(ominous music) - 311.

- All right, right down, down, down.

- Use your hands, buddy.

- Put your hand behind your back.

- I can't breathe.

I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe.

[indistinct chatter] [somber music] - Some people, they call me Eric Garner's mother, some people call me Gwen Carr.

There's no sense in someone else telling it and you being an extra in your own story.

And the only way to do that was for me to get out there and speak his name.

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] They are my greatest memories, these photos.

I focus on them.

On the good memories, the past memories, the things that we've done together that remind me of the good days.

I meditate sometimes.

I sit back, reminisce.

I do draw a sense of strength from the photos.

It helps me to reflect back on yesterday.

And it helps me to come to grips with even the tragics that has happened since these photos have been taken.

I have a sense of comfort when I have these photos to look at on a daily basis.

I was born 1949 in Brooklyn, New York.

My father became a minister.

He was a pretty strict, straightforward person.

And he used to always use the phrase, you know, you have to respect yourself before anyone else can respect you.

So we grew up with pretty good values because he used to teach us the way to go.

A parent only could lay the foundation.

The child has to build the house.

And I think he laid a pretty good foundation for us.

I met Eric's father long before him and I got together because we lived on the same street.

But when we actually got together, I was 18 years old.

I was with him until he died.

He had high blood pressure.

He had a stroke and he died.

♪ I was widowed at the age of 27 with three young kids and I had to learn how to get along all by myself.

So I just made a decision that I was going to get up, I was going to focus on their future, and that's what encouraged me to go to college.

I worked for New York City Transit Authority for 23 years.

I started there as a conductor.

I later on got a promotion to train operator.

I remember one day there had been a track fire and there was a guy fussing about the train being late and he says, "Oh, no wonder the train is late.

It's a woman operating the train.

It shouldn't be late 'cause I pay your salary."

I got annoyed with him, so I just said back to him, "I pay your salary, too, because sometimes I eat at McDonald's."

So he looked at me and he just turned red and he just walked away from the train.

So... What's taking me so long?

I'm ready to eat, too.

You should have came and fixed it yourself.

The first time I actually met Ben was back in '78, but then we hadn't seen each other for years.

Mm-hmm.

We would talk and we would talk all the time on the phone, I guess, reminiscent of our old times.

So he came to New York.

We got married up here in New York.

I always took composites of my kids.

I always had the photographer come in.

It's just such a great thing to have to look back on.

The memories of your children when they were that age, because when they grow up, sometimes you can't even imagine them being that small.

This is Eric graduating from high school.

He was so proud of himself, had on his tuxedo and was glowing.

But he wasn't glowing more than I was.

I was really glowing that day that he graduated.

I'm proud of all my children, and every time they reached a milestone, it just warmed my heart.

♪♪ My father was my rock.

In January of 1996, he had a massive heart attack.

♪♪ Then at the end of the year, that's when I lost my son.

Emery went on vacation up in Troy, New York, and was robbed and murdered.

I see Eric in front of my door, so he just says, "Oh, I just came to be with you, Mom."

I walk in my house, now I see all my relatives.

Now I know something is wrong.

And then they told me, "Emory is dead."

Oh, I shut down for a long time after that.

It was just the start of a horrible nightmare.

[indistinct shouting] [dramatic music] - I was operating a train from Coney Island to Astoria.

My phone just keep on ringing.

I'm saying, "Why is everybody keep calling me?"

When I got back to Coney Island, my husband was in the dispatcher's office, and when we get downstairs, he suddenly just broke down and told me that Eric was no longer with us.

I just had a fit.

I tried to kick the window shield out.

I tried to get out the car because I felt like if I could get out the car, I could run to Staten Island faster than that car could take me.

And when I got there, I didn't know how Eric was killed, why he was killed.

All I know that they told me my son was no longer there.

To this very day, I have never watched that video in its entirety.

I was very angry.

I was very bitter at the way they had taken his life.

I was in a dark place.

I didn't want to get up.

I wanted to lay there in the bed.

I wanted to draw the curtains.

It's not a good place to be when you start reliving the anger because I didn't think that I could handle this again.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother's son, "We who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens."

"I can't breathe!

I can't breathe!

I can't breathe!

I can't breathe!"

The protests are growing larger and spreading across the country.

Hundreds shut down major highways in multiple cities.

Police officers failed us New Yorkers because they let an innocent man die, beg for his life, fight for his last breath.

