]The race issue has been ignited once again. On July 27, 2014, Eric Garner, a 43-year-old African American man, was killed by a white police officer after being put in a chokehold for approximately 19 seconds. He had been resisting arrest for illegally selling untaxed cigarettes. 23 days later, an 18-year old black man Michael Brown, was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. CNN reported that some witnesses stated Brown was the aggressor, while others stated that white officer Darren Wilson was the aggressor. These two deaths of black men to white officers, and the Grand Jury rulings not to indict the officers has resulted in protests across the country as to the morality of the police force and as to whether or not the Grand Jury system is biased. These protests have come in different ways, but have all clearly come in objection to the rulings in both cases.

One common form of protest has been for athletes to wear shirts or make gestures before games to illustrate their feelings. Specifically, many professional basketball players have used their stardom to show their feelings about the rulings. NBA players such as Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving, and LeBron James have worn shirts before games with the words “I Can’t Breathe,” alluring to Garner’s last words before being struggled to the sidewalk on Bay Street in Staten Island. The Huffington Post reported that LeBron James, upon being asked about the shirt, stated, “As a society we have to do better. We have to be better for one another no matter what race you are.” James clearly believes our society is flawed because of occurrences like the killing of Eric Garner, and wearing the shirt further shows his support for the Garner family and for those protesting the Grand Jury’s decision. Similarly, college athletes have also joined in on the protest. The Georgetown University men’s basketball team wore the “I Can’t Breathe” shirts before a home game against the Kansas Jayhawks and earned national attention on espn.com among other sites. According to CNN, five football players on the St. Louis Rams also joined in on the protest, making the “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture before playing a game against the Oakland Raiders. This is the same gesture Michael Brown is believed to have been making before being fatally shot. Also in the NFL, Washington Redskins defensive lineman Chris Baker raised his hands in the same “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture after sacking Rams’ quarterback Shaun Hill. FOX reported that the St. Louis Police Officers Association was angered by these protests and called upon the National Football League to discipline the players. The NFL declined. Clearly, there have been many athletes that have responded to these rulings with protests of their own using their rights as Americans.

Additionally, there have been reports of many protests by college students as well as others around the country. At many New Jersey schools such as Rutgers University in New Brunswick and William Patterson University in Wayne, students participated in marches across busy streets and in chants against the rulings. In the Midwest, according to Michigan Live (a local news site), protestors in Detroit shouted “I Can’t Breathe” and collapsed to the ground before marching onto Woodward Avenue, slowing traffic in downtown Detroit. Dozens of congressional staff members participated in their own form of protest by walking out of Congress on December 11, 2014. A New York Times report also stated that Columbia Law School allowed students to delay their exams. This was due to students reportedly feeling unnerved after the announcements about the decisions regarding the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner were made. Undeniably, these demonstrations have been very frequent and have shown the disapproval of these decisions, which are believed by protestors to have been racist.
Clearly, there has been a lot of outcry about these adjudications mainly because it is believed that the two deaths were on the basis of race. Since the civil rights movement, the USA has passed multiple Civil Rights Acts in an attempt to prevent discrimination, however these decisions have caused a resurfacing of the same racial issue that overtook our country in the 1950s and 60s. Some have begun peaceful protests in recollection of Martin Luther King Junior’s words about loving your enemies and respectfully protesting. Others, such as in Ferguson, Missouri, have burned cars or buildings to illustrate their point. No matter the case, these deaths and Grand Jury decisions have caused tremendous uproar across the nation and demonstrators have argued for more fair and unbiased rulings.