by Lebell

Created on: May 21, 2008

On May 5th in Philadelphia a local television news helicopter recorded a vicious assault on the three shooting suspects in Philadelphia. After a nationwide broadcast of the beatings the community and the world were outraged. Once again we where pushed into a familiar and unwelcome past that was now back in our present.

So many had questions, and wanted answers. Have we as a people grown since the days of Rodney King? Have the police fallen back into the GOD complex? Many began to draw correlation with the Sean Bell verdict. Is it evident that the police in metropolitan cities aren't held accountability when they brutally attack suspects? Most people believe that the police keep order, so why do they continue to create the chaos? The questions are plentiful but the answers aren't.

19 officers "take down" the suspects, a barrage of men with batons and guns hitting, kicking and pummeling men who are on the ground and helpless. Similarities to Rodney King beating are phenomenal, in both cases the suspects were African Americans and the officers were Caucasian but with the recent beating there was one African American officer involved in the fray. Another similarity, racism is being denied from Police as expected. Has there ever been a modern day case where the police readily admit the beating was because of the color of the suspects' skin? At the time the answer is no.

There was quick reaction to the shameful event. The Mayor of Philadelphia who is an African American man, stood up and denounced the activities of these officers, with his backing immediate action to terminate, suspend without pay as well as demoting the officers involved. In the urban community it was quick noticed, that these actions were a complete opposite of the Sean Bell case. In that case the Mayor of New York decided to not make a move until the trial was decided. The question lingers, why would there be such drastic difference in actions? In the Sean Bell case a young man was murdered on his wedding day, shouldn't the laws be stricter? No one wants to take away from what the three young men who were beaten suffered. However, the confusion is large, the way a murder case was handled should be the model for the people in charge but the opposite has happened and the beating is leading the way rogue police need to be handled.

The United States of America should admit to itself that we can never move forward with the mistreatment of individuals until we admit the root of the problem. History has taught us that this country was created based hatred and deceit. How far have we grown from our founding fathers legacy? Sad to say but not fair at all even with an African American man running for President Of The United States of America.

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