Those three words were uttered by Eric Garner in 2014 and again by George Floyd in 2020, when both men died while in police custody.
The words have become a rallying cry for protesters. But for some, “I can’t breathe” is about more than police violence.
“It’s not just about being choked out by police brutality — it’s about being choked out because of air pollution,” said Heather McTeer Toney, a former regional administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Barack…
