.
Sharpton tours scene of police shooting fatality The Charlotte Post, June 13, 2008
The Rev. Al Sharpton was in Charlotte today to talk to the family of a man killed by police last month as well as tour the neighborhood where the fatality took place.
Sharpton, a civil rights activist and founder of the National Action Network, held a press conference at the Government Center Friday morning before heading to a private meeting with the family of Aaron Winchester, 21, who was shot to death May 20 in the Lockwood neighborhood in north Charlotte by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer David Jester. With Sharpton were Melvin “Skip” Alston, president of the N.C. NAN and Willie Gary of Stuart, Fla., one of the nation’s top trial attorneys.
In front of a makeshift memorial of flowers on a cross and wrapped in a plastic U.S. flag, and candles, Sharpton, Gary and Winchester’s mother, Bonita, gathered with NAN officials for a brief prayer on Sylvania Avenue where the shooting took place. Bonita Winchester took no questions, but hugged well-wishers and told them “I’m holding up.” NAN is conducting its own investigation and has interviewed Lockwood residents.
Sharpton’s visit is his second in Charlotte this year. In January, he appeared at a rally for former Mecklenburg County sheriff-elect Nick Mackey before the results of a special elect was overturned by the N.C. Democratic Party. The Winchester shooting is the latest in a string of confrontations between Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police and civilians – which includes three fatalities in the last seven months. The N.C. NAACP is lobbying for a state law that would require the State Bureau of Investigation to probe police shootings. A law passed last year allows families to ask for independent probes, which Winchester’s family has done.
Eyewitness accounts of the shooting by Lockwood neighbors differ from the official CMPD report. Winchester was shot twice in the back and a handgun was found near his body, but neighbors on Sylvania say Winchester was running away from Jester. N.C. law allows law enforcement officials to shoot in order to protect others from harm or when an officer fears for his or her life.
Mecklenburg District Attorney Peter Gilchrist, in a break from previous responses to police shootings of civilians, has also called for an outside investigation.
OP-ED COLUMNIST
By David Brooks
Obama, Liberalism and the Challenge of Reform
Is Barack Obama really a force for change, or is he just a traditional Democrat with a patina of postpartisan rhetoric?
That question is surprisingly hard to answer. When you listen to his best speeches, you see a person who really could herald a new political era. But when you look into his actual policies, you often find a list of orthodox liberal programs that no centrist or moderate conservative would have any reason to support.
To investigate this question, I looked more closely into Obama's education policies. Education is a good area to probe because Obama knows a lot about it, and because there are two education camps within the Democratic Party: a status quo camp and a reform camp. The two camps issued dueling strategy statements this week.
The status quo camp issued a statement organized by the Economic Policy Institute. This report argues that poverty and broad social factors drive high dropout rates and other bad outcomes. Schools alone can't combat that, so more money should go to health care programs, anti-poverty initiatives and after-school and pre-K programs. When it comes to improving schools, the essential message is that we need to spend more on what we're already doing: smaller class sizes, better instruction, better teacher training.
The reformist camp, by contrast, issued a statement through the Education Equality Project, signed by school chiefs like Joel Klein of New York, Michelle Rhee of Washington, Andres Alonso of Baltimore as well as Al Sharpton, Mayor Cory Booker of Newark and experts like Andrew Rotherham, the former Clinton official who now writes the Eduwonk blog.
The reformists also support after-school and pre-K initiatives. But they insist school reform alone can make a big difference, so they emphasize things the status quo camp doesn't: rigorous accountability and changing the fundamental structure of school systems. (To read the full column Click Here)
'Standing Up for the Children'
New Group Pushes Education Reform as Campaign Issue
By Bill TurqueWashington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 12, 2008; Page A21
It was the kind of odd coupling that seemed more like the premise for a reality show than a news conference on education policy: New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and the Rev. Al Sharpton. They were in Washington yesterday as co-chairmen of a new national effort to push education issues from the periphery to the center of the 2008 presidential campaign. The Education Equity Project, Klein and Sharpton said, will challenge the presumptive presidential nominees, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), to treat the failure of schools to educate black and Latino children as the overriding civil rights issue of the 21st century.
