July 17, 2014: the day Eric Garner died on Staten Island.
The 43-year-old African-American father of six suffered from cardiac arrest after two police officers administered a chokehold. The crime: selling loose cigarettes. The entire incident was caught on camera, with Garner, who was unarmed, now-famously pleading "I can’t breathe." His last words would become a rallying cry for protesters several months later, after a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict the officer who administered the illegal hold on Garner. The decision, coming mere weeks after a Ferguson, Missouri, grand jury opted not to indict a white police officer in the shooting death of Michael Brown, sparked nationwide protests against police brutality. With a seemingly never-ending stream of black bodies paraded across television screens, never has America's "national conversation" on race seemed so loud and forceful.
"The world saw an African-American man in Staten Island die and people are confused, disgruntled, and angry," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared in his inaugural remarks on New Year's Day, after being sworn in for his second term. "Today, sadly, too many people are questioning if the blindfold is still intact or does the justice system now see black and white or black and blue or rich and poor."
[For more of this story, written by Jared Keller, go to http://www.psmag.com/politics-...arner-one-year-later]
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