Al will leave when the money disappears.
Via Capital New York
Exactly one year and a day after the death of Eric Garner during a police encounter on Staten Island, the Rev. Al Sharpton told supporters it was imperative they continue marching and demonstrating in order to change policing and criminal justice policies.
“Rain or shine, they need to see a year later that they’re still at this,” Sharpton said Saturday morning in Harlem during the regular Saturday morning rally he hosts on 145th Street. “We are still ‘We can’t breathe.’ You need to do something about this case.”
Garner’s last words—”I can’t breathe”—became a rallying cry after the unarmed 43-year-old father of seven died as police attempted to arrest him for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. Several officers wrestled Garner to the ground, including Daniel Pantaelo, who was seen on video putting his arm around Garner’s neck. The city’s medical examiner said Garner died of “compression” to his chest, and a “choke hold,” but in December, a grand jury voted not to indict the officer in Garner’s death, which led to protests in New York City and across the country.
Today, Sharpton, the Garner family and supporters plan to gather in front of the federal courthouse in Brooklyn to urge the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute Pantaleo.
Sharpton, in Harlem, told supporters they needed to keep demonstrating and applying public pressure, because “the subliminal message is that—if you can in a year’s time go on to something else—you’re telling them ‘Well, you can choke them on tape and all you go to do is wait and they’ll calm down in a minute.’ That’s the message they give us.