Zephyr Teachout will honor the memory of Eric Garner today. Please see her email announcement below for details.
Tomorrow I’ll be in Staten Island to honor the memory of Eric Garner and draw attention to a topic that is often difficult to discuss. Being a black person in America today means you have a higher likelihood of being injured, shot, or killed by police. We’re joining the call of community organizations to publicly mourn Eric Garner’s death and put an end to these horrible encounters.
We can look at the Garner case through many different lenses. It is a situation involving specific NYPD officers whose behavior must be looked at carefully by the relevant authorities. However this case is also emblematic of larger issues in policing that impacts young black men in particular. We are also seeing the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, as a milestone in how our country treats some of its citizens.Earlier this week I released a policy statement on the militarization of police and how body cameras can mitigate this kind of violence. But this Saturday isn’t about policy, but standing and supporting the communities most intimately affected with these issues, and to get answers to what happened here on Staten Island to Eric Garner.
Sincerely,
Zephyr Teachout