Why ‘I Can’t Breathe.’

It has been well document about the unfortunate death of Eric Garner. His death is one of the rare occasions that is recorded on video from beginning to end. So I will not belabor the issue of why his death was unjustified. However, I will voice my opinion on police brutality and where I think there efforts and aggression should be placed.

I can’t breathe when policemen ignore a known drug dealer and allow him to continue to operate within his community, unchallenged. But you take down a man for selling cigarettes. I get that he should have had a license. I understand that he cannot tell a policeman to leave him alone because if that were the case then it would send the wrong message to its citizens both upstanding and criminal. However a police officer chose a difficult profession so they have to use more critical thought than the people they are responsible for protecting.It is my guess that they will find that more often than not there is no need for physical aggression on for the average citizen. Eric Garner was an average citizen. A policeman/ woman should be able to say, “Move on, no solicitation or leave!” without putting on finger on him or anyone like him. Eric Garner did not have to die.

But he did after a multiple officer takedown. He died from an illegal chokehold. He died from shortness of breathe. When he could speak he repeated and said,”I can’t breathe!” There are several officers on the scene. He was not running away. At 350 lbs he was not going far. He was not physically combative. So at this point release your hold and treat a single cigarette selling offender as a citizen. Obviously you could not do that. But why not? Why was the end result so absolute?

Was it racism? Was it racial profiling? Surely there are other solicitors in New York that should desensitize an officer’s resolve. Surely Eric Garner was not a pioneer and therefore an unsuspected social phenomena. There had to be a deeper reason for such an approach. Surely. Again seeing that officers are put through stringent testing psychologically and trained as professionals I cannot give them a pass. Police brutality is a racist act. What are my options other than to believe that these professionals were deliberate in their actions. If not give me a solution that’s sound on its merits because I can’t breathe!