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In remembrance of #AmadouDiallo, who was killed by NYPD 19 years ago yesterday, I figured I'd revisit some of the events & media coverage surrounding the case. Here's the 1999 NY Times article on Diallo's death: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/05/nyregion/officers-in-bronx-fire-41-shots-and-an-unarmed-man-is-killed.html #BlackLivesMatter 
#BlackHistoryMonth
#BlackHistoryMonth
#NeverForget that three of the four cops who killed #AmadouDiallo had shot & killed people before. Yet they consistently got away with it. #BlackLivesMatter
People in NYC were angry about #AmadouDiallo's death but the media & misleaders tried to pacify the community's rage.
Sadly, during those dark, pre- #BlackLivesMatter times, Al Sharpton & NAN made sure that Black & Brown folks channeled their rage only into reformist civil disobedience & not militant resistance. Fascist ex-NYPD boss Howard Safir & Wall Street thought even THAT was too radical.
times, Al Sharpton & NAN made sure that Black & Brown folks channeled their rage only into reformist civil disobedience & not militant resistance. Fascist ex-NYPD boss Howard Safir & Wall Street thought even THAT was too radical.
Fascist former NYC Mayor (& apologist for police violence) Rudy Giuliani's approval ratings went down drastically after #AmadouDiallo's death. Johnnie Cochran was the Diallo family's lawyer & said he'd make sure that the NYPD didn't kill anymore Black men like Amadou.
A judge ruled that the killer cops' trial be moved to Albany instead of the Bronx. The judge & the cops' lawyer claimed that protests & the media prevented the cops from getting a fair trial. Al Sharpton was probably right when he said it was just to get a white (& pro-cop) jury.
Of course, the NYPD only increased their presence in the neighborhood & fascist NYPD union leader Pat Lynch did his usual euphemizing & apologetics for state violence & murder.
NYPD had killed an innocent Black man & strengthened the police state in the Bronx, but NY1 & @JayDowTV still felt the need to end this video package with #NotAllCops & "diverse cops don't kill people" #Copaganda. #AmadouDiallo #ACAB
One of the cops got Burton Roberts (who was until then the chief administrative judge for State Supreme Court in the Bronx) to be his lawyer after his other lawyer (who defended the cop who raped Abner Louima) got criticized for his outrageous claims: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/20/nyregion/defendant-in-diallo-shooting-changes-lawyers.html
Cops (as they do even to this day) protested in support of the 4 killer cops & blamed Sharpton for everything. And much like the supporters of killer cop #PeterLiang (who killed #AkaiGurley), the cops had signs saying "It was a tragedy! Not a crime!"
#AmadouDiallo's parents did not even want to be in the same room as fascist former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani because he had helped protect the 4 killer cops who shot Amadou.
There was also evidence that the cops had shot #AmadouDiallo while he was on the ground & had even moved the body afterwards.
. @SusanSarandon was out protesting for #AmadouDiallo while some of mainstream hip hop's biggest stars were silent. Unsurprisingly, Dead Prez was NOT silent. Peep @STICRBG at the end of this video dropping knowledge!
In court, the cops' lawyers literally victim-blamed #AmadouDiallo for his own death, even claiming that AMADOU'S actions were "unreasonable" rather than the actions of the cops who shot him 41 times.
Also, don't forget that while some of mainstream hip hop's biggest stars were silent about #AmadouDiallo's death, some of reggae's biggest stars were speaking out with powerful, rebel music:
Of course, the killer cops got away with murdering #AmadouDiallo. People were understandably outraged. And again, Sharpton & the National Action Network worked to quell Black rage & stop any kind of uprising or rebellion from happening.
With people angry over the verdict, Sharpton & other opportunists channeled that rage into a march on Washington DC & a meeting with Eric Holder (who was Deputy AG at the time).
Here's the statement released at the time by Eric Holder concerning the meeting on #AmadouDiallo. As far as I know, nothing ever came of it: https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2000/March/094dag.htm
The DOJ later decided to NOT file federal civil rights charges against the 4 cops who killed #AmadouDiallo: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/31/nyregion/federal-court-will-not-pursue-diallo-case.html
The cops who killed #AmadouDiallo got this old, white lady as one of the jurors during their trial. Unsurprisingly, she thought the cops were very believable on the stand & that they were overcharged. She also thought she knew what was running through Amadou's mind that night.
The streets were so tense after the verdict that protests broke out after NYPD killed #MalcolmFerguson only blocks away from where they killed #AmadouDiallo. Here's the NY Times article on the shooting: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/02/nyregion/drug-officer-kills-suspect-in-a-struggle.html #BlackLivesMatter
#MalcolmFerguson had been one of the protesters arrested in his neighborhood after the killer cops got away with murdering #AmadouDiallo. Days later, NYPD shot him in the head. #BlackLivesMatter
In her typical style, Hillary Clinton waited until days after the verdict to give a wishy-washy statement on #AmadouDiallo. Of course, she was also campaigning to become a Senator & suggested almost the same non-solutions she proposed during her 2016 presidential campaign.
Along with centrist non-solutions to racist police violence like "interfaith councils," "better training," & higher salaries for cops, Hillary Clinton suggested Orwellian "gun-detectors" that "scan city streets & pinpoint guns" as a solution to racist stop-and-frisk tactics.
After NYPD cops brutally murdered #AmadouDiallo, Hillary Clinton waited until she was running for the Senate & then gave one of her typical centrist, careerist speeches that "walked a very fine line" between support for Black & Brown folks & support for the cops.
Bruce Springsteen released a song about #AmadouDiallo called "41 Shots" & opinions were predictably divided. The 2 Black folks interviewed here were both supportive while the 4 racist white guys (including Giuliani & former NYPD boss Howard Safir) all hated it.
Despite being portrayed by media as a very serious, no-nonsense judge, Judge Joseph Teresi had drinks with the killer cops' lawyers after the trial. The then-Bronx DA Robert Johnson was busy trying to preach respectability politics & dodge calls for him to resign.
In 2015, under current NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio & former NYPD boss Bill Bratton, one of the cops who killed #AmadouDiallo was promoted to sergeant. Two of the cops had become firefighters & one retired. Here's the (pro-cop) NY Daily News' article on it: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-involved-amadou-diallo-slay-promoted-sergeant-article-1.2469062
Then in 2016, the fascist NYPD sergeants union (that is notorious for defending killer cops like the one who killed #DeborahDanner) named one of #AmadouDiallo's killers as “Sergeant of the Year.” http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/killed-diallo-named-sergeant-year-article-1.2793333
Since the murder of #AmadouDiallo, the NYPD has killed well over 200 people with over 80% of them being Black or Brown. Of those cases, there have only been 4 indictments, 2 convictions, & ZERO jail time for the killer cops. #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackLivesMatter
#BlackLivesMatter
Shout out to @HezakyaNewz for collecting all this old footage too!
