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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEugene Robinson: The Eric Garner case’s sickening outcome
I cant breathe.
Those were Eric Garners last words, and today they apply to me. The decision by a Staten Island grand jury to not indict the police officer who killed him takes my breath away.
In the depressing reality series that should be called No Country for Black Men, this sick plot twist was shocking beyond belief. There should have been an indictment in the Ferguson case, in my view, but at least the events that led to Michael Browns killing were in dispute. Garners homicide was captured on video. We saw him being choked, heard him plead of his distress, watched as no attempt was made to revive him and his life slipped away.
This time, there were literally millions of eyewitnesses. Somebody tell me, just theoretically, how many does it take? Is there any number that would suffice? Or is this whole equal justice before the law thing just a cruel joke?
African American men are being taught a lesson about how this society values, or devalues, our lives. Ive always said the notion that racism is a thing of the past was absurd and that those who espoused the post-racial myth were either naïve or disingenuous. Now, tragically, you see why.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-the-eric-garner-cases-sickening-outcome/2014/12/03/283c0e02-7b5c-11e4-b821-503cc7efed9e_story.html?postshare=4251417664941614
Eugene Robinson ?
In the depressing reality series No Country for Black Men, this sick plot twist was shocking:
https://twitter.com/Eugene_Robinson
morningfog
(18,115 posts)jillan
(39,451 posts)breath away."
Beautifully said!
Ino
(3,366 posts)Still the pig goes free.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/eric-garner-death-ruled-homicide-medical-examiner-article-1.1888808
The autopsy also found that compressions to the chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police killed Garner. The manner of death, according to the medical examiner, was homicide.
<snip>
Pantaleo, 29, has been accused of false arrest and violating police procedures in two previous lawsuits, court records show.
glowing
(12,233 posts)It's where they live, right? I'm sure whoever got stuck with GJ duty was someone who had time, retired someone, knows or has family that are serving as police... I wonder if the GJ wouldn't indite in another part of that city.
Hekate
(90,768 posts)KitSileya
(4,035 posts)Eugene Robinson needs to be careful, but I will say it directly - those who claim we live in a "post-racial" world are racists, pure and simple. If you deny there is a problem, you are part of the problem, and those who deny that there is racism, or claim it is just some individuals who haven't evolved, instead of a feature of our society, are racists. They refuse to see the reality of the lives of black Americans, and refuse to believe what these black Americans say about their own experiences, and that makes them racists. They are propping up a system of institutional racism, and when they do that, it doesn't matter what their personal opinions of black people are, or how many black friends they have, they are racists.