Book review: "I Can't Breathe", by Matt Taibbi

It's been difficult for me to read I Can't Breathe, by Matt Taibbi (Spiegel & Grau, 2017). Not that it is poorly written; it is quite the opposite. Nor was it because I don't see eye-to-eye with the author on the issues. Mr Taibbi is reliably liberal, as you would expect of a writer for Rolling Stone. If anyone is entitled to put the letters "SJW" after his name, it's Matt Taibbi. My discomfort stems from being reminded that those advocating "Justice for Eric Garner" and other victims of police killings are not always wrong, as some on the right say. That's what I Can't Breathe is about.

For those who don't remember, Eric Garner was a petty criminal who eked out a subsistence living for himself and his wives and children by hawking untaxed cigarettes around Tompkinsville Park, in Staten Island, a borough of New York City. On 17 July 2014, a cop named Daniel Pantaleo, already the subject of numerous complaints, put a chokehold on Mr Garner during an arrest for allegedly selling "loosies" -- single cigarettes.

The final moments of his life were captured on a video shot by Ramsey Orta, another small-time miscreant and Mr Garner's friend. What millions saw in the video was Officer Pantaleo killing Eric Garner. In spite of the video evidence, Officer Pantaleone was never indicted, let alone convicted, nor was he punished in any way for anything.

The case was presented to a grand jury by the then District Attorney (now Congressman) Dan Donovan. Mr Taibbi suggests, as have numerous lawyers, that Mr Donovan "threw" the grand jury hearing, focusing on exculpatory evidence and the unsavoury background of Eric Garner, rather than trying to get an indictment. We will never know, because the authorities have stonewalled the release of any details of the grand jury hearing.

I Can't Breathe focuses chiefly on the death of Eric Garner and the subsequent denial of justice by the so-called "justice system", but Matt Taibbi also canvases some of the many other extra-judicial killings -- police murders -- which have occurred in today's "postracial America" (as the Prez would have it), in Chicago, Baltimore, Cleveland, Ferguson MO and Star City AR. The author makes a powerful argument for the proposition that the "criminal justice system" is (a) racist and (b) broken.

Having been caught up in the system myself, I cannot but agree with (b). The system is FUBAR. For me, (a) is the hard part. But the evidence is there, in black and white (if you'll forgive the pun). I don't believe that anyone, of any colour, no matter how much of a lowlife he may be, deserves to be killed or even physically assaulted by cops who believe their badge gives makes them judge, jury and... yes... executioner. If you think Eric Garner and the others who met death at the hands of the police "just got what was coming to them", please read I Can't Breathe.

Further reading: "Prez calls for 'soul searching' in wake of Baltimore race riot", WWW 28/4/15.

Prez calls for "soul searching" in wake of Baltimore race riot

Tuesday morning in Baltimore. The sun rises over deserted streetscapes, boarded-up windows of looted business, shells of burnt-out police cars, and the trash and debris left over from a day and a night of... what? Of fighting for justice for Freddie Gray, of course! Don't you read the lamestream media?

Well, yes, certain of the meeja did use the word "riot". And what kind of riot was it? Why, a "police riot" of course! Those thuggish Baltimore police were just provoking and attacking those poor, downtrodden, innocent "African-American" chillun, as you can see clearly in this picture.

Oh... wait... You don't see any police? Just a mob of black folks running wild, stomping on cars? But there were lots of cops around, dressed in full riot gear, armed with guns, batons, teargas and other WMDs. The police certainly had their work cut out for them. Rioters set police cars and buildings on fire in several neighbourhoods, looted a mall and liquor stores and threw rocks at police, who responded occasionally with pepper spray.

So it was all the cops' fault, right? Errr, not exactly. Seems the cops were targetted by a coalition of black gangs -- Bloods, Crips, and others. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (of the coloured persuasion herself) called last night one of her city's "darkest days" ["nights", surely. Ed.], and said these actions of "thugs" had nothing to do with protests. "We cannot allow our city to devolve into chaos because of a small group of criminals that are moving throughout our city."

Right. It's a few "thugs" that are causing all the trouble, not the black folks shown in this picture demonstrating for justice for Freddie Gray.

Yep, fighting for justice... and loot... just like the old joke about the Irish lawyer who said all he wanted for his client was justice... with costs, of course.

Justice for Freddie Gray... Mr. Gray was taken into custody by Baltimore police on April 12th after "making eye contact" with officers -- an offence Walt never heard of until now -- and then running away. He was held down, handcuffed and loaded into a van without a seat belt. Leg cuffs were put on him inside the van when he became irate, for some reason. Less than an hour later, he was dead.

The latest victim of a police killing was not just Gray but black. No surprise there. Police have declined to specify the race(s) of the six officers involved in his arrest, all of whom have been suspended while they are under investigation. With pay, of course.

Mr. Gray's death comes amid a national debate over police use of deadly force following the high-profile deaths of several black men in encounters with police, from the Brown death in Ferguson MO to the deaths of Eric Garner in New York and Walter Scott in North Charleston, SC. Black people are angry. Walt understands that. So does Mayor Rawlings-Blake. "I understand anger, but what we're seeing isn't anger," she said. "It's disruption of a community. The same community they say they care about, they're destroying. You can't have it both ways."

Indeed. What we're seeing in Baltimore is not only the venting of anger and legitimate protest against injustice, but criminal violence, destruction and, yes, looting. Fifty years ago, when such things happened in Watts, Harlem and Detroit, we called them "race riots". But in 2015 that term is no longer politically correct.

UPDATE: The Head Soul Brother, Barack Hussein Obama, says all Americans need to do a lot of soul searching to understand what's been going down in Baltimore. Of course the police are to blame. The Prez said today there have been too many "troubling police interactions with black citizens" in what he called "a slow-rolling crisis."

But, he said, there was no excuse for rioters to engage in senseless violence. In a remarkable moment of clarity, Mr. Obama said those who stole from businesses and burned buildings and cars should be treated as criminals. "There's no excuse for the kind of violence that we saw yesterday," he told a White House press conference. "When individuals get crowbars and start prying open doors to loot, they're not protesting, they're not making a statement. They're stealing."

A  man in the street, Leroy "Kwame" Jones, responded, "Excuse? Excuse? Whuffo we needs an excuse?!"