Flanked by a group of prominent education officials and advocates, including D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, Baltimore City schools chief Andres Alonso and former Colorado governor and Los Angeles Schools superintendent Roy Romer, the two endorsed no candidate and offered few specific policy directives. But they said they intend to drive the debate through position papers, public forums planned at national conventions in Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul and behind-the-scenes advocacy with the campaigns.
Klein said that more than a half-century after Brown v. Board of Education, the promise of equal educational opportunity for minority students has yet to be realized. Test data showing black high school students lagging an average of four years behind their white peers in reading and math scores were "shocking in its dimensions," he said. "To me this is not just an issue of school reform," Klein said. "It is a civil rights issue, the civil rights issue of our time."
Sharpton, a 2004 presidential candidate who has close political ties to Klein's boss, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said it was time for the traditional civil rights coalition to seek "a new paradigm," confronting old allies such as the teachers unions and insisting that they become more accountable for student performance.
"Who is standing up for the children?" Sharpton asked. (To read the full article Click Here)
Democrats Offer Plans to Revamp Schools Law By SAM DILLON June 12, 2008
Democrats are dividing into camps as they debate a new course for education policy after President Bush leaves office. On Wednesday, a group of a dozen prominent educators and lawmakers, led by Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein of New York and the Rev. Al Sharpton, said the United States’ public schools shortchanged poor black and Latino children in a way that was “shameful,” and urged Washington to squeeze teachers and administrators harder to raise achievement among minorities.
On Tuesday, about 60 prominent educators and academics issued another manifesto, which criticized the federal No Child Left Behind law and argued that schools alone could not close a racial achievement gap rooted in economic inequality. They urged a new emphasis on health clinics and other antipoverty programs that could help poor students arrive at school ready to learn. The groups issuing the statements were composed overwhelmingly of Democrats.
Mr. Klein and Mr. Sharpton’s statement argued that federal policy should continue to hold schools accountable for raising the achievement of poor African-American and Latino youths, which is a focus of the federal law, but should also seek to assign more effective teachers to the nation’s neediest classrooms. This is an area where the statement said the law had been weak. Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark, the president of the Colorado Senate and the leaders of the Washington and Baltimore school systems also signed the statement. The statement included a passage labeling teachers union contracts a significant obstacle to increasing the achievement of poor students.
“We must insist that our elected officials confront and address head-on crucial issues that created this crisis: teachers’ contracts and state policies that keep ineffective teachers in classrooms and too often make it nearly impossible to get our best teachers paired up with the students who most need them,” it said. The other manifesto was signed by two schools superintendents, Beverly L. Hall of Atlanta and Rudy Crew of Miami-Dade County, and Thomas W. Payzant, the former superintendent in Boston, as well as the civil rights leader Julian Bond and former Attorney General Janet Reno, among others.
It criticized the No Child Left Behind law, Mr. Bush’s signature domestic initiative, as narrowing instruction in some schools to little more than reading and math, and called for a “broader, bolder approach” that would increase investment in health and other services in poor communities and rely less exclusively on schools to solve the nation’s social problems. “Some schools have demonstrated unusual effectiveness,” said the statement, published on Tuesday in paid space in The New York Times and The Washington Post. “But even they cannot, by themselves, close the entire gap between students from different backgrounds.” “Reducing social and economic disadvantages can also improve achievement,” it said.
Neither document mentioned the presidential campaign, but signers of both said the documents were being made public now in hopes of generating more debate about education policies in the general election campaign than what had occurred during the primaries.
“With the Democratic primary ending and the general campaign starting, there’s the sense that now is the time to lay out different visions of what our education policy should be,” said Andrew Rotherham, a Democrat who is co-founder of Education Sector, a research group in Washington, and who co-signed the statement of principles issued by Mr. Klein and Mr. Sharpton. “Presidential campaigns are in many ways national conversations, so now is the time to lay out a new agenda."
