Of The Killing Of Sean Bell
A Forgotten Killing But His Death Is Now Part Of A Movement
The day after Sean Elijah Bell was killed in New York City, the New York Times reported his death rather casually:
“Hours before he was to be married, a man leaving his bachelor party at a strip club in Queens that was under police surveillance was shot and killed early yesterday in a hail of police bullets, witnesses and the police said. Two of his friends were wounded, one critically, they said.”
Bell was 23 years old when he was shot to death by NYPD in his car outside a strip club on November 25, 2006. He was to be married later that day.
Today, this year, in an era of much more public outrage and protest over the killings of unarmed Black men, Bell would be turning just 38 later this month. If he had been killed today, it is likely protest would be more intense. One has to wonder.
Don’t be mistaken though — in late 2006, Bell’s shooting death was shocking. Amadou Diallo had been killed in a hail of 41 shots a few years before in New York and no police officer was convicted for it. Bell’s case went a bit further — Bell and the…
