A second “Die In” took place last night on the University of Kentucky campus, with about 100 students lying down in the rotunda of the library to protest the death of New Yorker Eric Garner at the hands of police who were arresting him for selling loose cigarettes.
Garner’s death was ruled a homicide by the coroner in New York, and a banned choke hold was applied to the man on the street corner in Staten Island. In a video, he is shown telling police “I can’t breathe,” 11 times before he died.
With signs reading “I can’t breathe,” on top of them, the students lay on the marble floor for 30 minutes.
Most of the students in the protest themselves were African-American and the protest was organized by several black student organizations on campus. But about 15 percent of the protesters were white. After the protest, the students went to the downstairs collaboration area of the library to discuss their experience and the reasons for the protest.
For coverage of the first “Die-In,” which was held Wednesday at Patterson Office Tower lobby, read the Kentucky Kernel story.