Searching For Air Amidst Anguish - Chris 'Preach' Smith

Photo Credit: SIlive.com

You get to a point, where you find that the most 
horrible of tragedies can give you a multitude of
superlatives and adjectives. And that they can
all be struck down by a word that stands in as a
question.

Why?

It has been a week since the murder, yes, murder
of Eric Garner at the hands of NYPD officers. Primarily
Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who applied the chokehold
and initiated the takedown of Garner in front of his
friend, Ramsey Orta. All over Garner being suspected
of selling ‘loosies’, or loose cigarettes. I’m not going
to mince words here in what Pantaleo did. Especially
since Garner can be distinctly heard ELEVEN TIMES
saying, ‘I can’t breathe’ as he was practically being
suffocated on the ground. It’s been a week, and I
haven’t had the emotional strength to write this until
now. Because of that aforementioned question.

Photo Credit: Gothamist


There’s kind of a game going around Facebook right
now, a game centered in nostalgia. It begins with only
two words. ‘I’m so…’ I haven’t joined in. But I find 
myself compelled to say, ‘I’m so NYC that I still can
remember Eleanor Bumpurs.’ Harsh? Perhaps. But 
it cannot compare to the anguish that Garner’s widow
has endured and will endure to this point. Anguish at
the fact that your husband’s life was taken by gung-ho
cops on a hot summer sidewalk. Anguish that he 
basically was choked to death. Anguish multiplied, no
doubt, by the crass and racist filth spewed by some of
those same officers hiding behind blank avatars and
jumbled usernames on police affiliated websites detailing
the incident. Even worse are the recently reported facts
that the particular police district where this takes place
ranks high in the city in the number of civil complaints
about bad police behavior and that Officer Pantaleo has
had two complaints against him for misconduct. One of
those cases cost the city thirty thousand dollars. Yet he
was allowed to continue his duties. Why?

The NYPD response is, as expected, mixed. Commissioner
Bill Bratton has publicly condemned the incident leading 
to Garner’s death, stating that there will be re-training
throughout the force. As mentioned before, some officers
have stated opinions ranging from asking for benefit of 
the doubt to outright racist vitriol. You can be sure that 
Pat Lynch will step up and make another string of veiled
racist comments. You can bet that Stop And Frisk will be
bandied about as a red herring. But one has to ask, how 
was an NYPD officer allowed to get away with using a 
chokehold? A manuever declared illegal by the NYPD? And
to those who’ll claim it’s an isolated incident, why was it 
used on someone on a subway platform by an officer three
days earlier in East Harlem? Take a step back and examine
what a chokehold is. It’s a takedown move that is designed
specifically to make someone submit before their oxygen
is cut off. Pantaleo willingly used this given Garner’s size
(6”3 and 250) and then can be seen putting pressure on
Garner’s head after he’s down on the ground. At that point,
you’re not trying to subdue anyone. You’re out to send a 
message. I’ve seen this before. For all we know, Pantaleo
may be one of those police recruits sought after because 
of their aggressive behavior. Those types fit right in with the
old-guard vein of cops who still hold onto certain beliefs 
entrenched since the days of the Knapp Commission and 
Serpico. He had to have known what applying that hold 
would do in combination to putting a knee on this man’s 
head. Why?

Police brutality is not uncommon. Even as I type those 
words, I find myself slightly alarmed by them. But it’s the
truth. There has been a slew of lives, mostly Black and 
Latino/a that have been affected by it. Yet we’ve gotten
numb to it. Numb and wary. We juggle those feelings 
to the point that it has become second nature. It is, when
you are of color in this country. Eric Garner is now in the
process of being dehumanized. The media machine will 
in some parts play up his criminal background. They’ll 
point to his weight, and his asthmatic condition as a 
possible culprit in his death. Yet four EMS workers have 
been suspended for failing to reach the scene promptly
and when they did arrive, not even making attempts to
assist Garner. The NYPD initial report doesn’t even mention
that a chokehold took place.  Business as usual. Again, why?


The question of why is all one truly has in the face of 
such a senseless crime. And yes, it is a crime. Yet another
that will be added to the list. It is damning and ironic that
a few weeks ago, Spike Lee’s iconic film Do The Right Thing
celebrated its 25th anniversary. And a key part of that
film involved the death of Radio Raheem due to a chokehold
placed on him by NYPD officers. Garner’s death compelled
the filmmaker to create a composite clip wedding the two
scenes together to illustrate that it is too often art that
can imitate life. Eric Garner’s death also brings up another
tragedy from 20 years ago when Anthony Baez lost his life
due to NYPD bad behavior. And in some ways, Garner and
Radio Raheem are eerily similar. Both were brothers just
living life, trying to thrive. Both were seen as pinions of
cheer and love in their communities. The fact is, Garner’s
senseless death is another chapter in a book filled with the
atrocities only systemic racism can write. For those in NYC,
you see it firsthand in different forms, more recently the
‘gentrification wave’ sweeping now through Brooklyn. Such
things have made this city divided to a degree. Even with a
populist mayor such as Bill De Blasio, the fact that this can
happen speaks more to the rotten parts still ingrained in
this city. Police brutality is just another arm of oppression.
We all know this. We all know this article will be one of many
to detail it. But it still compels us to ask questions. It SHOULD
compel us to ask and take action. Even as the shockwaves
will fade from this case. Because if it’s not police officers across
the nation acting in paramilitary aggression, it’s half-crazed
militias. It’s scared men who shoot lost travelers looking for
help. It’s wannabe policemen looking to gun down teens. Why?
We know why. And we are now in the raw place, the hurting
place that falls under another question: what next?