Oh puhleeeeeeeeeeeeeze.
I know the New York Post is a Murdoch paper but come on. NY Post columnist Bob McManus says it was Eric Garner’s fault that the cops choked him to death.
Eric Garner and Michael Brown had much in common, not the least of which was this: On the last day of their lives, they made bad decisions. Epically bad decisions.
Each broke the law — petty offenses, to be sure, but sufficient to attract the attention of the police.
And then — tragically, stupidly, fatally, inexplicably — each fought the law.
The law won, of course, as it almost always does.
What was the law that Garner was supposed to have broken? The law against selling single cigarettes from packs without tax stamps. Is it rash and terroristic of me to suggest that that’s not worth choking a suspect for? By a very wide margin not enough? Even if the suspect is trying to refuse to be arrested?
He didn’t pay the million dollars he owes in grazing fees, like a True Hero of Freedom. No?
C’mon, Ophelia, breathing while black. Have you so soon forgotten that capital crime? Every black guy is immediately to be apprehended with whatever force is necessary, and of course, lethal force will be necessary, no matter what, because, well, black!
God, I’m sick of this country!
Also remember, caught on video is him denying that he sold cigarettes at all.
Wilson (Michael Brown Case) had testified that he was unaware of the shoplifting at the time he stopped his victim.
They were black men killed by the police who won’t stand trial for murder.
From the Article:
Just so we’re clear, it’s an appalling miscarriage of justice to even whisper that a rich, respected, powerful (white) man might possibly have committed sexual assault, but it is perfectly fine to assert that a poor black man with a history of petty crime is guilty. What happened to requiring a conviction before stating anything at all about allegations? I mean shit, not even an ‘allegedly’ in front of the ‘selling’.
“He had learned NOTHING from his dozens of arrests.”
That tells us that he is amoral – a sociopath who cares not a bit for the rest of society. Since he was unable to learn, there was no chance he could be rehabilitated and persuaded to give up his wicked ways. Like any mad dog, the only course of action is to put him down, however much those charged with that distasteful task wish they didn’t have to.
So wealthy white men cheat the IRS out of billions and they get a fine, but a poor black man might not have paid a few dollars in taxes and that justifies a public execution. Nice to see we have our priorities straight.
What surprises me, in addition to the travesty of justice, is that the police don’t know how to restrain a person, especially when there are 6 of them. In mental health, we learn how to restrain a patient without hurting the person. It is all about restraining the arms and legs. You don’t mess with the head, neck, torso, etc because obviously pressure can cause death or serious injury. And just because a person is talking, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t suppressing their breathing. Unfortunately, it looks like the police see these people as human or as someone’s mother, father, son, daughter. Their victims are just the “others.”
selling single cigarettes
Cigarettes can kill!!
Yeah but then how do you get the “this is what you get for even thinking of fucking with us. This will teach you not to obey!!!” message across?
Because that’s what the cops are doing, really.
Sometimes they even come right out and say it, too.
Cigarettes don’t kill people. Cops do.
When I was reading reports about it at the time, there was no suggestion that Garner was in the midst of selling cigarettes when the cops arrived. They had been called because there was a fight–a fight which Garner had just helped to break up. There was no report from the police at the time that they were arresting him for selling cigarettes in that particular instance. There was no clear explanation for why they needed to arrest him right then. Seemed like they wanted to search him and he wasn’t interested (since, as he said, they were constantly hassling him) and that precipitated the decision to take him into custody.
If black people walked around in the nude, with their hands up, how many would still be shot and killed?