Thousands of Americans around the country gather for moment of silence to honor victims of police brutality
Thousands of people around the United States came together for a moment of silence to commemorate victims of police brutality after a series of incidents in which unarmed men were killed by the police.
While the most recent trigger for the outpouring of grief was the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, other incidents also played a role. In July, Eric Garner was choked to death by an officer of the New York Police Department. The officer did not relax the chokehold Garner was placed in despite Garner saying that he could not breathe numerous times. That killing has been classified as a murder.
Another incident involved the shooting of John Crawford at the hands of the police inside a Wal-Mart in Beavercreek, Ohio. Crawford was carrying a toy gun. Even if he had been carrying a real gun, the shooting would have been unjustified as Wal-Mart sells firearms, meaning that Crawford could have purchased a real gun and been fully within his legal rights to carry it around the store.
People gathered on the West Coast.
#NMOS LA pic.twitter.com/SZItqzyLLf
— josh mcveigh schultz (@joshuams) August 14, 2014
#NMOS San Francisco. pic.twitter.com/KbYHUqTa9t — stephen winkler (@stephenwinkler) August 14, 2014
They also joined together in the U.S. heartland.
No justice, no peace #NMOS14 #NMOS #momentofsilence #MikeBrown #MichaelBrown #Ferguson #FergusonShooting #Detroit pic.twitter.com/XJLVjPFms3
— Hannah Mathers (@hlmathers) August 14, 2014
#NMOS Chicago pic.twitter.com/k6GZxD8qhL — Kara C (@finesseX2) August 14, 2014
Large gatherings were also reported in Philadelphia and New York City.
Gathering crowd in Love Park for #Ferguson peace vigil #NMOS pic.twitter.com/27360TU8y4
— George Spencer (@georgehspencer) August 14, 2014
Remembering & honoring victims of #policebrutality and state violence in Union Square #nyc NMOS14 #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/SGIif7pzUV — N.K. Havlin (@nkhavlin) August 14, 2014
The moment of silence took place at 7:20 p.m. EST.