An effort last year to reauthorize the federal law, which Congress passed in Mr. Bush’s first year with bipartisan majorities, fell apart. Congress is unlikely to try again to rewrite the legislation, the most important statement of federal policy toward public schools, until well after a new president takes office.
Educators see civil rights issue in bad schools
By DEVLIN BARRETT Associated Press Writer last updated: June 11, 2008 12:47:07 PM WASHINGTON --
If Johnny can't read and Sally can't add, it's often because of the color of their skin and their ZIP code, educators and activists said Wednesday.The heads of the New York City and Washington, D.C., school systems joined with civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton and others to press for a shake-up of public schools from coast to coast to narrow the achievement gap between white students and black and Hispanic students.
The group called the gap the nation's most pressing civil rights issue.By the time they near high school graduation, black and Hispanic teenagers on average have math and reading skills no higher than that of white middle-school students four years younger.Nationally, 55 percent of black males graduate high school on time, compared to about 78 percent for whites, according to recent data released by Education Week with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation."
All the numbers, no matter how you look at it, are shocking," said Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City school system, the nation's largest.Klein, Sharpton and D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee appeared together to announce the creation of the Education Equality Project, an advocacy group to reform a public education system they say has been paralyzed by special interests like teachers unions as well as political and parental indifference. The group has yet to advocate any specific policies it wants to see enacted, but in general its leading members said they want to see greater accountability from teachers, more incentives to reward success, and greater parental responsibility for educating children.
"We are in an age where we are trying to move beyond race, but achievement in education is not beyond race," said Sharpton. "Our children are drowning in the waters of indifference and old coalitions that no longer work and no longer care. "The problem is not being fully addressed by the presidential candidates, the group said, because voters don't want to hear about national government plans to impose new standards on local school boards. Rhee noted that in her city, children who go to public schools in an affluent neighborhood get a "wildly different" education than students in the same school system who live in a poorer neighborhood. She also voiced concern that some of her fellow Democrats are so critical of the federal No Child Left Behind law that emphasized standardized testing that they have lost sight of the point of the legislation. "For too many years, we were not holding people accountable," Rhee said..
Schools Chancellor Klein, Rev. Al Sharpton an odd pair in education push
By Erin Einhorn
Daily News Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 10th 2008, 11:15 PM
It was only a year ago that the Rev. Al Sharpton was blasting Joel Klein for his school management and planning a protest against him on the steps of City Hall. Now the two are joining to spearhead a national, high-profile political campaign focusing on the crisis in urban schools. "This initiative is going to have a lot of odd-couple alliances," said Charlie King of Sharpton's National Action Network. "The important point to take away from this is we're bringing a lot of people together who care about changing the dialogue and conversation on education."
Organizers were tight-lipped yesterday about the details of the initiative, which will be announced in Washington today by Klein, Sharpton, the leaders of other urban sc hool districts and politicians from both parties.
It will focus at first on the presidential race but will continue beyond 2008, organizers say. "No one's getting a pass," King said. "Not enough has been done in the civil rights community to raise [education] as a civil rights issue. Chancellor Klein would admit that he hasn't done enough.
"Teachers haven't done enough. No one can defend themselves in the area of education given that we have 7,000 kids a day dropping out across the country." Klein often gives speeches calling education the most pressing civil rights issue of the time and traveled to Memphis in April to speak at a Sharpton-sponsored event timed to the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.
Rev. Al Sharpton plans Bell protest at Yankee Stadium for All-Star Game BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Monday, June 9th 2008
The Rev. Al Sharpton threatened Sunday to disrupt baseball's historic All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium next month unless the state passes new laws to curb police misconduct. A month after protesters blocked bridges and tunnels during rush hour, Sharpton said he wants to bring the outrage over the Sean Bell shooting to the national stage July 15 by targeting the midsummer classic.
