Today, Black Twitter is mourning Eric Garner as well as #TamirRice - the 12 year old boy shot and killed by Cleveland police because he was playing with a BB Gun.
Back in July, Daniel Pantaleo, a New York City police officer had placed Eric Garner in the chokehold that led to his death after Garner was detained on the street for apparently selling illegal cigarettes [Read initial report here].
Six months on, several more black men have been killed by white police officers, the latest of which is Tamir Rice who is being laid to rest today in a bitter funeral service.
Today also, the news has just broken that a Staten Island grand jury has voted not to bring criminal charges against Daniel Pantaleo.
And this is coming barely a week after a St Loius grand jury had let off another white police officer, Daniel Wilson, in the Ferguson shooting of black teenager Michael Brown, who like Eric Garner was unarmed at the time of his run-in with the police.
It is not a stretch that many are making it a racist conversation as it seems to have become par for the course that white police officers who kill unarmed black men get off without consequences.
Eric Garner, a 43-year-old father of six died before he got to the hospital after begging officers to release the chokehold on his neck because he couldn't breathe.
The incident was caught on a cell phone video and went viral online after it was posted on Facebook, leading to claims at that time of police brutality and unfair treatment of black men by law enforcement officials. This was in July before the Michael Brown shooting in August that led to violent protests in Feguson.
The grand jury say their decision not to indict was reached after months of testimony including what they heard from the officer, Daniel Pantaleo.
The fact that the ruling comes less than two weeks after a grand jury in Ferguson decided not to indict the white officer who fatally shot Michael Brown is obviously out of their control.
Bull effing crap!I am so infuriated!
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