America’s Pig-in-Chief Declares “No” to Any Federal Charges for Police Murder of Eric Garner

July 16, 2019 | revcom.us

 

Almost exactly five years after New York City pigs murdered Eric Garner, Department of IN-Justice head William Barr announced that there would be no federal charges against the cop who killed Garner with a chokehold as he let out his last desperate words, “I can’t breathe.” None of the cops involved in killing Eric Garner has ever been punished, and now the Attorney General —who is “America’s top law enforcement official”—has given the stamp of approval to the murder.

On July 17, 2014, a bunch of cops on Staten Island surrounded and began to arrest Eric Garner, a 43-year-old Black man, for the “crime” of selling loose cigarettes. Millions of people saw and heard the video where one pig, Daniel Pantaleo, brought down Garner with a chokehold, and the other cops piled on. As was revealed earlier this year (after being kept under wraps for over four years), one cop on the scene texted their commander that Eric Garner was “most likely DOA.” And the commander’s response was: “Not a big deal.”

Eric Garner was known to his family, friends, and neighbors as a generous man who helped settle disputes among the people. He had been married for over 20 years, had a son who was about to start college, five other children, and two grandchildren. To the pigs, all this was “not a big deal.”

A 2015 grand jury refused to bring any charges against Pantaleo or any of the other pigs for murdering Eric Garner. Earlier this year, the NYPD held a disciplinary hearing to determine whether Pantaleo broke department “protocol” by using a chokehold. In the years since he murdered Eric Garner, he has continued be on the force, on “desk duty.” At most, Pantaleo could be fired as a result of the hearing—and even that may not happen.

Now the message has come from the top levels of the U.S. government that the murder of Eric Garner was “not a big deal.” As we have said:

NOT A BIG DEAL!!! These four words totally capture the utter callousness of these pigs and of their entire system, for whom the incarceration of literally millions upon millions of people over the past decades is NOT A BIG DEAL… for whom evictions of hundreds of thousands of women, especially Black and Latino, is NOT A BIG DEAL… for whom the poisoning of countless children by lead—and more than that, the generations of youth that are condemned to oblivion even before they are born—is NOT A BIG DEAL.

As Bob Avakian says in his filmed speech Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, after naming just some of the thousands and thousands, especially Black, Latino and Native American, murdered by the police:

If this were the only thing wrong with this system, it would be more than enough reason to sweep it off the Earth!

 

Video of cop using chokehold to kill Eric Garner