Amadou Diallo
Ruben Diaz on Sean Bell Verdict
Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr. told me just now, "Once again it's a travesty of the judicial system where it seems like this verdict is going to have black and Latino communities feel like the system works for some but not for all."
"What do we do now? What do we do now? What now?" Diaz asked rhetorically. read more »
Events for Thursday, February 1, 2007
At 10:45 a.m. Bloomberg will announce renovation of Jerusalem's main ambulance center and blood bank, in Jerusalem.
At noon, Councilman Leroy Comrie will introduce a resolution at City Hall calling for a moratorium on the N-word.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly will give the keynote speech at a Harper's Bazaar anticounterfeiting summit at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
At 12:15 Elinor Tatum, editor in chief of New York Amsterdam News, will speak at Bronx Community College's Freshman Convocation.
At 1 p.m. Red Cross officials will release a report on the lessons learned from major urban disasters on West 49th Street.
At 1 p.m. the supervisor of North Hempstead will deliver the annual State of the Town address at George Washington Manor Restaurant in Roslyn.
Long Island AARP members will demand drug affordability outside the campaign office of Craig Johnson. At 1:30, the group will do the same outside the campaign office of Maureen O'Connell.
At 1:30 p.m. at City Hall, Councilman Eric Gioia will call for the city and state to divest pension funds invested in Sudan.
Starting at 2 p.m., the City Bar Justice Center will host a small business legal clinic at the Flushing Library.
At 3 p.m. Bloomberg will meet with the families of Israeli soldiers.
At 3:30 p.m. education advocates will call for the passage of a New York Bill of Rights for Adult Education on the City Hall steps.
At 4 p.m. Bloomberg will meet with acting Israeli President Dalia Itzik.
At 6 p.m. Bloomberg will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
A documentary about the Atlantic Yards project will be shown at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
And First Lady Laura Bush will speak at the Woman's Day Red Dress Award near Columbus Circle.
At 6:30 p.m., "Bamako," a documentary about African development and the economy, will be shown at Columbia University.
At 7 p.m., Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will give his State of the Borough speech at Steiner Studios.
The Public Service Commission will hold a public meeting on the proposed gas rate increase and the proposed merger of National Grid and KeySpan at The Petrides School on Staten Island.
Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum will speak on the work-family dilemma facing poor working mothers at Barnard Hall on West 117th Street.
And Amadou Diallo's mother and former mayor David Dinkins host the screening of the documentary, "Death of Two Sons," in honor of the eighth anniversary of the Diallo shooting, at the Riverside Church.
-- Azi PaybarahSilent March
Tomorrow, on the day Sean Bell's daughter turns four years old, Rev. Al Sharpton and others will silently march down Fifth Avenue to protest police misconduct in minority communities and press City Hall to implement changes they say were supposed to be in place after the killing of Amadou Diallo.
Sharpton said everything from the 50 shots fired at Sean Bell to a double parking ticket given to Rev. Calvin Butts weeks earlier are "indicative of a problem that is a pattern in this city" with the police department.
Butts referred to some officers as "ignorant savages" who are "culturally ignorant" and "racially insensitive."
Noting that the officers involved in the Sean Bell killing were black, Hispanic and white, Sharpton said, "If they were all black, we would be marching tomorrow."
-- Azi PaybarahUPDATE: In response to the Butts comments, mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser said, "We don't dignifiy remarks like that with a response."
Al Sharpton and Una Clarke
Al Sharpton recently explained his support for Carl Andrews in the 11th Congressional race -- or, more precisely, his opposition to Yvette Clarke -- by explaining that he was still annoyed that he hadn't received support from Yvette's mother while he was protesting the shooting of Amadou Diallo.
"Una Clarke didn't support us on Diallo," Sharpton told the Daily News. "Yvette claims it has nothing to do with her, but she was her mother's campaign manager."
