Gwen Carr (born 1949) is an American activist, public speaker, and author. Carr's son,

Eric Garner On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was killed in the New York City borough of Staten Island after Daniel Pantaleo, a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer, put him in a prohibited chokehold while arresting him. Video footage of the incide ...

, was killed by a New York Police Department officer who used a prohibited chokehold to arrest Garner. Since her son's death, Carr has become active in

police reform in the United States The history of law enforcement in the United States includes many efforts at police reform. Early efforts at police reform often involved external commissions, such as the Wickersham Commission, that spelled out reforms but left to the police to ...

, including as a member of

Mothers of the Movement Mothers of the Movement is a group of women whose African American children have been killed by police officers or by gun violence. Members of the group have appeared on various television shows, at award ceremonies, and political events to shar ...

and a voice in the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...

movement.

Death of son, Eric Garner

On July 17, 2014, Carr's son

was killed by a New York Police Department officer who used a prohibited

chokehold A chokehold, choke, stranglehold or, in Judo, shime-waza ( ja, 絞技, translation=constriction technique) is a general term for a grappling hold that critically reduces or prevents either air (choking)''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' ( ...

while arresting Garner. Garner's death was filmed, with "I can't breathe" being his final words, which went viral and became a mantra of the

("BLM") and anti- police brutality movement. Carr became part of the BLM movement and became a leading supporter of justice for the death of her son. On December 4, 2014, a grand jury declined to indict the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo. Carr expressed disappointment and frustration at the decision.

Activism

Cory Booker with Gwen Carr and Al Sharpton

Before becoming an activist, Carr worked for the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

as a train operator. She retired in 2015 to devote her work to the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. Carr often makes appearances with

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democrati ...

and

National Action Network The National Action Network (NAN) is a not-for-profit, civil rights organization founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton in New York City, New York, in early 1991. In a 2016 profile, '' Vanity Fair'' called Sharpton "arguably the country's most infl ...

at protests and rallies opposing police brutality and supporting Black Lives Matter. Carr is a critic of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who in 2016 opposed a bill that would have banned police officers from using chokeholds. Carr did not vote for de Blasio in the 2017 election. She endorsed

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

in her 2016 run for president. In September 2019, Carr testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee about police brutality, alongside James Blake and Al Sharpton. After the videotaped

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...

, choked by Minneapolis police in May 2020, Carr immediately contacted and consoled Floyd's family. Just like her son, Floyd's last words were "I can't breathe." After her first conversation with the Floyd family, she told them: "Don't forget. You cannot let this go." Carr spoke at protests in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

and Staten Island, followed by attending Floyd's memorial service in Minneapolis and Floyd's funeral in Houston. On the opening night of the

2020 Democratic National Convention The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtually across the United States. At the convention, delegates of ...

, Carr appeared in a video that also featured Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden,

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Police Chief

Art Acevedo Hubert Arturo Acevedo (born July 31, 1964) is an American police officer who is the interim chief of police of the Aurora Police Department as of December 2022. Previously, he was the chief of police of the Houston Police Department, Austin Pol ...

, activist Jamira Burley, NAACP President

Derrick Johnson Derrick O’Hara Johnson (born November 22, 1982) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned consensus All-American honors twice. He was drafted by the Kansas Cit ...

, and

Chicago Mayor The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and ...

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American attorney and politician serving since 2019 as the 56th mayor of Chicago. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as ...

Works by Gwen Carr

''This Stops Today: Eric Garner's Mother Seeks Justice after Losing Her Son''
Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (2018).
"Four Years Ago The NYPD Killed My Son. I'm Still Waiting For Justice."
'' BuzzFeed News''. 12 October 2018.
"I Am Eric Garner's Mother. No Justice for George Floyd Unless All Four Police Are Charged—and Convicted"
''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

.'' 1 June 2020.
"The Nightmare Was Never Over."
'' Good Morning America''. 13 July 2020.

Personal life

Carr lives on Staten Island, New York.

References

External links

"Police Killed Their Sons. These Mothers Are Fighting for Change."
from the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Gwen Living people Black Lives Matter people African-American women writers African-American non-fiction writers 1949 births Public orators People from Staten Island Activists from New York City American women activists 21st-century American women Women civil rights activists 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women