.png) First edition cover | |
| Author | Matt Taibbi |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Dominic Hoffman[1] |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Killing of Eric Garner |
| Publisher | Spiegel & Grau |
Publication date | October 24, 2017 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 336 |
| ISBN | 978-0-8129-8884-0 |
| 363.2/32 | |
| LC Class | HV8148.N52 T35 2017 |
I Can't Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street is a 2017 book byMatt Taibbi, published bySpiegel & Grau, about thekilling of Eric Garner.
The book describes law enforcement procedures,[2] systemic issues, and the individual life of Garner, as well as his death,[3] and the influence onBlack Lives Matter.[2] According to Taibbi, the death itself "and the great distances that were traveled to protect his killer, now stand as testaments to America's pathological desire to avoid equal treatment under the law for its black population."[3] Taibbi wrote that the death "had to be told without my voice, without linguistic cartwheels or jokes or any of the other circus tricks I learned to use."[4]
Jamil Smith ofThe New York Times praised the coverage ofsystemic racism and the detail of the human players, and described the book as having "deep reporting"; he concluded the book is "an able introduction".[4]
Paul Butler ofThe Washington Post compared the book toThe Wire and stated that its atmosphere is like a "police procedural".[5]
Rayyan Al-Shawaf wrote inThe Christian Science Monitor that the book is "clear-eyed, hard-hitting" and that it "remains a shattering account of a little big man against whom cops used lethal force for no good reason."[6] Al-Shawaf praised the book's linkage to the issues regarding treatment of released prisoners, and he criticized the book's linkage to other racial abuse andpolice brutality issues but that the issue should not "discredit" the entire work.[6]
