Arnold Arnez 12 / 23 / 14AP US History PD#5 2nd MP Research Assignment

NYT – Protests After Grand Jury Doesn’t Indict Officer in Eric Garner Chokehold CaseBy J. DAVID GOODMAN and AL BAKERDEC. 3, 2014

The article by the New York Times deals with the situation concerning Eric Garner, who was

chocked to death by an officer with 8 years on the force in Staten Island, for selling Loose

Cigarettes out on the streets. The decision came out with the decision to not indict Daniel

Pantaleo on any charges concerning the reported homicide in July of 2014. This having angered

many in the Black and others in New York City, especially having come out one week after the

decision not to indict Darren Wilson for his involvement and homicide of Michael Brown in

Ferguson, Missouri, over violence by police officers against minority communities. The result is

that many have gone to the streets as a means of expressing the anger that has been built up

with the turbulent relations that the police have had with the Black Community.

This is many ways seems to be an inevitable response to the situation that has occurred

in Ferguson and New York City, with violence being committed against the Black Community.

This would be so because of the relation that seems to grow unstable as the historical structure

and broader societal role that the police have played in keeping communities down inevitably

results with a social antagonism of Black People have with those in civil and political society.

The structure of the law seems to play the most significant role to maintain the legitimacy of

the decisions being made in what is seen as being against the interest of the greater

constituency, for the law is made to be seen as neutral. The reaction by the now deceased

Mrs.Garner to the apology given by Officer Pantaleo was “Hell, no, . . . He’s still feeding his

kids, . . . and my husband is six feet under and I’m looking for a way to feed my kids now.” In

this way, the act of not indicting the officer must assume that there will be wider socio-political

repercussions, by the people and those personally affected by this decision. This as well come

out because the final proverbial nail in the coffin, with the Garner family’s welfare being

disregarded as a mute personal point that has no purpose in this discussion, yet when the two

officers who were recently killed are discussed, they were seen as martyrs and talking about

them without mention of their family becomes cruel and heartless.

My opinion here is also seen within the analysis of the political message which the

article entails in many ways. It is that I view the act of not-indicting Officer Pantaleo is in many

ways as criminal and hypocritical as the act of justifying a police officer justifying a false

accusation of a suspect as the culprit, it’s blatant violence and falls into the spectrum of racist.

It’s racist because it upholds a flawed conduct that targets minorities, and puts a precedent

that a white dominated enforcement service, the Police, can be above the law at the cost of

anyone’s lives, especially those who are disenfranchised racially and socio-economically.