I’ll tell you what I know about the Eric Garner case: it’s a horrible tragedy, and it’s got nothing to do with race but a lot to do with bad laws — specifically, the law that criminalizes the sale of untaxed individual cigarettes. I want to get into those two points, but first I suppose I’m expected to render a verdict on the grand jury’s opinion. On that end, I can say this for sure: I’m not sure.
Certainly, the video is brutal and difficult to watch, especially knowing how it all turned out. This one isn’t Ferguson. Eric Garner isn’t Michael Brown. Eric Garner wasn’t a violent thug who went out of his way to provoke a violent encounter with a cop and then tried to take the cop’s gun while assaulting him in his patrol car. That’s not what happened here; there simply aren’t any comparisons to be made.
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