"We have plans to do the same at the All-Star Game," Sharpton said. "We will seriously consider suspending our civil disobedience if we can see some legislative action." Sharpton would not reveal the nature of the planned protests at the game, which is being held in theBronx to mark the final season at Yankee Stadium. He would not say whether the protesters would demonstrate inside or outside the Stadium.
"It's the time the whole world willbe looking at New York," said Sharpton. "It would be very dramatic."
The activist noted that Bell was a budding baseball star before he died on his wedding day in a hail of 50 police bullets.
"Sean Bell may have been an All Star if he hadn't been killed," he said.
The new protest threat came as elected officials unveiled a series of proposed new laws they believe will reduce police misconduct.
The package of laws would reform the Civilian Complaint Review Board, require drug testing when cops fire their guns and ban arrest quotas, according to a 28-page report.
"We must enact laws that will restore the public's faith in our law enforcement officials," said state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens), co-chairman of the New York State Tri-Level Legislative Task Force. "[We must] bridge the divide between our communities and our police departments."
The recommendations come 18 months after Bell was killed only hours prior to his planned wedding to fiancée Nicole Paultre Bell.
Sharpton insisted that he is not against the police and the new laws are designed to support law enforcement.
"I believe this is a pro-police legislative package," he said. "It will remove a cloud of suspicion for themajority of police that are not engaged in misconduct and not engaged in brutality."
Sharpton urges Detroiters to tackle problems of crime, school dropout rate
The Detroit News
DETROIT -- The Rev. Al Sharpton urged Detroiters to come together through community organizations to attack the problems facing the city.
Sharpton, the founder and national president of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization, spoke before a community rally Thursday evening at the Great Faith Ministries International on the city's west side. The event was sponsored by the sponsored by the Wayne/Oakland County National Action Network.
He criticized the city's high dropout rates in its public schools and high crime rate. Sharpton told the crowd that the city "is in a moral crisis" and that it was once the "epicenter" of a political and cultural revolution in the country but that now it is in deep despair.
A new report found Detroit's graduation rate, though improving, again ranks worst in the nation among largest school districts. It showed Michigan has the worst rate nationally for graduating black males.
The Editorial Projects in Education Research Center study found the graduation rate for high schools in Detroit for 2005, the most recent year available, was just 37.5 percent, up from 24.9 percent the previous year.
Michigan's rate for graduating African-American males was 34.6 percent, compared to 48.2 percent for the nation.
Earlier in the day, Sharpton spoke at the Greater Mt. Tabor Baptist Church in Detroit.
Al Sharpton In KC: Election For The Voters
National civil rights leader Al Sharpton said Senator Barack Obama's clinching of the democratic nomination shows progress decades in the making. Sharpton said Obama has the power to unite the Democrats and said it'll be a competitive race against Republican Senator John McCain. But Sharpton's visit to Kansas City isn't about either candidate, rather about the voters.
Sharpton is in the metro encouraging voters not to leave the big choices up to someone else. "The things they're most concerned about jobs, gas prices, healthcare, education," Sharpton said. Bishop Marvin Donaldson of the Greater Pentacostal Temple said he's not very political, but one message is clear.
"I preach that every opportunity I get. That we need to vote because if vote we deserve what we get," Donaldson said. Sharpton is at the church because it's where a local chapter leader of his National Action Network worships.
Before his welcome, Sharpton spoke with FOX 4, first about Obama heading to the general election. "I think it's an opportunity for many of us to say you can make it if you try in this country," Sharpton said. Sharpton started his day at a metro radio station talking on his national radio show. He said while there's mutual respect between him and Obama, he's trying to not get too close to any candidate's campaign.
"I'm not trying to be a part of his official campaign, and he's not trying to lead marches," Sharpton said. Sharpton said he understands folks can get discouraged but said voting and hard work can lead to change. "People not getting discouraged is why we made progress we made," Sharpton said.
