Erica Garner wins ‘Shorty Award’ for social media activism

Find out how her legacy lives on.

Apr 16, 2018

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The legacy of Erica Garner lives on.

This weekend, the activist, organizer, writer, and daughter of Eric Garner was posthumously honored with the 2018 Shorty Award for social media activism.

Garner died on December 30, 2017, just one week after suffering a heart attack brought on by a severe asthma attack on Christmas Eve. Common and several local elected officials attended her funeral while Bernie Sanders sent a statement that was read in her memory.

Erica’s father, Eric, who also suffered from asthma, was killed by NYPD officer Daniel Panteloon on July 17, 2014, by suffocating him due to an illegal chokehold.

Video of Garner wheezing, “I can’t breathe,” during his final moments sparked outrage and national attention, propelling his family to the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Erica took her role in speaking up for her father and other victims of police brutality very seriously; infamously staging “die-ins” on the same Staten Island, N.Y., street corner where Pantaleo choked her father to death.

She soon became an incredibly vocal advocate for the rights of Black and brown people, calling out politicians on both sides of the aisle for their complicity in the mass criminalization of her people.

For now if you want to support Erica Garner … Go find a way to support your local foster care system. The last action she told me she wanted to do was to support foster kids as she was one herself. The person with her when she died was her foster mother…

— officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) December 30, 2017

Erica’s friend, business partner, and political advisor, Reggie Harris, accepted the award on her behalf.

Other nominees in the Shorty Awards “Activism” category included DeRay Mckesson, co-founder of Campaign Zero, a campaign dedicated to criminal justice reform, and Tarana Burke, founder of the ‘Me, Too’ Movement and senior director of Girls for Gender Equity.

If you missed the Shorty Awards you can check out the whole ceremony and the touching moment below.