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On the sixth anniversary of his passing, Eric Garner’s family hosted their annual celebration, The Legacy Eric Garner left behind, named after him and his daughter, Legacy Garner-Miller.
This year, the celebration of life turned political as partygoers mobilized, shutting down the streets of Staten Island and calling out both the NYPD and Daniel Pantaleo, the officer responsible for Garner’s death.
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Jewel Miller, the mother of Legacy and Garner’s surviving girlfriend, is the main organizer of the event each year. Protesters went to Pantaleo’s home to demand action against the officer, who placed Garner in the illegal chokehold that subsequently killed him.
Miller and her guests, including the leader of Greater New York Black Lives Matter, Hawk Newsome, blasted the entire neighborhood with chants saying, F.T.P. (f—k the police), while playing N.W.A.’s famous song of the same name.
The crowd was met with angry neighbors and a wall of police officers protecting the house.
Some neighbors in the predominantly white community were not pleased with the foul language and shouting, but told theGrio they were not against the protest’s motivations.
Some neighbors told protesters to leave and brought up Black on Black crime statistics. Some also said that Pantaleo does not live at the address.
Pantaleo did not appear during the protest, but the house had a Blue Lives Matter flag on one of the front windows.
No protesters were harmed and no property was vandalized. At the march, protesters were protected by the lawyers of the National Lawyers Guild Legal Observer.
During midday, the protest took its fight at the 120th Precinct in St. George.
Legacy, 6, had the opportunity to speak out, The Staten Island Advance reported. She was only 3 months old when Garner passed away.
The killing of Garner was recorded by his friend Ramsey Orta, who accuses the NYPD of persecuting him. Orta later got arrested on weapons charges and pled guilty to selling heroin and criminal possession of a weapon. He is now serving time on Rikers Island.
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