Rev. Al Sharpton: Let's talk about violence in black neighborhoods
BY HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, June 3rd 2008
The Rev. Al Sharpton is calling for a high-profile community summit to address black-on-black violence after Harlem was rocked by a wave of shootings over Memorial Day.
"Last year alone, nearly one black child a day under the age of 17 was shot and killed in New York City. Shot mostly by other black city residents," Sharpton said.
"Shootings and violence within our community by one of our own is an outrage and an issue that we must confront as diligently and as passionately as a sensational case of police misconduct or brutality."
Four gun battles in one three-hour period in Harlem Memorial Day weekend wounded 10 people - including a 15-year-old girl hit at a barbecue. A 15-year-old boy was also shot dead after a house party on the upper West Side.
Gov. Paterson joined local community leaders in an emergency summit Sunday to discuss toughening gun laws and trying to reverse unemployment rates.
Sharpton proposed to hold a more in-depth "Summit on Violence" within the month to bring together community leaders, young people, law enforcement, clergy, businessmen and elected officials, including Mayor Bloomberg and Paterson.
He said three critical areas need to be addressed: improving partnerships between the police and the community, "better dialogue between all of us with our youth" and new jobs.
About 70 people chanting "Let's save our children" joined a march Sharpton led Saturday from his National Action Network headquarters on W. 145th St. along Malcolm X Blvd.
hkennedy@nydailynews.com
Rev. Al Sharpton hits streets to protest teen gunplay
BY TANANGACHI MFUNI and CHRISTINA BOYLE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Saturday, May 31st 2008, 1:25 PM
The Rev. Al Sharpton led a peace rally in Harlem Saturday to protest a spate of teen shootings, including one that killed a 15-year-old. Some 70 people marched from his National Action Network headquarters on W. 145th St. along Malcolm X Blvd., chanting "Stop the killing, love one another" and "Let's save our children."
Sharpton said he was "shocked" and "outraged" by the recent deadly gun battles and plans to hold a town hall meeting at Harlem's Apollo theater to address violence among youth.
More than 12 hours of gun violence gripped the city over the Memorial Day weekend. In one three-hour period in Harlem there were four shootings that left six people - including a 15-year-old boy - wounded.
Forty minutes after the first shooting, a 17-year-old boy was struck in the left shoulder on Lenox Ave., at 127th St. A 15-year-old boy was also fatally shot after a house party on the upper West Side last Saturday.
Parents of 16-year-old Chanel Petro-Nixon, who was murdered in Bedford-Stuyveant, Brooklyn, in 2006, joined Sharpton. "There's too much violence on the streets and we have to get together as a community to stop the violence," Lucita Petro-Nixon said. cboyle@nydailynews.com
Rev. Al Sharpton bikes for Bell cause DAILY NEWS Saturday, May 31st 2008, 4:00 AM
The Rev. Al Sharpton joined a Critical Mass bike ride through the city Friday night in yet another protest over the Sean Bell verdict.
"Whether you're fat or skinny, gay or straight, we are all Sean Bell. We are all riding for justice," he told the crowd in Union Square to enthusiastic applause.
Standing at Sharpton's side were Bell's fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, Bell's father, William, and civil rights attorney Norman Siegel.
After his remarks, Sharpton jumped on a bike and headed west on 14th St. with other cyclists while motorcycle cops watched closely.
Bell's father drew laughter from those around him, saying, "Justice is nice, but I just wanted to see Rev. Al ride a bike."
Three city police detectives were acquitted in April in the fatal shooting of Bell, 23, on Nov. 25, 2006, his wedding day.
Sharpton has staged many of the protests to pressure federal officials to try the Bell detectives on civil rights charges.
Critical Mass is a loosely organized monthly bike ride promoting alternative forms of transportation and other causes.
Sean Bell protest may slow city traffic
BY TAMER EL-GHOBASHY and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Friday, May 30th 2008
Friday night's commute could be hell on wheels.
