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This article elicited the following comment from Henry Giroux:
Henry Giroux Toronto, Canada 10 minutes ago
The larger reasons behind Garner execution seems to be missed by most
commentators. The issue is not simply police misconduct, or racist acts
of police brutality, however deadly, but the growing use of systemic
terror of the sort we associate with Arendt's notion of totalitarianism
that needs to be explored. When fear and terror become the organizing
principles of a society in which the tyranny of the state has been
replaced by the tyranny of an unaccountable market, violence becomes the
only valid form of control. When ethics and any vestige of social
responsibility and the public good are trampled beneath the hooves of
the finance state, there is no space for democratic values or justice.
Hence, the rise of the punishing state as a way to govern all of social
life. In this context, life becomes disposable for most, but especially
for poor minorities of class and color. This is how a terrorist state
controls people. It individualizes fear and insecurity and undercuts the
formation of collective struggle. Fear of punishment, of being killed,
tortured, or reduced to a mere level of survival has become the
government's weapon of choice. As the endless killings by the police
make clear we now live in a state of absolute lawlessness, one that both
fills the Hollywood screens with prurient entertainment and a culture of
cruelty and, unfortunately, provides testimony to the ravaging violence
that marks everyday life as well.
NY Times, Dec. 4 2014
Protesters Fill the Streets Across the Country Over Decision in Eric
Garner Case
By ASHLEY SOUTHALL
Thousands of demonstrators poured out in cities across the country on
Thursday night in a show of outrage over a grand jury’s decision the
previous day not to indict a white New York City police officer whose
chokehold caused an unarmed black man’s death.
The protests drew crowds in New York, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and
Washington. Many chanted the last words of the man, Eric Garner, 43, of
Staten Island: “I can’t breathe.” In some places, they grew disruptive,
snarled traffic on major arteries and lay down in the streets.
For the second night in a row, several groups of protesters roamed
through Manhattan. They caused lanes to be closed on the Brooklyn
Bridge, on the West Side Highway and at the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels.
The protesters also targeted the Staten Island ferry terminal. Dozens of
demonstrators were arrested, but officials did not provide further details.
About 300 people moving north on Broadway toward Times Square lay down
at 34th Street for 11 minutes of silence to commemorate the number of
times Mr. Garner was heard in a video of his fatal encounter saying he
could not breathe. The protesters then moved north and onto Seventh
Avenue, where they were involved in a skirmish with police officers
blocking the intersection of 42nd Street.
At least 24 people were arrested there in one of the few aggravated
interactions between the police and protesters. Many were pushed to the
ground or up against cars trying to drive downtown.
Earlier in Brooklyn, protesters lay down next to replica coffins
inscribed with the names of the victims of fatal police shootings, then
carried the coffins across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Thousands of people marched from Foley Square and Sara D. Roosevelt Park
on the Lower East Side, converged on Canal Street and then swarmed to
the West Side Highway. Waving banners and flags, they quickly marched
north on the highway, blocking traffic going in both directions. At 11th
Street, a police line halted part of the march. Rows of police officers
and protesters faced off, sometimes exchanging words.
“We are going to clear this area or people are going to be leaving in
handcuffs,” a police inspector told a group of people, some of whom
responded with objections.
“Do you support the cop who killed Eric Garner?” one man shouted. A
woman followed, asking the police, “Who are you working for?”
“I’m disgusted with the racism I see in society. I am just fed up,” said
the woman, Maia Lorian, an actress from Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Another group from Foley Square walked through oncoming traffic on Canal
Street, pausing to stage a “die-in” at the intersection on Avenue of the
Americas before making its way to the West Side Highway, where it merged
with other groups.
The phrase has become a refrain of protests over police killings of
unarmed civilians, especially black men. The decision in Mr. Garner’s
case came barely a week after a grand jury ruled out charges against the
police officer, Darren Wilson, 28, who shot and killed Michael Brown,
18, in Ferguson, Mo., in August.
Many protesters also chanted, “Hands up. Don’t shoot,” a reference to
some witnesses’ statements that Mr. Brown had his hands up in surrender
when he was killed.
Like their counterparts in other protests, the demonstrators in Foley
Square were diverse and young. Some, like Jared Lee, 26, of Brooklyn,
participated in protests on Wednesday, and others in response to the
decision in the Ferguson case. Mr. Lee said he was not weary of marching
in the cold.
“It has to happen,” he said. “After the verdict they say, ‘Go back to
your homes, go back to your jobs.’ But they need to hear that people are
disrupted by this.
In Washington, demonstrators marched along major arteries near the White
House as the Obamas celebrated the lighting of the White House Christmas
tree. The demonstrators went over the 14th Street Bridge, which connects
the city and Arlington, Va., before turning back to Washington. On
Twitter, the Metropolitan Police Department advised motorists to avoid
the areas.
More than a thousand people attended a demonstration in Boston timed to
coincide with the lighting of the city’s Christmas tree on Boston
Common. Demonstrators who began gathering more than two hours before the
ceremony filled in around parked cars, and marched up and across the
park, before coming to the front of the golden-domed State House.
When the tree was lit at 8 p.m., fireworks went off, and at least a
couple of thousand people chanted phrases like, “Justice now.” One of
the protesters was Mary Gashaw, 15, who had helped organize a protest in
her hometown, Cambridge, on Monday against the decision not to indict
Officer Wilson.
“It’s not right that injustices keep happening,” said Ms. Gashaw, a 10th
grader. “I want to see the officer charged,” Ms. Gashaw added. “I want
to see the criminal justice system change so it works for everyone.”
Reporting was contributed by Edna Ishayik and Colin Moynihan from New
York, Jess Bidgood from Boston, and Elena Schneider from Washington.
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