In this episode of Necessary Blackness Podcast, we discuss the Justice Department announcement that it would not be pursuing federal charges against Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer accused of fatally choking Eric Garner, who was approached by police for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. The decision was apparently made by Attorney General William Barr himself after the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division favored an indictment while a competing faction in the New York office felt otherwise.
The announcement on Tuesday, five years after the incident, was nothing short of a disgrace. It’s a complete abdication of responsibility, and a slap in the face to any notion of justice, particularly for Black victims.
We also talk about the imprisonment of A$AP Rocky in Sweden and why the majority of Black America is not coming to his rescue. And last but not least we want to pay our respect to Sadie Roberts-Joseph, The 75-year-old community leader and founder of the city’s African American Museum who was brutally murdered in Baton Rouge.