Makes me wanna holler

Right now, I’m supposed to be enjoying my vacation and I am. However, there’s a cloud of sadness and disgust hanging over me.

It all started when I got the text message from a friend Friday morning informing me that the three police officers charged in the murder of Sean Bell were acquitted.

Acquitted?

For murdering an unarmed man leaving a bachelor party with friends the night before his wedding day?

How can that be?

The news instantly sparked within me feelings of disappointment, outrage, hopelessness, fear, nausea. And it brought back memories of other such police murders of unarmed men, like Amadou Diallo, Marquise Hudspeth.

One emotion I didn’t feel was surprise.

I know some of you don’t see it this way. Some of you may say Bell and all these other men got what they deserved. Others may say there are no winners.

But that’s just not enough for me. I cannot mentally reconcile the justice of this verdict. I can’t understand how the law says shooting and killing an innocent, unarmed man 50 times is justifiable. I can’t understand how the law seems to always protect murderers who wear badges.

I keep trying, but I just can’t see how this is fair.