The Anniversary of Eric

A few weeks ago, lots of things took place to irritate me. Work was excessive and unrelenting, and it was the 5th anniversary of Eric Garner’s murder. That’s what we’re calling it because that’s what it is. Meanwhile, Officer Pantaleo is still sitting pretty at a desk somewhere in Staten Island, receiving full benefits AND pay even though he murdered a man out on the street. 

Whether or not Garner was selling loosies, which he apparently was not at the time, is of little significance. What's most troublesome is the fact that a man died over little to nothing. What’s most irksome about all of it is that it all comes down to intent by way of the courts. And per the court, the officer in question did not “intend” to use an illegal  chokehold, claiming he was instead using a similar, legal hold called a “seatbelt technique.” However, whether or not he intended to cause someone’s death by refusing them air for an extended amount of time, that’s exactly what happened. 

I wasn’t able to talk about this on the actual anniversary, July 17th, because of how livid I became after listening to the news concerning this. You can tune in to this episode of The Daily if you'd like to hear all of it. Suffice it to say, these “all lives matter” and “blues lives matter” chants did not arise until AFTER we began to reinforce the fact that “Black lives matter.” Think about that. Black lives being negated yet again in the wake of everyone else wanting to be seen and heard. The gag is, they have already have seen, they have already been heard, meanwhile Black people are over here just trying to squeeze in a sentence. A sentence saying “We matter (too).”

Just because you don’t intend for something to happen, doesn’t mean you should not still suffer the consequences of such actions. Accidents have repercussions as well. And as a policeman, you are trained to know and be able to use snap judgments, keeping everyone as safe as possible while doing your job, whatever that may entail. But this officer wasn’t able to sufficiently do that. And now Garner is dead. Essentially over some looses. Think on that.

xx

Eric Garner and his wife Esaw