Thursday, December 4, 2014

Talking about race, Part 2: Famous last words & the number 21




THE FRONT PAGE of the New York Daily News sums up the incredulous reaction shared by most people at the Grand Jury decision not to indict the police officer who choked Eric Garner to death despite videotape evidence. 

The video of Garner's struggle has gone viral worldwide and his last words, "I can't breathe," joins the last words of Michael Brown, who said, "I don't have no gun, Stop shooting," before being killed by another police officer in Ferguson, Missouri - as indictments of the American judicial system's unequal treatment towards people of color, especially young black men. Studies show that black teenagers are 21 times more likely to be shot by police officers than their white counterparts. Twenty-one more times more likely to be shot by police. That's a huge disparity.

21

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