“I Can’t Breathe!”

I’m not holding my breath for justice

When I was about 10 years old I was wrestling with an older cousin. He probably doesn’t remember this but he got me in a choke hold where he came from behind me, squeezed, and for a second I couldn’t breathe.

Photo Credit: caffeineandpixels Flickr via Compfightcc

It was just a second but it affected me. I tried to take a breath and couldn’t. I played it off as nothing but it wasn’t. I’ve never placed anyone in a choke hold because I know how it feels to have someone cut off your air flow.

It’s different from you holding your own breath. Choking on something is closer but still not the same. Another human being has your life in their hands. There’s a mental angle to it. If they don’t release me, I’m dead. Knowing that adds to the anguish.

I don’t know what it’s like to be the one doing the choking and I don’t want to know. But I’d like to think that if I was doing it and someone said “I can’t breathe” I would let up.

We have another case, yes another case of black man, white cop where the white cop has his knee on the back of George Floyd’s neck for about 8 minutes. I only know that because I heard that somewhere. I couldn’t watch the video that long.