Who is to blame for Diallo? The four white police officers, who shot a man holding a wallet; the system of accountability, put in place by former New York Police Commissioner William Bratton, puts intense pressure on officers to bring down crime at any price; wannabe-Senator Rudy Guiliani; and most importantly, the Supreme Court. While some feel there is not much of a policy difference between George W. Bush and Al Gore '69, there is a significant difference on this issue. With as many as three seats on the Supreme Court likely to come open in the next four years, the future of race relations in the U.S. could hang in the balance.
Quentin A. Palfrey '96 is a former Crimson editor and a first-year student at Harvard Law School.
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