A small needful fact...

A picture of a smiling Eric Garner and his wife Esaw Snipes.

A picture of Eric Garner lying on the ground as police offices restrain him using a choke-hold around his neck. Garner said "I can't breathe" 11 times during the altercation.  The Office of the City Medical Examiner ruled Garner’s death a homicide, citing both “compression of neck (chokehold) [and] compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.”

This morning I am reminded of one of my favorite poems "A small needful fact."  It sits at an intersection for me. An important reminder of the crossroads between environmentalism, environmental justice, and social justice issues. Eric Garner who had asthma, was among those people of color who often face higher exposure to pollutants and who often experience greater responses to such pollution through disease and health issues. We cannot deny this intersection. To truly address environmental issues that impact us all we have to address the social issues that impact some of us more.
Many people will only know of Eric Garner as the man who died in a police choke-hold in 2014. But I like to think of him as a gardener. I hope you enjoy the poem.
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A small needful fact
By Ross Gay
Is that Eric Garner worked
for some time for the Parks and Rec.
Horticultural Department, which means,
perhaps, that with his very large hands,
perhaps, in all likelihood,
he put gently into the earth
some plants which, most likely,
some of them, in all likelihood,
continue to grow, continue
to do what such plants do, like house
and feed small and necessary creatures,
like being pleasant to touch and smell,
like converting sunlight
into food, like making it easier
for us to breathe.