Sixty-eight days after making history as the first African American to be nominated in a major party as the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama made history again as the first African American to be elected president of the United States of America. That incredible day, August 28, 2008, which lead us to this new day on November 4, 2008, commemorated the “I Have a Dream” speech by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who delivered it forty-five years earlier. In his historic address, King remarked:

“This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism ... Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all God’s children. Now is the time to lift the nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”

Obama echoed King’s message when he stated in his victory speech:

“This victory alone is not the change we seek – it is only the chance for us to make that change. And it cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other… in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.”

One of the injustices that King mentioned in his 1963 speech was police brutality. Forty-five years later it is still a scourge in the lives of African Americans and Latinos. 90% of the people shot by the New York Police Department in 2007 were black and Hispanic. And this is according to its own crime analysis.

Sean Bell was killed in a hail of fifty police bullets in 2006. Three detectives charged in the shooting were declared not guilty. At the time of the verdict, the President-elect was on the campaign trail and commented that the judge had made his ruling and, “we’re a nation of laws, so we must respect the verdict that came down.” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who at the time of the shooting questioned the excessive force of the police, made the following comments when the verdict was announced: “America is a nation of laws, and though not everyone will agree with the verdict and opinions issued by the courts, we accept their authority.” Sounds familiar?

The Bell shooting happened on Bloomberg’s watch. However instead of working to change the laws that govern the police, he would rather change the term limit law so he can run for a third time. His predecessor, Rudolph Guliani, who had two of the most egregious police brutality cases in the history of the city during his administration – Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo, tried to extend his second term as mayor by playing on the sympathy of New Yorkers in the wake of 911.

Bloomberg is using the financial crisis as his excuse for a third run. William C. Thompson, NYC’s first black comptroller, plans to run for mayor. If Thompson is the chief financial officer who advises the mayor on the city’s financial condition, I am wondering why Bloomberg claims he is the only one who can see us through this crisis. Guliani was not successful in extending his time as mayor, but Bloomberg was able to overturn the voice of the people who voted twice for term limits when the NYC Council voted in his favor.

Since Obama was elected the chief executive, he has announced the financial crisis as a top priority along with health, education, the war in Iraq, and jobs. But what about police brutality and misconduct? When he commented on the Bell verdict, he said: “The most important thing for people who are concerned about the shooting is to figure out how do we come together and assure those kinds of tragedies don’t happen again.”

Two years ago religious institutions, community leaders, myself and other concerned citizens, came together and marched on Fifth Avenue to assure that tragedies like the Bell shooting did not happen again. However they continued to happen. And not just in New York City but throughout the country. One can only hope that Obama’s selection of Eric Holder Jr. as the next US Attorney General, and the first black ever, will help change this injustice.

Darryl L Lacy

Heir to the Promise part3