Only the Inhumane

If you cannot see the tragedy in what happened to Eric Garner, then you are inhumane. I don't know how else to put it. I'm not saying that you have to disagree with the grand jury's decision not to charge the officer, but you should be able to at least have empathy for his family. Failure to do that reflects poorly on you.

 I'd like to address a few comments that have rubbed me the wrong way.

1) "Eric Garner died because he was overweight." The coroner said that the chokehold caused the heart attack that killed Garner. The coroner ruled Garner's death a homicide. Yes, Garner was overweight, but he was overweight when he woke up that morning. He might have died from a heart attack one day, but his heart attack that day was caused by the chokehold. I didn't randomly decide that. A medical profession, who determines cause of death every day, decided that.

2) "Eric Garner was resisting arrest." On the video, Garner asked the police to leave him alone. When the officer grabbed Garner from behind, Garner put his hands up. As the officer dragged Garner to the ground, Garner did not fight back. Even if you want to argue that Garner's words were him resisting arrest, you still have to concede that once the policeman tried to subdue him, Garner peacefully complied.

3) "Garner was engaged in illegal activities." For starters, Garner was accused of selling loose cigarettes. No cigarettes were found on him, but he did have a history of selling loose cigarettes, so I'll play. This is usually where people make the comparison to the Bundy Ranch, but I'd like to take a different route. To argue that Garner was responsible for his death because he was committing a low level offense is to argue that a 21-year old who buys alcohol for his 19 year-old sibling is eligible for death. Petty crime is petty crime. You don't get to pick and choose who should be ticketed and released and who should pay with their life. If you believe that a petty crime is punishable by death then you are un-American and inhumane.

4) "Garner was a career criminal." This is America, even career criminals have rights.

Now, let's go on a tangent:

I sometimes watch MSNBC and Fox News, please don't judge me. I know that both channels are terrible for my mind. One is radically Liberal and the other is radically Conservative. Those are code words for "Democrat" and "Republican." For the record, there are conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans, but they are pretty much ignored by both sides. That's not my point though. My point is that both extremes agree that what happened to Eric Garner was wrong. Let me repeat that, because surely hell hath frozen over and the devil is giving ice skating lessons: MSNBC and Fox News are in AGREEMENT. I never thought this day would come. These two stations are so vehemently opposed to one another that if one said, "yes," the other would yell, "no" out of reflex. (Yes, I realize that the stations believe the Garner incident is wrong for different reasons.)

Here is the point: When both MSNBC and Fox News agree that it was wrong, it's safe to say that it was wrong.