There has been a call to justice for the slain Sean Bell. A pray-in has been called for tomorrow May 7th, 2008 at 3:00 pm EST., which will end with participants being arrested while on their knees praying.

The protest will be lead by the president of the National Action Network, Rev. Al Sharpton.

If you are interested in participating in the pray-in or in any other supportive role please contact Michael Hardy (212) 690-3070 at the Action Network

Sean Bell & fiancée Nicole Paultre Bell with daughter Jada

PROTEST LOCATIONS:

Sharpton is asking protesters to rally Wednesday at 3 p.m. around New York City:

Sean Bell's fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, and Trent Benefield, one of the wounded men are expected to be at the pray-in

The reason why this pray-in must be a success is because of the police brutality that seems to be plaguing our streets. Whether or not you are LGBT this is a problem. Police officers are supposed to be people that we go to when we need help. They are not supposed to be people that we fear. Police brutality has been problem, especially if you're black.

Black people do not trust the police, especially not the "boys in blue" from NYC. Are black people justified in being scared of NYPD? Looking at the recent past there have plenty of cases where the NY Police Department has overstepped their bounds and abused there powers. This listing doesn't include the cases that have not been reported, or where people have been intimidated to keep silent.

	On December 22, 1994, 29-year old Anthony Baez was choked to death by police officer Francis X. Livoti in the University Heights section of the Bronx. In 1998, Livoti was convicted of violating Baez' civil rights, and two other officers were convicted of lying on the witness stand at Livoti's trial.
	On August 9, 1997, Police Officer Justin Volpe in Brooklyn sodomized Abner Louima with a broken broom handle in the 70th Precinct bathroom. Officer Volpe eventually pled guilty and received a sentence of 30 years in federal prison. Other officers were also implicated and convicted on charges stemming from the initial cover-up.
	Amadou Bailo Diallo February 4, 1999 was a 23-year-old immigrant to the United States from Guinea, who was shot and killed by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon and Kenneth Boss. The four men fired a total of 41 rounds. Diallo was unarmed at the time of the shooting, and a firestorm of controversy erupted subsequent to the event as the circumstances of the shooting prompted outrage both within and outside New York City.
	On March 16, 2000, undercover narcotics detectives shot Patrick Dorismond to death during a scuffle on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. The detectives had approached Dorismond, an unarmed security guard, to purchase drugs. He attacked the undercover officer and was killed with one shot by the officer in self-defense.
	In 2003, acting on a bad tip from an informant, police mistakenly raided the Harlem home of Alberta Spruill, a 57-year-old city worker. The violence of the incursion literally scared Spruill to death; she died of a heart attack at the scene.
	On May 22, 2003, 43-year old Ousmane Zongo, an immigrant from Burkina Faso, was shot four times by Police Officer Bryan Conroy in a Chelsea warehouse. In 2005, Conroy was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to 5 years probation. In 2006, the city awarded the Zongo family $3 million to settle a wrongful death suit.
	On January 24, 2004, Housing Bureau officer Richard Neri, Jr. accidentally shot to death Timothy Stansbury, a 19-year-old black man who was trespassing on the roof landing of a Bedford-Stuyvesant housing project. Stansbury was unarmed but had apparently startled Neri upon opening the roof door coming upon the officer. At that point, Neri discharged his service firearm and mortally wounded Stansbury. Although Commissioner Kelly stated that the shooting appeared "unjustified", a Brooklyn jury found that no criminal act occurred and that the event was a tragic accident. Neri was thus cleared of all charges. The city later agreed to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the Stansbury family. A grand jury declined to indict Neri but Kelly later suspended him for 30 days without pay and permanently stripped him of his weapon.
	On November 25, 2006, plainclothes police officers shot and killed Sean Bell and wounded two of his companions, one critically, outside of the Kalua Cabaret in Queens. No weapon was recovered. According to the police, Bell rammed his vehicle into an undercover officer and hit an unmarked NYPD minivan twice, prompting undercover officers to fire fifty rounds into Bell's car. A bullet piercing the nearby AirTrain JFK facility startled two Port Authority patrolmen stationed there.  An undercover officer claims he heard one of the unarmed man's companions threaten to get his gun to settle a fight with another individual. On April 25, 2008, Justice Arthur Cooperman cleared Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora manslaughter charges and Detective Marc Cooper of recklass endangerment in the death of Sean Bell.
	On November 12, 2007, five NYPD police officers shot and killed 18-year-old Khiel Coppin. The officers responded to a 911 call where Coppin could be heard saying he had a gun. When the officers arrived at the scene, Khiel approached officers with a black object, which was later identified as a hairbrush, in his hand and repeatedly ignored orders to stop. This prompted officers to open fire at Coppin. Of the 20 shots fired, 8 hit Khiel, who died at the scene.[36] This shooting has been ruled to be with both NYPD rules for the use of deadly force and the New York State Penal Law provisions, so no charges, criminal or administrative, will be filed against these officers.

This is unacceptable and should not happen to anyone Black, Caucasian, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, LGBT etc. That is why we fight. This is why I fight for justice the way I know how.

PROTEST PROTEST PROTEST.

Let your voice be heard peacefully.

PRAY