Protestors across the state shouted "I can't breathe" as a rallying cry against police brutality in the days after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd. In response to these protests, police issued curfews, used tear gas and violently targeted peaceful protestors and rioters alike.
While these protests were in large part due to George Floyd's death in Minneapolis, police brutality is not a foreign concept in Michigan.
In Lansing, a police officer was recorded punching a 16-year-old girl in the legs as she was put into a police car in June 2019. In East Lansing, the public became outraged this February after seeing a Facebook post showing photos of injuries Uwimana Gasito sustained during his arrest by ELPD. In Detroit, the family of Anthony Clark Reed is currently suing the city of Detroit over his 2015 death after he was pulled over for his tinted windows. When Reed reached into his glove box for an asthma inhaler, he was ordered out of his car, put in handcuffs and laid on his stomach where he said "I can't breathe," before he died. The police found no wrongdoing in his case.
As people of color continue to protest the violence that police use against their community, police have responded unequivocally with more violence across the state and the nation.