I can't breathe

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the Black Lives Matter slogan. For other uses, see I Can't Breathe (disambiguation).

I can't breathe
George Floyd protest in 2020
Origin/etymologyKilling of Eric Garner
MeaningRallying cry against police brutality
ContextPolice brutality and lack of police accountability

"I can't breathe" is a

law-enforcement encounters.[1][2][3] According to a 2020 report by The New York Times, the phrase has been used by over 70 people who died in police custody.[4]

The phrase is now used in widespread protest against police brutality and racial inequality in the United States.

Eric Garner

Further information: Killing of Eric Garner
Justice for All March/National March Against Police Violence, Washington, D.C., December 2014

The phrase originated on July 17, 2014 during the death of Eric Garner, who was put into a chokehold by Daniel Pantaleo, a New York City Police Department officer. A video of Garner restrained by multiple officers which showed him saying "I can't breathe" 11 times before losing consciousness and dying was widely circulated.[5] When it was announced on December 3 that after considering the case for two months the grand jury had decided not to indict Officer Pantaleo, protests erupted with Garner's last words, "I can't breathe" used as a slogan and as a chant.[6] Following the December 2014 acquittal of the officer who put Garner into a chokehold, the slogan experienced a dramatic increase in popularity amid widespread protests.

Fred Shapiro, editor of The Yale Book of Quotations, relates that he had already finished his 2014 list of most notable quotes and sent it out to the media on Dec 3, the same day that the grand jury decided to not indict Pantaleo for the death of Garner. Shapiro states that as he watched the news coverage with protesters turning Garner's final words into a rallying cry, within an hour he revised his list, making "I can't breathe" the top quote of the year. He expressed that it was not a slogan of only that moment, but "a phrase with real and lasting impact". Shapiro said that it was the first time he had ever revised a list.[7]

Expressions of solidarity

A protester in Berlin, Massachusetts, December 2014

Aided by expressions of solidarity from amateur and professional athletes and others, the hashtag "#ICantBreathe" was tweeted over 1.3 million times during December 2014.[7]

Athletes

The first display from athletes was when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team wore T-shirts emblazoned with "I can't breathe" during a December 13 game warm-up.[8] Athletes from both the National Football League and National Basketball Association, notably LeBron James, wore clothing printed with "I can't breathe."[9] Following criticism of James, President Barack Obama came to his defense, stating "I think LeBron did the right thing... We forget the role that Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe and Bill Russell played in raising consciousness."[10] In late December, officials from the Fort Bragg Unified School District in Mendocino County, California banned athletes from wearing "I can't breathe" T-shirts before a three-day high school basketball tournament, before reversing the ban.[11] The American Civil Liberties Union wrote a letter in support of the students.[12]

Academics

Linguist

shooting of Michael Brown, and the older "No justice, no peace." Zimmer called it "a peculiarly powerful rallying cry," and noted, "to intone the words 'I can't breathe,' surrounded by thousands of others doing the same, is an act of intense empathy and solidarity. The empathy comes from momentarily stepping into the persona of Eric Garner at that instant the life was being choked out of him."[13] Zimmer noted that, in the variant "We can't breathe," the phrase becomes directed towards social change and more metaphorical. Phrases seen on protests signs such as "Justice can't breathe" and "Our democracy can't breathe" extend the meaning beyond the physical circumstances of Garner's death.[13]

Joshua D. Rothman of the University of Alabama noted that fashion statements such as the "I can't breathe" T-shirts are "easily and often dismissed by opponents as a cheap gesture or a stunt." However, analyzing the fashion craze in the late 18th and early 19th century for the "Am I Not a Man and a Brother?" cameos made by Josiah Wedgwood for bracelets and hair ornaments, and subsequent incorporation of the kneeling slave image into many different types of products as the most widely used symbol of the American abolitionist movement, Rothman asserted that "we ought not underestimate fashion's value and significance for building momentum and visibility for a political cause."[14]

Others

Speakers at a December 2014 march in Washington, D.C.

