Sean Bell was shot by New York City police officers four years ago on the night before his wedding day. This summer, the city settled the case against it, agreeing to pay $7 million to Bell's family and friends, including his two children. But settlement dollars aren't enough to fundamentally change police departments around the country, from Oakland to New Orleans to right here in New York.
Zaire Baptiste was a friend of Bell's, and is working on a documentary about the life the media likes to ignore, and Sunita Patel is an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights. They both join us in studio to discuss Bell's death, and what's really needed to change a policing strategy that relies on racial profiling and fundamental disregard for life--for certain lives, anyway.






Thank you, Sunita, Zaire and Laura for your effort to regain some justice in our country. I have seen police disregard the lives of innocent female teenagers (by brutally beating an 18yo girl) and know the hatred perpetrated by police. Police accountability may be the beginning of accountability by all men in power.
By Linda Warner on August 31st, 2010 at 1:14 am
THIS IS TRUE WHAT ZAIRE & SUNITA IS SAYING,IM HAPPY THAT WILL BE A SEAN BELL DOCUMENTARY TO CAPTURE HIM AS A WHOLE ,BECAUSE THE MEDIA NEVER SPEAKS ON THE PRO’S OF SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN MURDERED BY POLICE. LIKE ZAIRE SAID ITS LIKE THE MURDER VICTIM IS ON TRIAL FOR BEING MURDERED POLICE COMMISSIONER RAY KELLY IS TRAINING HIS EMPLOYEES TO USE ACCESSIVE FORCE NO MATTER WHAT THE SITUATION IS AND AS A RESULT WERE LOSING OUR BROTHERS WITH NO JUSTICE SERVED AT THE END, YES $7 MILLION WILL HELP THEM LIVE COMFORTABLE BUT NO DOLLAR SIGN WILL TAKE AWAY WHAT THE PAIN THEY HAVE TO ENDURE FOR THE REST OF THERE LIVES AWAY ,ZAIRE U KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK THE DOCUMENT IS WELL NEEDED!
By maddmaqueen on September 3rd, 2010 at 1:17 am