Chapter 29: "I Can't Breathe"
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
10-2025
Editor(s)
Tabatha Abu El-Haj, Michael Hamilton, Thomas Probert & Sharath Srinivasan
ISBN
9780197674871
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Language
en-US
Abstract
This chapter surveys law enforcement’s response to protests on the streets of Minneapolis in the aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd in 2020. It demonstrates the expansive tools and discretion available to law enforcement officials in the United States and how they are used to respond violently to city residents and racial justice activists and thereby stop their protest activity in its tracks. Considering this example, this chapter argues for the need to rein in police powers, particularly in the context of protests where excessive use of force and arrest powers infringe not only upon an individual’s bodily integrity, but also upon their expressive freedom.
Recommended Citation
Karen Pita Loor,
Chapter 29: "I Can't Breathe"
,
in
The Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Assembly
441
(Tabatha Abu El-Haj, Michael Hamilton, Thomas Probert & Sharath Srinivasan ed.,
2025).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/4222
