Free | Current TV
Posted: 11/2/2011
In reaction to the 2008 acquittal of three police officers in the killing of Sean Bell in 2006, a group of New York City community artists, poets and activists organized an event called '50 Artists, 50 Shots: We Are All Sean Bell.' The event featured poets, spoken word performers, musicians, painters, dancers, photographers etc., who each agreed to take one bullet for the 50 that were fired at Sean Bell and his friends, and transform each bullet into their art in order to honor his memory, and to express rage and grief for the decision to let the officers free.
The intention of this event was to have an open and safe space for New Yorkers to fully express themselves about the outcome of the Sean Bell case- to educate, to learn, to mourn, to grow, and to have honest dialogues. But most of all, to give inspiration for everyone to take action that would result in a real change in how police officers are trained, so that they can learn to respond to certain situations in a less aggressive and careless manner.
This video has been uploaded three weeks after Oscar Grant was unjustly killed in Oakland by a police officer who shot him at point blank range early on New Year's Day, 2009. Police brutality continues to plague our communities. How can we, as civilians, organize to help make fundamental, systematic changes to stop these tragedies from happening?