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Now
Dedicated to Sean Bell,
another Black man killed by police, November 25, 2006
Hours before he was to be married, a
wealthy Caucasian man leaving his bachelor party at a country
club in East Hampton was shot and killed in a hail of police
bullets. Two of his friends were wounded, one critically. Witnesses
at the scene expressed shock and outrage, one of the club's patrons
voicing the pervasive sentiment: "Why, oh why is it always
rich white people who suffer at the hands of bigoted, trigger-happy
cops?"
Details of the shooting were
not immediately clear, but relatives of the dead man, James Bellwether,
IV, age 23, and community leaders, including Martha Stewart,
demanded an investigation into what some call an overreaction
by officers.
Witnesses told of chaos, screams
and a barrage of gunfire near the Club du Beau Latte at about
4:15 a.m. after Mr. Bellwether and his friends walked out of
the club and began an altercation during which one of the men
shouted, "Yo, get my gun."
The men then got into a golf
cart, backed up onto the newly seeded lawn, and drove into an
unmarked police limousine bearing several plainclothes police.
In response, five terrified officers fired at least 50 rounds
at the men's cart; the bullets ripped into other cars and slammed
through a nearby gazebo, injuring a game poacher.
Irate bystanders later explained
to officers that the gentlemen in question had been arguing about
stock options, and decided to settle their differences amicably
by a round of impromptu sporting events. One of the men then
asked his butler, Yosworth, to fetch his skeet-shooting rifle.
Mr. Bellwether--who was to
have been wed at 5 p.m. yesterday--was shot in the neck, shoulder,
and right arm and was taken to Our Lady of Aetna Hospital, where
he was pronounced dead. The two wounded men, Clive Gilfordshire,
31, and Troy Bennington, 23, were taken to Cashflow Medical Center.
Mr. Gilfordshire was listed in critical condition and Mr. Bennington,
with a shattered leg, in stable condition. Both had been arrested
and handcuffed to their beds. No guns were found at the scene.
With emotions swirling around
this case, and a long history of no criminal indictments for
police who kill rich white people, legal experts say it will
be difficult to determine if the shootings were justified. "Let's
be honest," said district attorney Roger Gray, "As
an affluent white male, Mr. Bellwether was part of a minority
community. Those people don't trust us. They don't understand
that cops confront danger every day and have to react in seconds.
And if cops happen to shoot the same minority people from the
same minority community again and again, that's a simple mistake--not
a systemic pattern of brutality and injustice." Mr. Gray
went on to say that reporters and investigators would be barred
from questioning the officers, "to give them time to get
their story straight."
The investigation into this
case will likely prove controversial. At a time of growing social
division, any appearance of police carelessness or bias could
set off civic unrest. "And when white people get mad, it's
really scary," said police commissioner Patrick O'Reyes.
"That's why the department has maximized equal-opportunity.
With our new, fully-armed multi-ethnic teams, we've got it fixed
so nobody can say we're racist--even if we only shoot white people."
The commissioner then ordered his multi-ethnic officers to roughly
interrogate witnesses and family members of the victims, and
ransack their homes for anything incriminating. "It's routine,"
he added.
Although civil rights leaders
concede that social awareness has improved in recent years, some
say more progress is needed. "The negative stereotype of
the 'well-healed honky' is rampant in this case," proclaimed
activist Martha Stewart at a press conference today. "But
I think we can get it out with a touch of white vinegar."
On-the-street interviews, however,
indicate that this prejudice might be harder to eradicate.
Byron Johnston, on line at
an employment agency, said: "A rich white dude bought my
apartment building and now I have to live with my sister and
her kids in Section 8 housing. I know all rich white folks aren't
like that, but I can't help hating them."
"It is a proven fact that
those people have an extra chromosome that makes them condescending
and greedy," stated Shirley Butterfield, who runs a non-rich
non-white supremacist website.
"Face it, prosperous white
people own the corporations; they break unions; they're behind
environmental degradation; they got us into Iraq--they're nothing
but little Eichmanns," declared a professor of Equality
and Justice Studies at Red Hook Community College. Victim advocates
say this mentality has wormed its way into the police force.
One of the plainclothes officers
who had been working undercover at the country club on the night
of the shooting spoke on condition of anonymity. He said he thought
there might be trouble when he saw several of the revelers wearing
their black, navy blue, and beige "gang colors." Noticing
hushed voices and some numbers being scratched onto cocktail
napkins, the officer suspected that another hostile corporate
takeover was being planned. "I couldn't stand to see more
people suffer because of lost jobs, lowered salaries, the privatization
of our infrastructure," the officer stated. "That's
why I joined the police force--I wanted to help."
It was at this point that the
officer radioed for backup.
"People criticize us for
entrapping these thugs," he continued. "But they don't
know what it's like. That's a dangerous neighborhood. Those people
are capable of anything."
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