Have any Democrats commented on these recent incidents?

[politicasista]

I was listening to Rev. Al Sharpton's commentary on the Tom Joyner Morning show and he was talking about these tragic incidents hoping that now that the Democrats will have control of Congress, they will push for each Dem to have a national and federal investigation this problem of improper police force (or excessive force).

Sharpton also mentioned the fact that the "Democrats considering running in 2008 that claim to want our vote and like us" have been silent on this issue.


Article snippets:

Mayor Promises Fair Probe Into Police Shooting of Young, Unarmed Groom
By Ed Wiley III, BET.com Staff Writer

Unanswered Questions

On Saturday, Sean Bell, 23, celebrated his last day of bachelorhood with two friends at the Kalua Cabaret topless bar in Queens. He was to marry his high school honey and mother of his two daughters.

According to witnesses quoted in The New York Post, police said they believed Bell had a gun, and one officer lunged on the hood of Bell’s car with his shield around his neck and revolver drawn. Officers reportedly said that Bell tried to ram officers with his car, and they fired into the vehicle.

What is clear is that when the smoke evaporated, Bell was dead; his friend Joseph Guzman lay critically injured; and a third friend, Trent Benefield, was suffering from a gunshot. Guzman and Benefield are expected to live.

The officers will remain on paid administrative leave "until we learn more about the circumstances of the shooting," said Chief NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. "There are still a number of unanswered questions."

Indeed, say Black leaders, noting that incidents such as the Bell shooting go back more than 50 years.

http://www.bet.com/News/mayorpromisesfairinvestigationintopoliceshootingofgroom.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished

FBI Investigates Granny Shooting Case
By Renee D. Turner and Tracy Stokes, BET.com Staff Writers

Nov. 29, 2006 - The FBI is now investigating the police shooting of a 92-year-old Atlanta woman in an apparent drug raid last week.

Atlanta Police shot to death the elderly Kathyrn Johnston last Wednesday after three narcotics officers busted into her home without warning.

Police say they entered the house dressed in plain clothes with a no-knock warrant on the word of a confidential informant, who said he bought crack cocaine there.

Johnston, whose niece said she lived in fear of being robbed, had a gun and opened fire on the officers, hitting the three, police say.

"I think that they kicked the door in and she panicked, and she probably shot," Dozier said. "And when they (police) shot, I'm sure they blasted her down."

The wounded officers returned fire, hitting Johnston twice in her chest and killing her.

The informant has since come forward to say that he had never been in Johnston's house and that police had asked him to lie to cover their actions.

The community is also demanding answers to how a 92-year-old woman could fire off three rounds, wounding the officers, and why police entered the residence the way they did.

Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington has placed the three officers involved in the incident on leave and the entire eight-member narcotics division under suspension because of conflicting stories.

Pennington agrees that there remain a lot of unanswered questions and says the incident will be fully investigated. He has asked the FBI, the local district attorney's office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for help.

http://www.bet.com/News/FBIInvestigateGrannyShootingCase.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished&Referrer=%7B03CE5360-2620-42CB-AD7E-77E4249C5FB7%7D

Police use stun gun on student who wouldn't show ID at UCLA library, refused to leave

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A UCLA police officer shocked a student with a stun gun at a campus library after he refused repeated requests to show student identification and wouldn't leave, police said.

The student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, was shocked Tuesday at about 11 p.m. as police did a routine check of student IDs at the University of California, Los Angeles Powell Library computer lab.

"This is a long-standing library policy to ensure the safety of students during the late-night hours," said UCLA Police Department spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein.

She said police tried to escort Tabatabainejad, 23, out of the library after he refused to provide identification. Tabatabainejad instead encouraged others at the library to join his resistance, and when a crowd began to gather, police used the stun gun on him, Greenstein said.

Tabatabainejad was arrested for resisting and obstructing a police officer and later released on his own recognizance. He declined to comment Wednesday night.

The incident was recorded on another student's camera phone and showed Tabatabainejad screaming while on the floor of the computer lab. It was the third incident in a month in which police behavior in the city was criticized after amateur video surfaced. The other two involved the Los Angeles Police Department.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11/17/backpage/11_16_0617_50_45.txt

[sandnsea]

1. I know it's important

I think people are pre-occupied with Iraq at this particular moment. We have got to have some sort of racism task force, to present the facts about continued racist incidents and propose solutions. I don't think it's that people don't care, it's just that it's so overwhelming. Although it is also obviously tragic that the media spends more time making a tadoo about a joke, or even a guy being drowned by a whale - then people being shot down in our streets. You could add the attack on Keith Ellison to your list too, demanding he use the Bible for his oath of office is stomach churning. The good news though, the more they crawl out from under their rocks, the less white people can deny they exist.

[TayTay]

2. In the New York incident it is less than clear-cut what happened

the five cops involved were of mixed race. That is a tragic case with obviously horrible consequences, but I am not sure what it says about national race relations in America. (No, we should not shoot unarmed men in a car. That is obvious. But what happened here. Was it over reaction by these cops, bad training for cops in general in NYC, or a badly decided case of cops feeling somehow threatened? It's not clear.)

I agree totally that we need a national dialog on race and on where we have advanced and where we have not. I just am not sure that these cases are typical or atypical. (How the hell did that shooting of a 92 year-old woman go down? What is the history in that area of relations between cops and the civilians? Why the over-reaction and is that typical of that area or an anomaly?)

Sigh!

[wisteria]

3. I read about Sharpton calling for this the other day. I would think they

wouldn't want to comment on this incident because it is still under investigation. And if any politicians were to speak out about this tragedy, it should be the Senator's from NY, Clinton and Schumer. Of course, Hillary only takes a stand to speak out against and to attack a fellow Senator and accuse him of inappropriate comments. As for Schumer, well he would be to busy telling people to go away and hide until the situation dies down.

[JI7]

4. on these type of issues they usually answer that an investigation

should occur which i agree with. but they are reluctant to say too much about the cases themselves just because we don't know everything.

but i think more important is an overall change into the whole system. these are just a few cases that got big news. but everyday there are probably minorities that are harrassed to treated unfairly by the system and it never gets attention. the black men in nice cars who are regularly stopped by police is an example of this. it's something most of us know about but it's pretty much accepted as just being part of life.