I'd be interested, then, if anyone could explain to us the meaning of this old piece of Una Clarke campaign literature. read more »
(Azi notes that Yvette disputed the claim several days ago. This picture, we presume, is the evidence she was refering to. )
-- Josh BensonClarke on Racial Carpetbagging
Here's Yvette Clarke on today's candidate forum on WNYC:
On the issue of Mr. Yassky's candidacy, do you consider him a racial carpetbagger? "Yes I do. There is no doubt that David Yassky made a racial calculation when he saw that there were so many candidates, black candidates, in the race. He looked at the... data with respect to the demographic. He then decided to uproot his family and move into uproot his family and decide to move into the district to run. No doubt he has aspirations to serve in Congress but why couldn't he run in the district in which he resided?" -- Josh BensonUPDATE: More on Clarke and race: The Clarke campaign response to recent criticism from Al Sharpton about -- follow this -- Yvette's mother and Amadou Diallo. read more »
After the jump.
Self-Inflicted Wounds Doom Ferrer's Campaign
Self-Inflicted Wounds Doom Ferrer’s Campaign
Ferrer's Sharpton Problem: The Reverend May Walk
Fingering Freddy
First up was Virginia Davis, who recounted, "I got arrested with you. I was in the same paddy wagon with you and even we were in the same holding cell... at the time, it didn't appear that you thought the shooting was not a crime. So what made you change your mind?" Freddy's response: "I didn't. I didn't change my mind either. The words I used were careless... and I realized that those words caused a number of people with whom I got arrested, who believed in me... who believed in what I stood for, in what we stood for, it caused them some pain and I felt pain as well. The best I can do is to tell people that I haven't changed up. I believe in right and wrong and there was no way that that shooting was right. It was wrong on so many different levels."
Then a older gentleman named James asked, "I'm a staunch voter and I voted for you the last time you ran based upon what happened on Wheeler Avenue. Now, you're running again. My question to you is, ‘Why would you support some police sergeant that 90% of them don't even live in the city of New York and don't even vote in the city of New York? And now you appease them and you turn your back on us." Freddy tried interrupting, "Well, sir," but James snapped, "You'll never get my vote in life." Some applause and a few shouts of "That's right!" Freddy's response: "That wasn't appeasing anybody. I used some words carelessly and I‘ve taken responsibility for that."
Then, a retired black police officer stood up and claimed, "I was the third person who volunteered to go to jail after the Amadou Diallo shooting... I believe it was a crime... I want you to explain to me how you can tap-dance around the question as to it's not being a crime." Freddy's response: "I'm not a lawyer." Lots of laughs from the audience. One woman in the audience shouted, "Yeah, he's a robot." read more »
Later, Sharpton gave his opinion, which must not have provided much solace to Freddy's camp, emphasizing, "You know you can't go on trial unless you're charged with a crime."
As Freddy left the stage to plenty of commotion from the largely black crowd, Giff walked up to give his speech, standing there at the podium with an enormous grin on his face. "Now I have to follow that. Give them a minute, Rev!" When a WNYC reporter went to grab her tape recorder off the podium to chase down Freddy, Giff did his best Rodney Dangerfield, straightening his tie and quipping, "I feel like I get no respect."The Bronx Is Burning
It had to explode under Freddy at some point, and when he appeared to switch sides on the Amadou Diallo shooting and criticize the prosecution, he tossed the first match, because Bronx D.A. Bob Johnson seems to have taken Freddy's remark personally.
Johnson must have been pretty angry today when he sent out a statement defending his indictments. Raising eyebrows all over town, he concluded with a veiled reference to Freddy's changing position on the death penalty and, as we read it, to a 1997 incident Freddy would probably prefer to forget, when the then-Borough President called the police shooting of Kevin Cedeno an "execution," then backed off.
"While I consider Mr. Ferrer to be a friend, who also was an excellent Borough President, my recollection is that this is not the first time that he has changed his position on a significant case or criminal justice issue," Johnson's statement says. read more »
Wow.
