A cappella Publisher Desc.  On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner who was selling loose cigarettes on the street was killed in Staten Island, New York after a police officer put him in an illegal chokehold during the arrest. According to witnesses and the video tape which caught the event, Mr. Garner cried out I cant breathe eleven times before he died. This was one of many such incidents which have occurred on the streets of America in the past several years. In my piece, the choir sings I cant breathe words eleven times. It is an homage to the struggle for racial justice which persists in this country.