Following the public outcry for the death of Eric Garner, there were many efforts to raise money for the grieving family left behind. However, while Garner’s family has received some donations, they have not received any money for at least 19 crowd-funding projects, DNAinfo reports.
Garner’s mother Gwen Carr and Erica Garner, his 24-year-old daughter, reported that one such site raised as much as $75,000 — money they have yet to receive. Another campaign, hosted by Charlotte Activist Collective, aims to raise $1 million, and boasts on its page that it has been in touch with Garner’s widow, but Carr and Erica told the site they never heard from the CAC. “I feel like people are trying to use my father’s name for their own gain,” said Erica.
There has also been fighting within the family regarding donations:
Both Carr and Erica Garner said that a previous IndieGoGo campaign “to support the children of Eric Garner” by another of Garner’s daughters raised more than $40,000, but that daughter refused to share it with Erica Garner.
“As soon as the money came in, she pulled back and nobody knows where that money went,” Erica Garner said.
Garner’s arrest was captured on video when NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, wrestled him to the ground. His death was ruled a homicide by “the compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” The now widely used phrase during police brutality protests, “I Can’t Breathe,” stemmed from the video where Garner, a father of six, was heard uttering those very words 11 times. The grand jury did not indict Pantaleo.
Besides bringing awareness to her father’s death and police brutality by staging die-ins, Erica started two fundraising campaigns, one to help raise her daughter, and another to help produce and record an album dedicated to her father. So far, the former has raised $3,412.
