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Pity the poor immigrant
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Feb. 9, 2000 | ALBANY, N.Y. -- If you live in New York, however, you see them everywhere.
They're driving your taxi, delivering your groceries, wiping your
baby's cute little bottom. From the bodegas to the street
vendors, African immigrants are the suppliers for our various
needs. They are the latest wave in that immigrant tide most of
our ancestors rode in on. Amadou Diallo has been on television a lot lately, thanks in
large part to Court TV, which is presenting the trial of the
policemen who killed him. It has been a year since he was shot to
death in the Bronx by members of the NYPD's Street Crimes Unit,
invariably referred to in the press as the "elite" Street Crimes
Unit. The unit's motto was "We Own the Night" (and in Diallo's
case they might have added: "You Pay for It"). Such braggadocio may have contributed to Diallo's killing last
February, though the four officers on trial -- Kenneth Bass, Sean
Carroll, Richard Murphy and Edward McMellon -- now maintain that
they did everything by the book. The four veteran officers -- all
out of uniform -- were on the lookout for a serial rapist when
they confronted Diallo in the doorway of his apartment building.
Did they identify themselves? Did he hear them? Was pulling out
his wallet (which one of the cops mistook for a gun) the best way
to respond? Apparently not, since the officers reacted by firing
41 rounds at him. Diallo was struck by 19 bullets -- 16 of those
shots passed through him and three were removed by the medical
examiner. In the year that followed there were a number of
protests in front of police headquarters in Manhattan, all
spearheaded by that man for all seasons, the Rev. Al Sharpton. The protests were successful by media standards (arrested guests
included the actress Susan Sarandon and former New York Mayor
David Dinkins) -- perhaps too much so. In response to a request
for a change-of-venue by the officers' defense team (all four
were charged with second-degree murder), the trial was moved to
the state's predominantly white capital, Albany. Sharpton and company had a field day with this decision,
comparing it to the move of the Rodney King trial to Simi Valley, Calif.,
(and we all remember how that verdict went over). But
before the whole world could cry "Fix!", a state supreme court
justice, Joseph C. Teresi, allowed Court TV access to the
proceedings, deflating Sharpton's accusations that the
African-American (and African immigrant) community was being cut
out of the action. This move also cut Sharpton's planned protests
in Albany off at the pass. Now all anyone interested in attending
the trial needed was a television set -- and maybe a few cups of
coffee. For if C-Span is democracy in action (the U.S. Congress seems to
function in something slower than real time), Court TV is the
legal system -- live! The wheels of justice turn slowly and there
is no fast-forward. The folks at Court TV seem to have the same
philosophy of the officers on trial: Shoot first and ask
questions later. Compared to O.J., which went on forever, the People vs. Bass is
flying by, with Teresi sustaining and overruling
objections right and left, and generally keeping the proceedings
on a short leash. (Call him anti-Ito.) He does not seem to be
playing favorites and the justice he has administered so far is
definitely of the double-edged variety. After ruling Monday that
an "ear witness," Ida Vincent, could not testify that she heard
someone plotting what sounded like a coverup right after the
shooting, Teresi reversed himself after defense attorneys "opened
the door" by asking about other specifics. ("Defense Team
Blunders," the Daily News shrieked afterwards.) Reportage in general has focused on the pause three witnesses
reported in the fusillade. Defense attorneys preferred the word
"break" (a semantic distinction that is lost on me) but the real
question is that of length. While Vincent agreed with other ear
witnesses that it was several seconds (long enough, presumably,
to see if Diallo had a gun or was even moving), the pause --
sorry, break -- Vincent illustrated by rapping out the shots on
the witness stand was less than one full second. More time might
have indicated that the officers meant to finish the immigrant
off. Call it the pause that represses. | ||
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