The Rev. Al Sharpton has enlisted the help of hundreds of bicyclists to stage a traffic "slowdown" - around the time many New Yorkers are heading home for the weekend - to protest the Sean Bell trial verdict.
Critical Mass, a loosely organized group that does monthly bike rides to promote alternative forms of transportation and other causes, will meet at Union Square at 7 p.m. and fan out through Manhattan from there, organizers said.
"Al will be riding, too," said Michael Hardy, a lawyer for Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell. "So will Nicole. And everybody will be wearing 'I Am Sean Bell' T-shirts."
Earlier this month, hundreds of Bell supporters tried to shut the city down by blocking bridge and tunnel entrances to protest the acquittal of three cops who killed the 23-year-old man in a 50-bullet barrage on his wedding day.
Police arrested 200 protesters, including Sharpton, Paultre Bell and the two survivors of the shooting, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman.
Detectives Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver, who were acquitted on April 25, have since been hit with NYPD disciplinary charges. They remain on modified duty.
May 21, 2008 Officers Face Departmental Charges in Bell Killing
By Al Baker New York Times
Seven New York City police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell, including three detectives who were acquitted in a criminal trial, were formally accused on Tuesday of breaking Police Department rules in the case. The department said that the officers violated the internal policy manual in a variety of ways, including improperly firing their guns and failing to process the crime scene after Mr. Bell was killed and his two friends injured in a storm of 50 bullets.
The three detectives who stood trial in the case — Detectives Gescard F. Isnora, Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper — were charged with “discharging their firearms outside of department guidelines,” said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. Detective Isnora was also charged with taking enforcement action while working as an undercover officer instead of letting officers who were present, and not working undercover, take control. Lt. Gary Napoli, the ranking officer at the scene, faces internal charges of failing to supervise the operation, Mr. Browne said. Sergeant Hugh McNeil and Detective Robert Knapp, of the Crime Scene Unit, were also charged: the detective with failing to thoroughly process the crime scene and the sergeant with failing to ensure a thorough processing was done.
Police Officer Michael Carey, was charged with discharging his firearm outside of department guidelines. Another officer involved in the shooting, Detective Paul Headley, was not charged because a review of the evidence currently available did not support charges, officials said. If the charges, known as administrative charges, are upheld, the officers could face discipline ranging from loss of pay to retraining to firing. But the internal investigation has been suspended as federal prosecutors weigh civil rights charges in the case. The department filed the internal charges Tuesday to beat a Sunday deadline. Under personnel rules, it had 18 months from the date of the shooting, Nov. 25, 2006, to charge the officers.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been a spokesman for the Bell family and has protested the acquittals, called the charges “a step in the right direction.” But he drew a parallel between the Bell shooting and the recent beatings of three suspects by the police in Philadelphia, which was caught on videotape. He urged Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly “to follow the lead of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who fired four police yesterday, demoted one sergeant, and disciplined others, without going through a long internal procedure.” Michael J. Palladino, president of the Detectives’ Endowment Association, shot back that the “Rev. Al needs to be reminded that all of the detectives were found not guilty in a court of law.” He said the union would “vigorously represent our detectives in the department’s trial room.” Lawyers for some of the officers also criticized the decision to lodge internal charges against the men.
Though neither Mr. Bell nor his friends had a firearm, defense lawyers argued at trial the three detectives believed someone in Mr. Bell’s car had a gun because of comments they overheard outside the nightclub. Additionally, the evidence suggested the shooting began only after Mr. Bell had twice rammed his car into an unmarked police van. Detectives Isnora and Oliver were charged with manslaughter and Detective Cooper with reckless endangerment, but Justice Arthur J. Cooperman of State Supreme Court in Queens acquitted them, saying the prosecution had not proved that the shooting was unjustified. But the judge seemed to criticize the operation when he wrote in his verdict, “Questions of carelessness and incompetence must be left to other forums.” (For the Full NY Times Article Click Here)
Rev. Al Sharpton urges Hillary Clinton: Watch what you say
BY KATHLEEN LUCADAMO and CELESTE KATZ DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Cool it with the assassination talk, the Rev. Al Sharpton warned Saturday.
