Everyone's Lives Matter

Slightly over a week ago, when the the Ferguson grand jury decision came down on Monday night, I wrote a blog post expressing my dissent with the decision, and a one-liner on Facebook --"No justice, no peace. RIP Michael Brown." That one line ended up offending a friend so much, he wrote some awful comments on my Facebook wall. Not wanting to get into a pointless Facebook debate (as usually all Facebook debates end up being), I refused to comment back, although another friend came to my rescue... twice (thanks Erin!).

Well, I was ready to put these unpleasant incidents (the indictment decision and the Facebook bullying) behind me and move on, when the grand decision over Eric Garner's death came down yesterday, and split my heart open again.

You can read multiple articles about the case so I will only summarize that on July 17, 2014, a group of police officers surrounded Eric Garner, a black man suspected of selling untaxed loose cigarettes (none were found on him there and then btw). Although Garner was confrontational, he was unarmed and did not assault any cops. When Garner shouted at them to stop harassing him, then swatted their hands away as they tried to take him in, Officer Daniel Pantaleo put Garner in a chokehold position, a moved banned by the NY Police Department. The officers then forced Garner to the ground (still in the chokehold), and ignored cries that he couldn't breath, and Pantaleo even held Garner's head to the sidewalk while the latter was handcuffed.

The autopsy report revealed that Garner died a few minutes later from the chokehold that was compounded by his obesity and asthma, and the New York medical examiner ruled it a homicide. Parts of the video filmed by a passerby who recorded the incident can be found on Huffington Post here and CNN here[probably want to watch it asap before it is taken down].

Yesterday, the Stanton Island grand jury decided that no crime had been committed, and that they would not indict Pantaleo.

At first I had written a whole post venting my outrage over the situation, but now, my rage has simply turned into disgust and despair, and even now I'm still struggling to reconcile my emotions with words on this blog. No words can express my disappointment and sorrow for how everything went down. Perhaps if the nation had had time to heal from Ferguson, it wouldn't have been so bad, but coming right at its heels...

In a very sick and twisted way, I can see the "reasons" (read:excuses) why the grand jury did not indict Daniel Pantaleo. The chokehold position that Pantaleo performed on Garner is legal; it's just banned by the NY Police Department. Thus, Pantaleo technically did not break the law. If we want to talk details, technically Garner's swatting of the cops' hands can be counted as resisting arrest, and thus sort-of justify why Pantaleo needed to use a more forceful method (but of all methods, he chose the chokehold- really?!). Finally, Pantaleo didn't maliciously intend to kill Garner -- adrenaline can be a very powerful thing, so once again, technically Garner's death was an accident, and thus technically not a crime. [Please note that Pantaleo apparently has a history of racially-motivated misconduct while on the job.]

But just because something is legal doesn't make it right. I'm still reeling from how Garner's death can be ruled a homicide, and still the grand jury decided there wasn't even probably cause for a crime. A man caused another man to die unnecessarily, and he walked free.

It just makes me sad.