Like so many New Yorkers, I was very troubled by the video.

This incident was a tragedy.

There will be a very thorough investigation.

There was about four officers who pounced on Eric that caused chest compressions.

There were officers who stood by and did nothing to help deescalate the situation.

And far as I'm concerned, they all were directly involved.

And I want all of them to stand accountable.

His death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, but the grand jury choosing not to indict Officer Pantaleo.

Well, I was hurt by it.

Have you talked to the lawyers a little bit about, you know, where this thing's going?

Well, the family's going to take over.

I knew I had to get out there because I wanted to keep my son's memory alive.

I want to keep his name alive.

Enough is enough.

We are losing our family members.

I'll do it my way.

My son and others are gone, but we have the unborn to save, the grandchildren, the nephews.

And a rousing round of applause for Gwen Croft, the mother of Eric Garner.

We have to protect the children together.

And the way we protect them is through each other, through community.

No one should look at these incidents as a news story.

The news stories go away.

We have to live with this.

This is our everyday life.

There will be justice.

You think it's swept under the rug?

No, it's not going to be swept under the rug.

We're not going away, so you can forget that.

This thing keeps happening over and over again.

It's like them murdering my son over and over again.

We remember all the people these police killed.

We can feel their spirit there with us still.

We want to update you on the continuing news coming out of Minneapolis this evening.

When he said "I can't breathe," how did you respond?

It just sickened me.

It was just like bringing me back to the day that it actually happened to me.

And then when I found out he no longer had a mother and was calling out to his mother, sounds like he's just calling on all mothers in America.

The shrine I have, it's just what people have given me after his death.

Even my granddaughter, I have pictures with her at different rallies with her father's picture in the middle.

That corner, I just have a lot of things there that reminds me of him and of my granddaughter Erica.

He took to the streets right away and he went very hard at trying to combat her father's death.

That put a lot of stress on her as a young woman.

It took a total toll on her.

With cameras or without cameras.

With your support or without your support.

I'm gonna be out here representing for my father.

The stress because of her father's death and her health, they were all connected.

No justice!

No peace!

No justice!

No peace!

I went to the hospital and she was unconscious.

I was rubbing her feet and trying to talk to her and I says, "Wow, here we go again."

That Saturday morning she died, I went to the hospital, seeing her laying there and it was just too sad to see my granddaughter laying there lifeless.

[MUSIC] >> And I cannot imagine the toll that it has taken on you and your family.

But to be able to endure that toll and then put yourself out there, how do you have the strength to do it?

When you can make another mother a little more comfortable after she has lost her child with just embracing her or trying to listen to her story, it's a form of therapy.

- A commemoration is when you remember your child who has been murdered and you focus on the good things about him and you try to make a difference so that they are remembered and that their names are never forgotten.

Amen.

Amen.

My son, Gary Hopkins Jr., was murdered November 27, 1999.

An officer came and made one fatal gunshot wound to Gary's chest, killing him.

From that day, I just-- I vowed that I would have to fight.

Coyle was 31 years old, and he was having cop problems, so he pulled up on the side of the road.

And the police officer stated that he thought he saw an abandoned car on the side of the road, so he went over to investigate.

And so he ended up shooting him.

My son's name was Timothy Dawkins.

Timothy was my baby son, and he took a bullet to the back in his spine.

My son was 24 years old when the municipal police officer pulled him over.

And they fired 22 times at my son.

The person that killed my son never knew my son, never saw him in his life.

Shooting at someone else, one bullet took his life.

My last conversation with my son was about his future.

Any child that is black in this country, it's a very deadly place.

We as mothers, we go in support to try to get clarity and to try to get accountability.

This is what that movement is about.

When we come together, no matter who we are, how many mothers it is, we say we are mothers of the movement.

No matter how you lose your child, it is a pain that you just can't imagine.

There's so many of us who was thrown into this exclusive club that no one wants to be a part of.

But we have found a way to bond, how to comfort each other.

We laugh together.

We cried together.

Remember that day that I was at home and I saw on the news when Eric Garner was murdered by the chokehold.

And I sat on my bed and I cried.

Because although I didn't know his family, I felt their pain.

I felt their pain, and I could not believe that they were still doing the same thing, and they're still getting away with it.

We answered a call, because we know what she must be feeling or what she must be going through.

[MUSIC] >> Get back.

>> We say fight back.

>> They say get back.

