Hank Johnson: “``I Can't Breathe'' is a poem I delivered on this floor 6 years ago when Eric Garner got choked out by the police.…”

“``I Can't Breathe'' is a poem I delivered on this floor 6 years ago when Eric Garner got choked out by the police. Today, I am here for George Floyd, another Black man who died facedown on the hot pavement, suffocated to death by a police officer as he begged for his life for 8 minutes. Black folks in America in 2020 are caught between being suffocated to death by the COVID-19 coronavirus or being choked to death by rogue, uncaring, and unconcerned police officers. Black folks in America are caught up in three pandemics, when you add the reality that our businesses are getting choked out of PPP. Black people bear an unparalleled burden in this country. When just 12 percent of Black and Latino business owners who applied for PPP report receiving what they asked for, something is wrong. When we make up 13 percent of the population but 60 percent of COVID deaths, something wrong. When we have armed vigilantes and rogue police officers killing us on the streets, something is terribly wrong. The American Dream should not be a nightmare for any of her people. It is time to bring an end to open season on Black people in America. We can't breathe. ____________________”