John Cardinal O’Connor offered his condolences to the parents of Amadou Diallo yesterday in a 50-minute meeting in his office.
”He gave us blessings,” said Diallo’s mother, Kadiatou Diallo.
”And I feel that he is someone spiritual who is bringing people together; what he told us today made me believe that God is leading us to justice for my son.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton, the Diallo family adviser, attended the meeting, along with the Rev. Ruben Diaz of The Bronx and the Rev. Wyett T. Walker of Manhattan.
”It was the cardinal in a pastoral role,” Sharpton said.
He added that he told the leader of New York’s Roman Catholics that no one should think that those pursuing justice for Amadou Diallo are anti-police.
He said they were simply anti-aggressive policing.
”The cardinal has set an example today that men and women of government need to follow: and that is meeting and talking with those who have been injured and those that represent the injured,” Sharpton said.
Joseph Zwilling, the cardinal’s spokesman, said O’Connor wanted to meet with the family shortly after Amadou Diallo’s death.
”He wanted to meet them, but they went to Guinea … When they came back, it was set up,” Zwilling said.
The cardinal told the family, which is Muslim, that he could not attend the interdenominational service planned for Friday, but would send a representative, Sharpton said.
Amadou Diallo, 24, a street vendor, was shot and killed in a volley of 41 police bullets as he stood in the vestibule of his Wheeler Avenue apartment building in The Bronx.
Four officers from the Street Crime Unit were hit with second-degree murder charges last week.
”We think that this is an appropriate way to begin, as we pursue a national dialogue,” Sharpton said.