The Lonesome Death of Eric Garner Daniel Pantaleo killed poor Eric Garner, With his arms in a chokehold around Garners neck By a beauty supply store in North Staten Island Where the peacemaking father had ended a fight, But the cops who showed up saw an imposing black man And they went to arrest him but hed had enough And the tall gentle man shrugged the officers grasping And so Daniel Pantaleo choked him to death But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears Take the rag away from your face Now aint the time for your tears. Eric Garner was a husband and father, Whod worked in the parks til he left for his health, And with six kids to feed he still needed an income, So at times hed go selling untaxed cigarettes, Which drew some arrests then police force harrasment The destruction of dignity for the smallest of crimes But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears Take the rag away from your face Now aint the time for your tears. The New York Police were forbidden from choke holds, For the dangers were known and had cost lives before, But Daniel Pantaleo and six other officers, Saw a man, tall and black, who had taken enough, And they wouldnt endure his nonviolent resistance, So they strangled his neck and they tackled him down, To the sidewalk where they shoved his head in the concrete, As poor Garner cried out, I cant breathe, I cant breathe But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears Take the rag away from your face Now aint the time for your tears. Garners friend Ramsey recorded the murder, From the start to the end, he captured the truth, And the cops, they were pissed, and they went after Ramsey, And his wife, just the same, filing punitive charges, For the video proof of their killing of Garner, But a thousand arrests couldnt cover their shame. And you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears Take the rag away from your face Now aint the time for your tears. In the courtroom of honor, the grand jury voted On the evidence that the prosecution had brought, With filmed evidence that Michael Brown never had, And a chance to show once that our laws can bring justice, And that even police must believe black lives count, This grand jury decided there was no need for trial, That no probable cause could be found to indict And Daniel Pantaleo was cleared of wrong-doing, He was free to keep breathing and locking up villains, And protecting the people from all evildoers, Like poor Eric Garner, the merchant of smokes Who leaves behind orphans and a widow and a mother, When their routine harassment left him dead in the streets. Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears Bury the rag deep in your face For nows the time for your tears.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 02:48:48 +0000
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