ot kill the innocent. Many holes need to be patched in the system but it requires a change in attitude around the country in regards to race and class. We must stop thinking about finding quick solutions and we must begin to think about the long run, and find solutions that solve problems, not create more. We live in a democracy and we have the right to decide where our tax dollars go. The American public needs to make a stand on what’s right before it’s too late the politics of the system finally cause it to crash. As Amadou Diallo’s mother mentioned in an interview done by CNN, justice was not served in this case. Amadou Diallo was shot at forty-one times by four police officers right outside his home in the Bronx because he seemed to fit the description of a wanted felon. From the interviews I have seen and the articles I have read in newspapers, it seems to me like this shooting was nothing but poor police work on the part of the officers. They claim that Mr. Diallo waved an object that looked like a gun, later discovered to be his wallet, at them and that act forced them to shoot Mr. Diallo. Certainly in the dark things may get distorted and one might see something that is not there but it is the police officers’ duty to differentiate between reality and what appears to be and to take every precaution necessary to ensure that a life will not be unnecessarily lost. This officers were part of a special crime unit and therefore that fact should prove that they are especially trained to deal with these types of situations. Another thing one might consider is that if Amadou Diallo’s wallet was confused for a gun, how could the officers possibly have any idea whether they had caught the right guy or not. They stated during the trial that Mr. Diallo was standing just outside his door and that it was dark. It is certainly possible that this was not the right man, and in this case it was not. So was racial prof...
