Georgetown Basketball Team Wears ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Shirts

By Josh Hill | Dec 11, 2014

The murder of Eric Garner has spurred nation-wide outrage over the issue of police brutality, with the protests now entering into the ranks of college sports.

Back in the 1960s, college students protesting major societal issues like the abuse of civil rights remains some of the most iconic images in American history. One of the major things that college students protested were the deaths of black men — unarmed black men — at the hands of oppressive white police officers.

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Flash forward to 2014 and a group of college basketball players are protesting the death of an unarmed black man at the hands of an oppressive white police officer. That whole history has a way of repeating itself is some serious bulls-t we al need to change. The men of the Geortgetown basketball team are working to change that with their protest of the death of Eric Garner this week.

Hoyas star D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera shed some light on why the team decided to wear the ‘I Can’t Breathe’ shirts, which have become so popular thanks to NBA players like LeBron James, Derrick Rose and Kobe Bryant.

"“There were a variety of reasons why we wanted to wear the shirts. There were quite a few families that lost their loved ones this year: Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin … we wanted to represent those families that all lost. It wasn’t just for this one scenario for a lot of people who know just this one case, I just think we wanted to represent the families and send our condolences that way."

This is a hot political issue, but it’s one that has gained steam not by rioting or looting but by silent protest that calls attention to a heinous crime. Nothing can bring back Eric Garner, but the debate and the adverse reaction that has occurred in the wake of his murder is proof that humanity isn’t as damned and doomed as it otherwise may appear.

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