Orange County NC Website
3 <br /> blind spots and be introspective. She said change will not be easy or pain free, but we must be <br /> serious about undoing racism. <br /> Annette Moore said the resolution is a plan to move forward, and she read the <br /> resolution: <br /> A RESOLUTION DENOUNCING THE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD AND ADDRESSING <br /> THE HEALTH DIRECTOR'S DECLARATION OF STRUCTURAL RACISM AS A "PUBLIC <br /> HEALTH CRISIS" IN ORANGE OUNTY <br /> Whereas, in July 2014, a Black man, Eric Garner, alleged to have committed a petty crime, had <br /> a police officer place his arm across his neck, was wrestled to the ground and, with a number of <br /> police officer restraining him, cried out eleven times, "I can't breathe" while lying face down on <br /> the sidewalk before losing consciousness without assistance for seven minutes; and <br /> Whereas, in May 2020, a Black man, George Floyd, alleged to have a counterfeit $20 bill in his <br /> possession was dragged from his car by a police officer, handcuffed, and put face down on the <br /> street with the officer's knee in his neck as he called out, "I can't breathe", and as his neck and <br /> back sustained pressure over a period of more than eight minutes, the last two minutes and 53 <br /> seconds of which he was unresponsive, oxygen was cut off to his brain as he slowly <br /> asphyxiated; and <br /> Whereas, the Mapping Police Violence Protect found that although Black people were only 13% <br /> of the population in the United States, they represented 24% of the people killed by law <br /> enforcement and were three times more likely to be killed by police than white people (and <br /> Hispanic people were 3.8 times more likely to be killed); and <br /> Whereas, the Mapping Police Violence Protect also found that 99% of the killings by police <br /> officers did not result in the officer being charged with a crime because in many cases police <br /> officers have "qualified immunity"; and <br /> Whereas, Black people have been killed across this country in cases that have come to public <br /> attention they have been shot and killed for doing the ordinary things of life that have resulted in <br /> their harassment, detention, restraint and even death where the perpetrators where not held <br /> accountable, including the deaths of 12 year old Tamir Rice, killed by a police while playing at a <br /> playground near his home; teenage Trayvon Martin, shot and killed while walking home with a <br /> bag of Skittles; school cafeteria worker Philando Castile, killed during a police stop while a <br /> passenger in the car with his girlfriend and 4-year old daughter; Sandra Bland, jailed for an <br /> alleged unsafe lane change and then later found hanging in her jail cell; EMT Breonna Taylor, <br /> shot 8 times after police wrongly barged into her apartment; Atatiana Jefferson, killed while <br /> babysitting her nephew at her mother's house; accountant Botham Jean, killed while sitting in <br /> his living room watching television and eating ice cream; Freddie Gray, died while unrestrained <br /> and helpless in the back of a police van; and Ahmaud Arbery, shot and killed while jogging <br /> down a neighborhood street; and <br /> Whereas, a 2018 Study found that police killings of unarmed Black Americans has had an <br /> adverse effect on the mental health of Black Americans in the general population as shown by <br /> the death of Erica Garner, daughter of Eric Garner, who fought unsuccessfully to hold police <br /> responsible for her father's death, died of a heart attack at the age of 27;' <br /> 1 <br />