The basic narrative in America when it comes to the police department killing unarmed, black men is to blame the victim. This happens over and over, but the country never seems to tire of it. This time it came in the form of a member of the House of Representatives.
Rep. Peter King of New York’s 2nd congressional district, spoke out about the Grand Jury’s decision not to indict the police officer who choked Eric Garner to death. Instead of showing any compassion, King decided to take the opportunity to blame the victim’s size for his death while speaking to CNN, not the police officer.
“You had a 350-pound person who was resisting arrest,” King told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “The police were trying to bring him down as quickly as possible. If he had not had asthma and a heart condition and was so obese, almost definitely he would not have died from this.”
“People were saying that he said seven times, ‘I can’t breathe.’ But the fact is, if you can’t breathe, you can’t talk,” King continued. “If you’ve ever seen anyone resisting arrest, I’ve seen it, and it’s been white guys, and they’re always saying, ‘You’re breaking my arm, you’re choking me, you’re doing this.’ Police hear this all the time.” – Source
It is unfortunate this blame the victim narrative continues to live and fester in this country. It doesn’t seem like the white dominated news outlets will allow it to die the rapid death it needs so we can move past it to some sort of judicial equality in this country.
Nevertheless, the people have pledged to continue to march, protest and begin to pool black dollars together, shopping at black businesses as a result, so maybe there is a bright spot to all the madness we are enduring.
The black community is uniting!
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