[Iowa-dx] FW: press release on Sean Bell

[Hart, Holly J]

Press Release: For Immediate Release

May 7, 2008

Green Party of New York State Rejects Judge=92s Decision to Exonerate Polic=
e in Sean Bell Murder

Press Contact:

Gloria Mattera, Co-Chair, Green Party of New York State
718-369-2998 / 917-886-4538 Cell / gmattera@gmail.com
Peter LaVenia, Co-chair, Green Party of New York State
518-463-8653/ 518-495-8001 Cell/ albanygreens@yahoo.com

The Green Party of New York State (GPNYS) offers its heartfelt condolences =
to the family of Sean Bell, and completely rejects the judge's decision to =
exonerate the police officers in Bell's killing, the latest in a long serie=
s of extrajudicial police killings of unarmed civilians.

The GPNYS calls for the City Council and the Mayor to establish an elected =
Citizen Police Review Board that has subpoena power as well as the authorit=
y to impose meaningful sanctions on police officers who violate the law.

=93The shooting at, and killing of, unarmed men of color, has become an acc=
eptable and justifiable behavior both in the NYPD, the media, and the crimi=
nal justice system that regularly finds the police innocent of their crimes=
. These deliberate attacks have steadily risen, with the stakes ever increa=
sing, 41 shots, 50 shots, what next, one hundred? What next, grenades?=94 s=
aid Evergreen Chou, former Green Party candidate for State Assembly in Flus=
hing, New York. =93These are no longer cases of police brutality. It is sho=
ck and awe, it is the deliberate terrorism of minority communities.=94

Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, a Green Party presidential hopeful, =
has released an extensive press release about the Sean Bell verdict,
that references our flawed legal system. She states, "It is not impossible =
for us to have justice. We don't have to lose any more people to police abu=
se,
brutality, or murder. But, in order to change things, we're going to have t=
o do some things we've never done before in order to have some things we've=
 never had before."

Green Party of New York State website:
www.gpnys.org

Link to GPNYS Platform:
http://www.web.gpnys.com/?page_id=3D205

Website of Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney:
www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com

Websites for other Green Party Presidential candidates:
Jesse Johnson =96 www.jesse08.org
Kent Mesplay =96 www.mesplay.org
Kat Swift =96 www.voteswift.org