Bernie Sanders has released an ad narrated by Eric Garner’s daughter.
In the 4-minute ad, which launched Thursday, Erica Garner discusses her life in the aftermath of her father’s killing by New York police officers in 2014. Near the end of the ad, she endorses Sanders for president, calling him a fellow protestor who’s “not scared to go up against the criminal justice system.”
Eric Garner died after being placed in a chokehold by police, and his final words “I can’t breathe” became an iconic message of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In the ad, which doesn’t mention Sanders until more than halfway through, Erica Garner says her daughter recently learned about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. “This is what mommy is, I’m an activist. It’s the same thing Martin Luther King was when he fought for our rights, that’s the same thing I’m doing, in honor of her pop-pop,” she says.
“I’m behind anyone who’s going to listen and speak up for us. And I think we need to believe in a leader like Bernie Sanders,” Garner continues. The ad shows a montage of clips in which Sanders mentions reforming the criminal justice system.
The powerful ad comes just days after the Hillary Clinton moved to re-energize her campaign by focusing on minority voters with issues like immigration, civil rights, and gun control at the fore of her campaign, according to the Associated Press. Eric Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr—Erica’s grandmother—endorsed Clinton in an email last month.
