{"id":2723,"date":"2014-12-09T02:04:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T02:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/naacpflint.org\/?p=390"},"modified":"2014-12-09T02:04:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T02:04:00","slug":"%ef%bb%bf-we-cant-breathe-the-movement-against-police-brutality-is-just-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flintnaacp.org\/?p=2723","title":{"rendered":"\ufeff \u2018We Can\u2019t Breathe\u2019: The Movement Against Police Brutality Is Just Beginning."},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span> <\/span><\/span>\u2018We Can\u2019t Breathe\u2019: The Movement Against Police Brutality Is Just Beginning<\/h1>\n

In order to breathe, people have begun to move.<\/p>\n

\n

By Katrina vanden Heuvel<\/a>Twitter<\/a><\/h2>\n

DECEMBER 9, 2014<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

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Editor\u2019s Note: Each week we cross-post an excerpt from Katrina vanden Heuvel\u2019s column at the WashingtonPost.com. Read the full text of Katrina\u2019s column here.
\nAs I write, New York City is witnessing its fifth day of demonstrations after a Staten Island grand jury\u2019s decision not to indict a police officer in the Eric Garner killing. Those demonstrations followed on the protests across the country over the police shootings of Akai Gurley, a 28-year-old father of two who was slain while walking with his girlfriend in Brooklyn, Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy shot by a rookie Cleveland police officer while playing with a toy gun, and, most famously, the Ferguson, Missouri, police killing of Michael Brown. Conservatives joined liberals in denouncing the grand jury\u2019s outrageous decision in the Garner case. Demonstrations have spread across the country as people of all races have taken up Garner\u2019s plea: \u201cI can\u2019t breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Obama met with some of the demonstrators in the White House, where 20-year-old Rasheen Aldridge Jr., director of Young Activists United St Louis, said they made it clear \u201cthat we are in crisis.\u201d He added, \u201cIt is a crisis when a black American can get locked up for traffic fines, but police officers are rarely prosecuted for killing unarmed children.\u201d The president, as another attendee later reported, \u201ccautioned us against demanding too big and stressed gradualism. He counseled us that the wheels of progress turn sluggishly.\u201d The Justice Department has launched special investigations into the killings of Brown and Garner. The president has announced that he will push for putting cameras on police and has convened a Task Force on 21st Century Policing with instructions to report back in 90 days.<\/p>\n

The deaths of Garner, Brown and others at the hands of police are not the only cause sparking mass protests. The day after the Garner demonstrations started, low-wage workers walked off their jobs in more than 190 cities, demanding a living wage and the right to organize. They, too, chanted, \u201cI can\u2019t breathe.\u201d Workers from fast food-restaurants such as McDonald\u2019s were joined by those from low-wage retail and convenience stores and airline service jobs. In Washington, federal contract workers joined the march, calling on the president to issue procurement regulations that would reward good employers that pay a living wage with benefits and allow workers to organize and bargain collectively.<\/p>\n

Read the full text of Katrina\u2019s column here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Read the full article from The Nation here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/many-struggling-breathe-amid-rampant-injustice\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018We Can\u2019t Breathe\u2019: The Movement Against Police Brutality Is Just Beginning In order to breathe, people have begun to move. By Katrina vanden HeuvelTwitter DECEMBER 9, 2014     Editor\u2019s …","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,60,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civic-engagement","category-criminal-justice","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t