5 Minute Freewrite: let me breathe

Find the prompt here:
https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@daily.prompt/4-april-2025-mariannewests-freewrite-writing-prompt-day-2696-let-me-breathe

Let me breathe. I see those words and think of Black Lives Matter. I think of people, Black men in particular, who have had their breath choked out of them by the knee of a police officer. I think of Eric Garner. Geez, I even think of the fictional character in Orange Is the New Black. She was the best character. I think of the neurodivergent young man who was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer at a Costco, loads of other people around, because the officer was afraid. Because police are trained to be afraid and to shoot when they are afraid. I think about the man who was caught in the crossfire while police were shooting at a suspect in a house. I think about the teenage boy with a toy gun who was shot by police, police who stopped the boy's parents from running to his side while he died. I think about so many men and women and children that police officers have killed and harmed and abused and harassed, and I think about how fucked up that is, and how people still defend police, how even my mom will say not ALL cops. Yes, fucking all cops. All cops are there to uphold unjust laws. All cops are trained to think of people as monsters that they are protecting some others from. Fuck the police.

George Floyd
https://www.newsweek.com/george-floyds-brother-fires-back-musk-shapiro-over-chauvin-pardon-idea-2040777

Eric Garner
https://apnews.com/article/eric-garner-death-anniversary-chokehold-dca9708c2dee062f95f35483e1e2cfed

Kenneth French
https://abc7.com/costco-shooting-corona-kenneth-french-salvador-alejandro-sanchez-offduty-lapd-officer/14338761/

Pedro Lopez
Infuriating update I just learned about:
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/detective-wont-face-charges-for-fatally-shooting-innocent-bystander-in-norwalk/

Luis Hererra
https://nypost.com/2022/09/26/luis-herrera-teen-with-toy-gun-fatally-shot-by-la-police-video/