Sharpton said he spoke to Hillary Clinton Saturday morning about her recent reference to the assassination of Robert Kennedy - "and she understands my feelings firmly."
Her team did not immediately divulge the details of their chat. Clinton raised eyebrows - and drew a rebuke from rival Barack Obama's campaign - by recalling Kennedy's 1968 killing while defending her determination to keep running against Barack Obama.
"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California," she told South Dakota Argus Leader's editorial board Friday. "I don't understand it."
Clinton later apologized for the remark, saying she meant no disrespect to the Kennedy family. Instead, she said, she was only pointing out that other presidential campaigns had run into the summer, so she should not be pressured to withdraw. Daily News readers erupted over her assassination comment on nydailynews. com. "How disgusting!!!!!!! Hillary has hit rock-bottom," wrote one.
"[She] did Obama a favor, now he does not even have to consider her for the V.P. spot," another commented.
Others rushed to her defense. "To imply that Sen. Clinton is staying in the Democratic presidential race because she believes that Barack Obama will be assassinated, just as Bobby Kennedy was in 1968, is sick and disgusting," one noted.
Sharpton told listeners to his radio show that he believed neither Clinton nor former GOP candidate Mike Huckabee, who wisecracked about someone pointing a gun at Obama during a National Rifle Association speech, had ill intentions.
"I don't believe either candidate meant it when they said it, but I do believe if you strike a match in a flammable environment, you run the danger of something catching fire," Sharpton said. "I'm asking them to be careful how they handle their matchbook."
Botched references to the Kennedy assassination can easily be "exploited" by "kooks" who want to undermine a candidacy, said Sharpton.Rev. Sharpton Says Pressure Forced Nas To Change Album Title
Published Thursday, May 22, 2008
Days after rapper Nas changed the name of his forthcoming album, the Rev. Al Sharpton is applauding the move as he credits efforts from the National Action Network’s Decency Initiative for playing a role in motivating the New York emcee's change of heart. Nas confirmed his decision to abandon the album's original title, N***er, on Monday (May 19). "Clearly, putting their focus and pressure on the companies and not engaging in a fruitless pursuit of chasing a never ending and ever changing roster of artists has proven to be smart," Rev. Sharpton said in a statement. "The record companies and retailers have the power as this Nas matter shows. Had not the [NAN's] Decency Initiative and other groups put the pressure on, this change of title on Nas' album would never had been a corporate concern."
Prior to it's removal, N***er drew mixed reactions among music fans as well as celebrities, leaders and retailers, who were hesitant about having the album in stock on store shelves. Rather than name the album Nas, after himself, the rapper will keep the project untitled. For Tamika Mallory, who spear headed the effort, the name change is part of a bigger issue that must be addressed in order to effectively turn things around in the music business. "No other community is subjected to denigration as a form of entertainment," Mallory said. "A record company would never release an album titled the "f [ag]" word to describe the gay community or the "k[ike]" word to describe the Jewish community as they should not," the activist said. "We are fighting to make sure the rules apply for women and African Americans as well."
The Nas album title controversy isn’t the first time the Decency Initiative and Sharpton have crossed paths with the music industry.
On May 3, 2007 they joined forces with the children of soul icon James Brown to lead a march on various record labels, including Universal, Sony and Warner Music, in New York City.
The purpose of the event, which was held the same day as Brown’s birthday, was to raise awareness of what the Initiative believes to be a double standard in the music and entertainment industry as well as demand that companies protect the civil and human rights of all people.
