Sitting Ducks

When I heard, shortly after Thanksgiving 2006, about the shooting of Sean Bell by five New York City police officers, that he was killed with four bullets from a torrent of 50 shots, my thoughts were not only of him. They were also of Amadou Diallo.
Diallo was killed in February 1999 when 19 of 41 shots from four New York City police officers pierced his body, mere feet from the safety of his front door, after one of the officer identified his wallet – reached for to provide identification – as a gun.
These men, now dead, had some interesting things in common. Both were 23, both were headed home after participating in legal early-morning activities, both were unarmed, both were shot at by multiple officers at the same time and those responsible for both their deaths were found not guilty and set free. Oh and both were Black.
But why in 2010, you ask, am I talking about this old news?