November 2006

Sean Bell, 23, was shot 50 times by five NYPD detectives outside a Queens strip club on the night before his wedding. Bell and two friends were unarmed. Detectives fired 50 shots total. Three officers were tried and acquitted of all charges on April 25, 2008. The case became a rallying point for police accountability activists in New York.

NYPD detectives fired 50 shots at Sean Bell, 23, and two friends outside a Queens strip club the night before Bell's wedding, killing him. No gun was found. Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper were charged with manslaughter. In April 2008, Judge Arthur Cooperman acquitted all three in a bench trial, ruling the officers' actions were not criminally reckless. The acquittal provoked widespread protests.

Deval Patrick was elected Governor of Massachusetts, becoming only the second Black governor elected in U.S. history (after Douglas Wilder in Virginia in 1989). Patrick's campaign, run by David Axelrod and featuring the phrase 'Together we can,' became a template for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential run. His election was seen as a breakthrough in a state with a complex history on race and busing.

Deval Patrick was elected Governor of Massachusetts, only the second Black person elected governor in U.S. history after Douglas Wilder (Virginia, 1989). His campaign became a template for Obama's 2008 run.