victorious run in the Democratic primaries has given many Americans and even more outside the country the impression that race has ceased to be a social issue in the United States. Sadly, while Obama's ascendancy is definitely a sign of significant improvement in race relations, racism continues to raise its ugly head in American life. On Friday, a judge acquitted three undercover New York City policemen of murder charges in the death of Sean Bell, a young African-American man who was to be married just hours later. Leaving a club in the early morning hours, Bell and his friends had an argument with another group of men. One of the cops monitoring the situation thought he heard one of Bell's friends say that he was going to get a gun to settle things. This sparked a fusillade of 50 shots. Bell died at the scene and no gun was found. That two of the officers on trial were black did little to mute cries of racism from New York's African-American population. It only bolstered their complaints that black cops, just like white ones, are likely to regard African-Americans as more prone to criminal activities than white Americans. The acquittal of the policemen came at the hands of a judge, not a jury of regular citizens. In the US, a criminal defendant can opt for a single judge rather than a jury of 12 peers to hear a case. In this case, the defendants obviously thought a judge - an official who hears of the travails of police work on a daily basis - would be less prone to an emotional reaction to the case than a jury of peers, which undoubtedly would have included black New Yorkers who, at one time or another, had felt intimidated by a largely white police force. Meanwhile, exit polls conducted during last Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary showed a percentage of white Democrats took race into consideration when casting their votes. This same group also said that if Obama were ultimately the Democratic candidate, he would not get their vote. Race relations can be complex for historical reasons but if no one dares take the first step towards resolving these issues, racism will continue to raise its ugly head and work to everyone's disadvantage. __
