HANDY RULES An Brooklyn-based organization called 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care has put together a handy instruction manual of what to do and what not to do when stopped by cops — in other words, how to not get shot by police. It also includes a list the things the police are and are not authorized to do. This should be required reading for young black males. [RW]

Sean Bell's dead and the cops have been cleared of all criminal charges for their role in his death. As finite as those two things seem — Bell's never coming back to life and the cops aren't going to jail — the situation is far from over. There's the inevitable civil case and federal investigation, which the New York Times editorial board hopes will provide "answers" that the criminal trial and subsequent verdict did not. There are the officer's jobs, which the New York Daily News editorial board thinks they should be fired from, pronto. There's the matter of police being allowed to shoot 50 rounds into the car of an unarmed person, which the New York Post editorial board thinks is A-ok.

This article reminds us, based on the dull sadness, disappointment, and resignation (as opposed to blind rage) of the black people a reporter talked to in Queens, that New York is a different place than it was during Guiliani's reign — when black folks were fighting mad after the white cops who shot Amadou Diallo 41 times were acquitted — and that Bloomberg is a very different mayor who is more invested in soothing race relations. The article also reminds us that this was a very different case. Two of the cops were black, and some think the cops simply made an error in judgment that had tragic consequences. Yet, even as some people consider what happened to Sean Bell to be a result of simple police negligence and an unfortunate series of events, others see a very clear racial link. Some people see a crime. Some people think the verdict is a cruel example of how little society values the lives of young black men. It all depends on how you look at it. I mean, Al Sharpton's planning to shut down the city. Protest songs are being written. Special investigators are being called for. Judge Arthur Cooperman's house is under 24-hour security watch. And yes, some people are filled with rage reminiscent of the aftermath of the Diallo case. They're wondering how this happened. Not only how things could have gone so horribly wrong on the night of Bell's death, but how the cops who were involved — particularly the one who fired 31 shots, got away with it.

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