The cast of the movie Selma wore "I can't breathe" shirts to their December premiere.[15] Actor David Oyelowo recounts that members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences complained to movie producers and stated that in retaliation they would not vote for Selma to receive Oscars. Oyelowo states, "It's part of why that film didn't get everything that people think it should've got and it birthed #OscarsSoWhite."[16]

Professor Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Reverend Jesse Jackson wrote in a December 2014 opinion piece that the phrase "has become a slogan for the people who have taken to social media and the streets to protest the killing of unarmed African Americans, challenging a system that fails to indict and calling for greater equality."[17]

The phrase has been frequently invoked in protest songs and other music. Eric Garner's siblings released the song "I Can't Breathe" in 2016.[18] The first English song by Russian band Pussy Riot was entitled "I Can't Breathe".[19] Songwriter H.E.R. released a song by the same name in 2020.[20]

Counter-reaction

Supporters of the New York City Police Department marched on December 19, 2014, in black hoodies emblazoned with "I can breathe, thanks to the NYPD" and shouted "Don't resist arrest!" at counter-protesters. Separately, shirts produced and sold online by Jason Barthel, a police officer in Mishawaka, Indiana, that stated, "Breathe Easy: Don't break the law" drew criticism.[21][22] Barthel stated, "When you break the law, unfortunately there's going to be consequences, and some of them aren't going to be pretty."[23] Members of the city council of South Bend, Indiana asked then-mayor and future-U.S. presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg for cooperation in banning the city from future contracts with Barthel's uniform business. Buttigieg's political opponent Henry Davis Jr. described the response: "He refused to touch it. And when he touched it, he agreed with both sides."[24]

Javier Ambler II

Further information: Killing of Javier Ambler

In March 2019, Javier Ambler II died while being arrested in

congestive heart failure and hypertensive cardiovascular disease
in combination with forcible restraint.

Manuel Ellis

Further information: Killing of Manuel Ellis

Manuel Ellis died on March 3, 2020, during an arrest by police officers in Tacoma, Washington.[25] Ellis pleaded "I can't breathe" with officers before dying in the minutes after his arrest.[25] A witness contradicted earlier police accounts of his arrest and death. The video showed police punching Ellis during the arrest.[26] The Pierce County medical examiner ruled that Ellis's death was a homicide, resulting from hypoxia due to physical restraint.[25] The medical examiner said other factors contributed to Ellis's death, including methamphetamine intoxication, heart disease and a mask officers had placed over his mouth meant to stop spitting or biting.[25]

George Floyd

Further information: Murder of George Floyd and George Floyd protests
A protester holds a sign saying "I Can't Breathe Momma," at a Black Lives Matter Rally in Dumfries, Virginia. "I Can't Breathe Mama," was one of the last words said by George Floyd while he was being murdered.
A protester in Minneapolis, May 28, 2020

On May 25, 2020,

second-degree manslaughter, while the three others were charged with aiding and abetting murder.[31]

"I can't breathe" became a rallying cry for

ViacomCBS-owned networks paused their programming to show a black screen for 8 minutes and 46 seconds with the words "I can't breathe" displayed (For the case of Nickelodeon Networks, it was interrupted by an orange screen with a scrolling message about the Declaration of Kids' Rights).[35]

At the location of his death, artists painted a

Chauvin's conviction, the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League tweeted "I CAN BREATHE". Raiders owner Mark Davis, who said the post was his idea, stated that he "look the lead" from Floyd's brother, who after the verdict said: "Today, we are able to breathe again". Afterwards, Davis said that he would not have used the phrase if he had known it was used by police supporters after Eric Garner's death.[37]

Counter-reaction

On June 24, 2020, Councilman Guy Phillips of Scottsdale, Arizona City, said, "I can't breathe," as he took off his mask at a rally protesting the mandatory mask wearing announced by Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane during the COVID-19 pandemic in Arizona.[38] He was condemned by local and state officials. Arizona Senator Martha McSally stated, "Despicable. This is a serious moment in history and it's disgusting you are mocking the dying words of a murdered man." Governor Doug Ducey said, "Just flat out wrong. Despicable doesn't go far enough. The final words of George Floyd should never be invoked like this. Anyone who mocks the murder of a fellow human has no place in public office. Period." Phillips later issued an apology.[39]

Anti-mask protesters have reappropriated the phrase to signal their opposition to

2021 storming of the United States Capitol, protesters attempting to enter into the Capitol through a police line chanted "I can't breathe".[40]

Others

See also

References

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  3. ^ Graham, Taya; Janis, Stephen (June 12, 2020). "The 'I Can't Breathe' Video Police Don't Want You To See". The Real News Network. Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
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External links

Media related to I can't breathe at Wikimedia Commons

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