Amadou Diallo
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Amadou Bailo Diallo (September 2, 1975 – February 4, 1999), was a 23 year-old Guinean living in New York City who was killed under controversial circumstances by four police officers in the NYPD's Street Crime Unit, at 1157 Wheeler Avenue in the Soundview section of the Bronx. The killing prompted outrage both within and outside New York when information emerged indicating that Diallo was unarmed at the time and was believed not to have threatened the officers. The killing was viewed by many as police brutality stemming from a culture of racial profiling.
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Events surrounding death
Diallo had come to New York City to study computer science, but had not yet enrolled in school. He reportedly sold videotapes, gloves and socks from the sidewalk along 14th Street during the day and studied in the evenings.
In the early morning of February 4 Diallo was standing near his building after returning from a meal. Police officers Edward McMellon, Sean Carroll, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy passed by in a Ford Taurus when they noticed Diallo fit the discription of a (since-captured) serial rapist and approached him. The officers were in plain clothes but wearing their NYPD shields at the time.
The officers claimed that they loudly identified themselves as NYPD officers and that Diallo ran up the outside steps toward his apartment house doorway at their approach, ignoring their orders to stop and "show his hands." As the suspect reached into his jacket, Officer Carroll believed Diallo was drawing a firearm and yelled "Gun!" to alert his colleagues. The officers opened fire on Diallo and during the burst Officer McMellon fell down the steps, appearing to be shot. The four officers fired forty-one shots, hitting Diallo nineteen times. Investigation found no weapons on Diallo's body; the item he had pulled out of his jacket was not a gun, but a wallet. McMellon had not been shot, but had merely tripped while backing down the stairs.
On March 25 a Bronx grand jury indicted the officers on charges of second-degree murder and reckless endangerment. On December 16 a New York appellate court ordered a change of venue to Albany, New York, stating that pretrial publicity had made a fair trial in New York City impossible. On February 25, 2000, after two days of deliberations, a jury unanimously voted to acquit the officers of all charges.
Aftermath
Diallo's death, the change of venue, and the verdict each sparked massive demonstrations against police brutality and racial profiling, resulting in more than 1,700 arrests. Charges against the protestors were later dropped. In 2001 the Justice Department announced that it would not charge the officers with having allegedly violated Diallo's civil rights.
On April 18, 2000, Diallo's mother, Kadiatou, and his stepfather, Sankarella Diallo filed an US$81,000,000 lawsuit against the City of New York and the officers, charging gross negligence, wrongful death, racial profiling, and other violations of Diallo's civil rights. In March, 2004, they accepted a US$3,000,000 settlement. Kadiatou and Sankarella Diallo remained in the United States as self-appointed activists, although their visas to stay in the U.S., which had been extended several times, recently expired and were apparently not renewed.
The shooting death of Diallo also highlighted the presence and plight of West African immigrants (about 50,000 as of 1999) living in New York City. Many are single males who work as street peddlers (as did Diallo) or as employees in wholesale and retail establishments.
In April of 2002, as a result of the killing of Diallo and other controversial actions, the Street Crime Unit was disbanded.
In 2003, Amadou Diallo's mother Kadiatou published a memoir, My Heart Will Cross This Ocean: My Story, My Son, Amadou (ISBN 0345456009).
Diallo's death became an issue in the 2005 mayoral election in New York City. Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer, who had protested the circumstances of Diallo's death at the time, told a meeting of police officers that he thought the event was a "tragedy" but "not a crime." Ferrer, a candidate for mayor, has been strongly criticized by Diallo's family and others for these remarks.
Cultural references to Diallo
Rappers Immortal Technique, Wyclef Jean, Mos Def and Talib Kweli (of the duo Black Star) were among the first entertainers to speak out against the issue. Along with collaborators such as Organized Noise, Pharoahe Monch, and Common, they started the Hip Hop for Respect project, which created the Hip Hop for Respect album protesting police brutality. Additionally, the hip-hop group Cold Duck Complex references Diallo in their Iraq war protest song, Wake Up.
At a show in Atlanta, Georgia on June 4, 2000, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band debuted a protest song titled "American Skin (41 Shots)". Although the lyrics do not explicitly mention Diallo, they refer to 41 shots, confusing a wallet with a gun, and suspects being shot for reasons of race. Shortly thereafter, the New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association called for a boycott of Springsteen's concerts in the city.
Jazz trumpeter Roy Campbell, and guitarist Elliott Sharp have both performed instrumental songs titled Amadou Diallo and Diallo Blues on the Albums Ethnic Stew and Brew and Blues for Next. Wyclef Jean's The Ecleftic features a song entitled "Diallo" performed with Youssou N'Dour, a tribute to Diallo that included lyrics concerning police brutality and racial profiling, and compared Diallo's murder to that of Stephen Biko.
In 2002, Lauryn Hill released the song "I Find It Hard To Say (Rebel)" on her second album MTV Unplugged 2.0. Hill (on the intro of the song): "I've written it about the whole Amadou Diallo situation, it was such a hot time in the city at that point, I was afraid that if I put the record out, people would misunderstand what I meant by 'Rebel' and they just take it to the streets".
Diallo was briefly mentioned in Dave Eggers' novel You Shall Know Our Velocity
Diallo and Abner Louima are referenced in Spike Lee's 2002 film 25th Hour. The film's central character, Monty Brogan, played by Edward Norton, goes on an extended rant critizing different groups and individuals in New York City. He excoriates the NYPD with the line: "Fuck the corrupt cops with their anus violating plungers and their 41 shots, standing behind a blue wall of silence. You betray our trust!"
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Blink, looks at the Diallo shooting as a case of poor choices based on an inability of the officers to make correct decisions quickly and under stress.
The song "Bang! Bang!"[1] by New York City band Le Tigre is about Diallo's death.
The song "Centre of the Storm", a collaboration between Roni Size and former Rage Against the Machine singer Zack de la Rocha mentions Diallo specifically along with the 41 shots.
The song "Gunship Politico" by State Radio (formerly Flag of the Shiners) is also about Diallo's death.
The song Lament for the Late A.D. by Terry Callier, which features on Callier's 2001 live album Alive, is a reaction to the shooting of Diallo.
The song "diallo" by What Capitalism Was is about the Albany trial of the NYPD officers who shot Diallo.
Erykah Badu's song, "A.D. 2000", off of her 2000 release, Mama's Gun, was an oblique reference to Amadou Diallo.
William Wiley's 2006 tapestry "No Fault Insurance," created in collaboration with Magnolia Editions in Oakland, CA, addresses Diallo's shooting. A figure borrowed from Hieronymous Bosch represents the NYPD; he holds a note in his beak which reads: "41 shots / 19 hits / No one at fault?"
The Diallo shooting was mentioned in the movie Phone Booth. The "caller" in the movie states that "you can get shot 41 times just for pulling out your wallet."
Punk rock bands such as Leftover Crack and Morning Glory have made references to the incident in songs such as "One Dead Cop" and "So You Wanna Be A Cop".
Rap duo Dead Prez mention the shooting of Amadou Diallo in their song "That's War."
Rapper Sun Rise Above also mentions Diallo in the song "Shame" from his album "This means war."
Poet Jeffrey McDaniel mentions Diallo and the racial overtones of the shooting in his poem, "What Year Was Heaven Desegregated?".
See also
External links
- Many details about the case are available at http://www.courttv.com/trials/diallo/
- An excellent article written by an expert witness in the trial of the police officers can be found at http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_149_24/ai_65910628de:Amadou Diallo