New Lead Poisoning Danger: NYC Police Force

I am so absolutely disgusted by the Sean Bell verdict. These kinds of blatantly racist and insensitive incidents truly make me feel like a second class citizen. The black man is constantly under threat, whether it be from early exposure to lead ingested and inhaled as a child or lead taken in the head or heart from another black man or those commissioned to "serve and protect" all people. We must be proactive and selective in electing officials who will serve and protect the rights of all citizens. In Cleveland, Ohio, http://www.judge4yourself.com/ is a tool used to help us make good choices in judicial elections. Contact your local black bar association at http://www.nationalbar.org/ to see if there is such an option available in your community.Whatever you do, do not vote for someone that you don't know, especially judges, which often hold the future of our people in their hands. We must get beyond the "smiling and profiling" of all candidates and make decisions based on real policy issues that affect our community on a daily basis -racism, poverty, dangerous living conditions, despair, violence, sexual diseases, health and self-hatred. These are the kinds of questions that need to be asked of the candidates when they come riding into town seeking our votes. What specifically will these individuals do to address these specific issues? What is their record on these issues? We have it easy in 2008- no dogs, no water hoses, no threats of losing our jobs - Google, YouTube, Facebook and Yahoo! provide unprecedented access to tools and information to empower our vote.

In the meantime, let's use our collective disgust to send a message to judges, mayors and governors, that in the next round of elections, we're using ballots to fight the bullets.