>> We say fight back.

>> Get back.

>> Fight back.

>> Garner's mother and protesters are putting pressure on Mayor de Blasio.

>> What do you say to de Blasio?

Fire those officers immediately, not September.

I know that's right.

Thank you.

Don't wait for my birthday.

My name is Gwen Carr.

I'm the mother of Eric Garner, who was killed four years ago.

I just want to know, would you agree to holding all of those officers accountable?

I feel very strongly that what leaders do is respect that this process has to play out.

Sure, you know, Daniel Pantaleo has been charged with the NYPD, but is that enough?

Is that satisfying?

No, well, you know, today I want to just talk about the commemoration.

I'm going to do all that after.

This is to remember Eric.

We have to make noise.

We have to keep our children's names alive.

We're not gonna let them die, even though they lie in their grave, but we're not gonna let them die.

'Cause as long as they got a mother, they got a voice.

(crowd cheering) (soft music) - So I'm here today again, having to lay flowers on my son's grave and it just hurts so bad, but he knows that I'm his voice now, that he's gone.

And I will always be his voice, because nobody could tell your story, Eric, better than I can.

Amen.

Amen.

And I will keep on telling it until someone listens.

I have mixed emotions about what's going on and what's going to happen.

Stuart London keeps playing games.

This is our life, and he's treating it like a chess game.

Stuart London is the police benevolent association lawyer.

He was saying that my son caused his own death.

Nearly five years after the death of Eric Garner, a disciplinary trial got underway today for the NYPD officer accused of using a chokehold on him.

In opening statements, a prosecutor said the officer used a strictly prohibited chokehold, absolutely banned without exception.

But his attorney says the technique was not a chokehold and that Garner's obesity and asthma contributed to his death.

The mayor is placing blame on the feds.

The federal justice department told the city of New York that we could not proceed because the justice department was pursuing their prosecution.

To make this a fairer country and to make sure it's a country that puts working people first.

Old language.

Fire Pantaleo!

Fire Pantaleo!

Fire Pantaleo!

Fire Pantaleo!

Fire Pantaleo!

He knew what he was doing, that he was killing Eric Garner, and yet he has not been brought to justice.

That police officer should be off the street.

I know the Garner family, they've gone through extraordinary pain.

They are waiting for justice, and they're going to get justice.

Maybe now justice will prevail.

[MUSIC] And we continue to follow the breaking news of the day the NYPD officer implicated in the death of Eric Garner has been fired.

We've seen the reactions from some of Garner's family and local officials all day.

And now Garner's mother is holding a press conference right now to address the news.

I thank you all for coming out with the support that you have been giving me for five years.

It's been five long years that I have fought this fight.

I have not fought it alone because many of you have been out here with me.

I've been out seeking justice for over five years, and this was the first little crumb of justice that I was going to receive.

So I was just overwhelmed.

[music playing] My husband had a great impact on my life.

He stood right there by my side.

He always was agreeable with anything that I had to do with the activism.

Getting up in the morning without him took some getting used to.

When I was young, I always dreamed that my children would grow up to be productive citizens and my dreams were for them to accomplish whatever dreams that they had in mind and for me to be their backbone.

So my dreams would have been what their dreams were.

I've spent my greatest years with all of these people who are on this wall and I miss them all so very much.

It's a double-edged sword because I have so many good memories of each and every one of them.

Those memories will live with me forever.

The picture over here is a picture of Eric's youngest daughter, Legacy.

Legacy was born four months before Eric was murdered.

It was just like she was a miracle child because she was born, she was less than two pounds and she made it through.

So I always say she made it through for a reason.

And her mom named her the right name Legacy, because that's what she is.

I'm still walking on my own, talking on my own, getting up out of bed on my own.

I just feel like even with all of my disparities, I have blessings.

I have so many blessings that has been stowed upon me.

So I'm thankful, I'm grateful, and I just feel like I'm blessed and anointed by God.

We are a vessel before and after death for our children.

When they were being born, we were the vessel where they laid under our heartbeat.

And now that they're gone, we have to be the vessel that keeps them alive.

I will spend the rest of my life trying to get reform, trying to change laws or make new laws.

My pain has turned into a purpose.

It's painful for me to keep doing this day in, day out, but I feel like through my pain, I can get closure on my son's death, and I can help save someone else's child.

[MUSIC] Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring.

Ring with the harmonies of liberty.

Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies.

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.