A TALE OF TWO ERICs THAT CAN'T BREATHE

Robert Bates

When I heard that Eric Courtney Harris died in Tulsa, Oklahoma while listening to some white cop say

"F*ck Your Breath"

because Harris dared complain about being shot while lying on the ground (ala Oscar Grant) then complained further about being unable to breathe (ala Eric Garner)  I had a moment, maybe two, where I hoped that Harris was a drug dealer or big time gun runner, directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of dozens of people. 



I have no excuse for thinking such a horrible thing. I was only thinking about myself, about comforting myself. I just wanted there to be a reason, not a good reason, just some kind of reason for that police officer to put his knee on Eric's head and respond "You f*cking ran...Fuck Your Breath"  after he heard another human being, shot and frightened of dying complain  about "losing my breathe"


I just wanted one of the unarmed black people killed over this month to have been killed for a reasonable reason. But instead we hear about...

"F*ck Your Breath"

What's even worse is that the white man that shot Eric wasn't really a police officer. 



Seventy-three year old Robert Bates is a rich man who was only playing cops-and-robbers as a "volunteer reserve deputy." And because of his money, somebody thought it was a good idea to turn him loose during an undercover operation---or just after. It's hard to tell. But it was Bates who accidentally grabbed his gun instead of his taser and shoots Harris.



You can hear apologizes to the white officers for shooting Harris in the video.  It's unbelievable. Watch at your own risk

Now, I really did think about scanning the net to find out who 44 year old Eric Harris really was in life, but it really doesn't change anything about how he should have been treated.

Having dealt with racists in some form or fashion all my life, I know you cannot let evil people make you evil too, not in retaliation, not even when they deserve it. You cannot let other people's garbage reduce you as a human being.



And one would think that police officers would have to learn something similar in order to routinely come into contact with and attempt to control the worst that our society has to offer. 

Officer F*ck-Your-Breath" must have skipped class the day they taught being civilized at the police academy because he's an animal in uniform no matter what Eric Harris did or didn't do. Daniel Pantaleo never, ever said anything like "F*ck Your Breath" but he sure acted it out, didn't he? He just kept on choking Eric Garner with the same callous disregard for the pain, fear, and suffering of another human being as Officer F*ck-Your-Breath.

And I don't know why, but I am damn near certain that Mike Brown was bent over in pain,  curling into a more fetal position than demon charging position, when Darren Wilson gunned him down.

When an animal in uniform can't see a black person as a human being it can't. 

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