Rev. Al Sharpton's favorite Nas cut
Rev. Al Sharpton is cheered to hear Nas has given up on calling his new CD "N-." The Queens rapper just announced that he was abandoning the N-word title - mostly, we hear, because he feared the big chains wouldn't sell the CD. "I see this as a partial victory," says Sharpton, who has been among those calling for hip-hoppers to stop using the racist epithet. "The record companies have to consider the downside of using it, businesswise. That would not have happened if we hadn't protested."
Execs at Island Def Jam couldn't believe it when we informed them, in February 2006, that Nas had told us he planned to slap the slur on his next album. "I don't care about sales," he said at the time. After those execs bugged out, the provocateur claimed he "was being facetious." Only he wasn't. He later informed label chief L.A. Reid that he really did want to call his album "N-." Though Nas told MTV that he was getting pressure to change the title, Reid insisted, "Anything Nas wants to do, I completely stand beside him."
One insider says Reid did advise Nas that Wal-Mart was unlikely to carry the record with the N-word on the cover. That, apparently, got his attention. The album, now untitled, is due out July 1. "He doesn't want to hurt sales," says the source. "He's an artist, but he's also a smart businessman." The source, who's heard the CD, says it's still filled with the N-word: "Every song talks about the word. It's a political manifesto about the hypocrisy of a vocal minority, which wants to censor lyrics but doesn't mind 200 people getting killed and maimed in a Quentin Tarantino movie."
"I want my fans to know that creatively and lyrically, they can expect the same content and the same messages," Nas said in a statement. "The streets have been waiting for this for a long time. The people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it."
Adds Sharpton: "I have a lot of respect for Nas. I liked what he said about [police shooting victim] Sean Bell. We have a fundamental disagreement on this. He can rap against me. I'll preach against them. We're still friends."
Sharpton visits Macon to launch local chapter of national civil rights group
By Ashley Tusan Joyner - ajoyner@macon.com
Grant Blankenship, The Telegraph
The Rev. Al Sharpton, civil rights activist and leader of the National Action Network, waits to preach with pastor Onslow D. Ross of Reaching Souls Cathedral of Praise Apostolic Church on Rocky Creek Road in Macon on Tuesday night. Sharpton held a membership rally for his National Action Network at the church of the Ross, who was recently convicted of 54 federal money crimes.
- · Sharpton speaks to packed Macon church
- More than 150 people packed a south Macon church tonight to hear the Rev. Al Sharpton preach a sermon about social injustice and support him in launching an area chapter of his National Action Network.
The event took place at the Reaching Souls Cathedral of Praise Apostolic Church off Rocky Creek Road, home church of Pastor Onslow D. Ross, who in March was convicted of more than 50 counts of various money crimes in a high profile federal case.
Sharpton arrived in Macon shortly before 8 p.m. from Atlanta, where he had made appearances following the recent acquittal of Atlanta police officer Arthur Tesler in the shooting death of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston Nov. 21, 2006.
Reaching Souls officials had reported Sharpton would be visiting Macon in support of Ross, who faces more than 60 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines on charges including bank fraud and money laundering.
In his opening remarks, Sharpton quickly clarified the purpose of the visit.
"The sole reason for my being here is to launch the Macon chapter of the National Action Network ... nothing other than to open a chapter and look into matters that have been reported to us," he said, then citing complaints of bad policing and prosecution.
Sharpton said he was invited to speak at Reaching Souls "some months ago" and will make similar appearances at other Georgia churches, including in Savannah, as he expands the southern arm of his social justice organization.
"I'm happy to be here in Macon," he said. "We are moving all over the South now."
Apostle Jeffrey Jackson, who will head the Macon chapter, and other regional representatives of the National Action Network were in attendance.
Sharpton said his Macon headquarters has yet to be established and he did not know what role Reaching Souls or Ross would play in the organization.
Throughout his sermon, Sharpton spoke directly to black people and encouraged them to stand up for their "God-given civil rights."
"We've got to stop allowing ourselves not to stand up and ask why there are different strokes for different folks," he said.
He repeatedly referenced the death of Johnston, a black grandmother, which f | 
