Derrick Rose brought his tribute to Eric Garner to the game Saturday evening. The Chicago Bulls point guard wore a black T-shirt with the words “I Can’t Breathe” in bold white letters during the warm-up against the Golden State Warriors. He eventually removed the shirt before tip-off.
Rose was honoring Eric Garner, the Staten Island man who was choked to death by an NYPD officer. “I can’t breathe” were the last words uttered by Garner and have become a rallying cry for protesters across the nation. On Wednesday, a Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the choking death of the 43-year-old.
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Rose isn’t the first in professional sports to show support for the movement against police brutality against black men. Last Sunday, five players from the St. Louis Rams came onto the field with the “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture. They were honoring Michael Brown and protesting the decision of the Ferguson grand jury not to indict the officer who killed him.