Sean Bell’s Life Worth 3/5 by Brandon Whitney

Many in the African American community were not surprised at the verdict in the Sean Bell case. That is probably the biggest tragedy, the lack of surprise. In a nation that is rabidly defensive of its title as enlightened and egalitarian a founding population has nearly resigned itself to the fact that their lives are viewed as having a fraction, perhaps 3/5, of the value of those in the wider society.

Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, and Martin Anderson are the same story repackaged in the flesh of the newly dead. Young African American males live their lives the same as anyone else in the nation save in those frightening and apprehensive moments when an encounter with an enforcement officer could quite literally lead to death. There was no conviction in the Sean Bell case or the Anderson case, or in many other despicable shows of force by law enforcement. What causes this failure to convict those who use overwhelming force in civilian policing is the same thing that causes the media to ignore missing young Blacks. It is why poverty in the inner city is ignored but in the suburbs is seen as an epidemic. African American lives are not valued at the same level as White lives.

Rather than lament our fate, or curse the founders for their short sightedness in writing a constitution that did not free our forefathers. Rather than scream and yell at White people for not fully understanding the African American experience. What we must do as African Americans is realize that we have no one but ourselves to rely upon if we are to be successful and if we are protect our brothers and sisters from such horrible endings as Sean Bell. This is not a call for separatism but one for self reliance. Someday we will be fully human in everyone’s eyes and social justice will really be a part of the nation we helped to build. Until then we must focus on empowering ourselves to the point that we can stand on our own because no one is going to reach out a hand to help us up.

To read more about political life according to Brandon click here to visit his column on the main Black Men In America.com web site.