This Stops Today

September 3, 2018
In this heartfelt narrative, Carr, whose son Eric Garner was killed by a New York Police Department officer in 2014, traces her unplanned path to becoming a civil rights activist. Garner’s death, captured on a video that went viral, shows him saying, “I can’t breathe,” as the officer holds him down on the pavement. (According to many witnesses, Garner had been trying to break up a fight.) Carr recounts how Eric’s wrongful death galvanized her to action. She joined the Mothers of the Movement, a group of mothers whose children have died at the hands of law enforcement, attended the Congressional Black Caucus, marched with Rev. Al Sharpton, and campaigned for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election. This journey is placed within the larger context of her life: raised in a large, loving family in Brooklyn, Carr faced the death of her first husband, leaving her alone to raise their three small children, and the loss of another son, Emery, who died in a drug-related shooting in 1996. She recalls the lives of her children; the importance of her faith and community; and the challenges of her new activist role, highlighting the positive (Governor Cuomo appointing a special prosecutor for cases in which people have been killed by police) and the disappointing (a grand jury not indicting anyone involved in her son’s death). An advocate of better police training and community engagement, Carr acknowledges the problem remains daunting. This is a sincere and passionate account. Photos.

September 1, 2018
A mother's plea for change after her son's murder by police.On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was arrested for selling single cigarettes. During his arrest, he was choked by a New York City Police Department officer and later died. The video of his murder has been viewed millions of times, and his name has been added to a long list of other black Americans who have died needlessly at the hands of law enforcement officers. In this emotional memoir, Carr, Garner's mother, shares the story of her son's life leading up to the moment of his death, describing the type of child he was and the man he became and the aftermath of her own life after the tragedy. In straightforward, sometimes repetitive prose, she demonstrates how Garner's death changed her from a passive grandmother content to work her job as a subway train operator to an "unplanned activist." Slowly, she learned how to speak in front of large crowds and share her message with other parents who have experienced similar tragedies. "All across the country," she writes, "people were relating to me and understanding and sharing their concern and condolences....It felt good being out of New York and finding that so many people felt the same way, that things had gotten out of hand and the police were going too far....There needed to be...better education and more accountability." In that vein, she discusses the need for a "checks-and-balances system" within police forces across the country. As she gained recognition and a powerful voice, she became engaged in Hillary Clinton's run for the White House and was invited to speak at a variety of events. (Clinton provides the foreword.) Along with her personal moments, Carr includes numerous pointers on how to become an activist and lessons she learned by trial and error, many of which will be useful for aspiring activists.A heartfelt book from a mother who "will keep on talking and telling my story as long as people will listen."

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September 15, 2018

On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner died during an arrest for allegedly selling illegal loose cigarettes in Staten Island, NY. Here, his mother, Carr, recounts how her son's death led her to become an activist in her quest for justice. From infancy, Eric was severely asthmatic. When put into an illegal choke hold and thrown to the ground by officers during the arrest, he repeated "I can't breathe" 11 times before losing consciousness. The officers made no attempt to resuscitate him. The incident was filmed by bystanders, the video went viral, and that statement became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement. After a grand jury declined to indict the officer who used the choke hold, Carr subsequently became involved with Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network and later traveled with Hillary Clinton's campaign as part of the Mothers of the Movement (a sisterhood of mothers whose sons have died at the hands of law enforcement). VERDICT This book complements Matt Taibbi's I Can't Breathe and will interest anyone concerned with social justice and racial disparities in our legal system.--Caren Nichter, Univ. of Tennessee at Martin

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2018
What does it feel like to be one of those grieving mothers whose sons died at the hands of ?law enforcement' in one way or another, deadly encounters that led to lengthy, often-controversial trials? One grieving mother, Carr, whose son, Eric, died after his July 2014 videotaped arrest in a chokehold by NYPD officers as he struggled and said, I can't breathe, tells us. Carr retired in 2015 after 22 years as a transit train operator, and she has become an activist, first seeking justice in the death of her son, for fairness in police protection of all communities, and for justice and equality. Carr, with coauthor Smitherman, describes how she was thrust into the media spotlight during high-profile protests (including an appearance in a Beyonce video) and campaign work (Hillary Clinton wrote the book's foreword). Although there was no indictment, in a civil suit, Eric's wife and children received the sum of $5.9 million. Carr provides an inside look at a life forever changed by police violence and sorrow turned into a force for social good.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)