Stolen Breath

New England Journal of Medicine

June 10, 2020

In Minnesota, where black Americans account for 6% of the population but 14% of Covid-19 cases and 33% of Covid-19 deaths, George Floyd died at the hands of police.

“Please — I can’t breathe.”

He was a black man detained on suspicion of forgery, an alleged offense that was never litigated or even charged, but for which he received an extrajudicial death sentence.

“Please — I can’t breathe.”

He was only 46 years old.

“Please — I can’t breathe.”

And he was loved. 

But despite onlookers’ pleas and his own calls of distress, with his face against the pavement, three officers on his back, and a knee in his neck, he was murdered.

“Please — I can’t breathe.”

While trained officers and paramedics stood by, and a horrified community witnessed, Floyd was denied the basic rights of due process and the basic dignity of life support.

“Please — I can’t breathe.”

In the wake of his public execution, uprisings have ignited in cities throughout the United States and the world, many of them led by young black people. Despite potential risks of exposure to Covid-19, demonstrators are laying bare the deep pain that persists for black people fighting to live under the crushing weight of injustice that has long been at our necks. 

The words “I can’t breathe” hang heavy in the air. But they are so much more than a rallying cry. They are indictments.

“Please — I can’t breathe.”

The truth is black people cannot breathe because police violence is a major cause of premature death, of stolen lives and stolen breaths in America. And it is a particularly deadly exposure for black Americans.

“Please — I can’t breathe.”

The truth is black people cannot breathe because as many mourn George Floyd, we also mourn Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade, and the nearly 1000 people who are killed by police each year, an outsized proportion of whom are black.

“Please — I can’t breathe.”

The truth is black people cannot breathe because we are preemptively grieving the 1 in 1000 black men and boys who will be killed by police.

"Please — I can’t breathe.” . . .

Rachel R. Hardeman, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Eduardo M. Medina, M.D., M.P.H. 

Rhea W. Boyd, M.D., M.P.H.