I Can't Breathe (for Eric Garner) by Ken Newman published on 2019-07-06T21:18:45Z On July 17, 2014, on Staten Island, Eric Garner died when he was placed in a choke hold by a New York police officer. A year later, I happened to be in Houston, Texas and came upon a 'Black Lives Matter' march. A 12 year-old boy passed by. He was carrying a sign ... white letters on a large black piece of poster board. The wind was blowing. It was so strong, that the boy was having trouble holding the sign. I offered to carry it for him. On the sign were the following words: "Every time you see me, you want to mess with me ... It stops today ... Everyone standing here will tell you I didn't do nothing ... I'm minding my business, officer, I'm minding my business. Please just leave me alone ... please please ... don't touch me ... I can't breathe ... I can't breathe ... I can't breathe ... I can't brathe ... I can't breathe ... I can't breathe ... I can't breathe ... I can't breathe," Those were Eric Garner's last words. And that is what inspired this song …, Genre Folk & Singer-Songwriter