Folks,

A few months ago I was arrested in St. Louis.

I was there with Dr. Jill Stein, visiting with students from Washington University who asked us to join their Gaza Solidarity encampment as allies.

While we engaged with the administration and tried to de-escalate the scene, the police presence ramped up. The cops moved in, grabbed us, pushed us, struck us with their equipment, and began violently arresting people.

At least 4 cops dragged me to the ground. There was a brief, incredibly terrifying moment, where one cop put his knee into my back and I realized I couldn’t breathe.

I yelled out, “I can’t breathe!”

After 30 seconds, they let up.

I was arrested that night for protesting, and a few hours later I was released.

But that moment stuck with me.

“I can’t breathe.”

Eric Garner uttered those words 10 years ago today when NYPD officers dragged him to the ground and strangled him with an illegal chokehold, as he repeatedly cried out:

“I can’t breathe.”

Ten years ago today, those words became a rallying cry against police violence.

Ten years ago today, those words became a mandate for change.

Ten years ago today, we were fighting a fascist, militant police force that acted with impunity and a total disregard for human rights – or human life.

Ten years later...we still are.

American cops today have more money and more impunity than ever before. They are shielded from accountability by a labyrinth of laws and legal precedent that dates back to the origins of slave patrols and the KKK.

They train in secretly-constructed compounds called ‘Cop City’ where they practice urban warfare with military weapons. There are at least 5 of these Cop Cities under development with federal funds here in Washington state, and upwards of 100 already open for business, under construction or in planning phases nationwide. There’s probably one near you.

Rick Larsen has repeatedly voted to militarize the police and target free speech. He opposes defunding the police and ending qualified immunity.

Rick Larsen stands with cops and capital owners. He has never stood for justice. He has never sided with the marginalized. And he never will.

I’m a lifelong activist running to be the first Green Party member elected to Congress. Ballots drop in TWO days and I am Larsen’s only credible challenger. Help me fund our voter contact program before ballots are cast.

Eric Garner was a father, a grandfather, a brother, a son, an uncle, and a friend to everyone who knew him.

People in the neighborhood thought of him as a ‘gentle giant.’ He was respected. He was loved.

But most importantly, he was human. And he deserved to be more than a statistic or a slogan.

Eric Garner deserved to live.

Eric’s family is carrying his legacy forward with the E.R.I.C. Foundation Initiative, serving families impacted by police violence and tackling systemic racism and police reform.

Just this last April they opened their first office location in Staten Island, Eric’s old neighborhood.

If you’d like to join me in supporting their continued healing and their advocacy work, please make a contribution to the E.R.I.C. Foundation Initiative now.

Talk to the people in your life about police violence. Learn as much as you can and share what you discover.

And join the fight to elect activists who will actually fight to DEFUND the police and fund the things that matter.

In solidarity,

Jason