Eric Garner died in July of 2014 during a confrontation with two police officers, and weeks later, the New York City medical examiner’s office confirmed the chokehold one of the officers used on Garner was the primary cause of death. Garner’s daughter Erica became an activist in the wake of her father’s death, and she died of a heart attack in December of 2017 at age 27. Some believed the trauma of her father's death and of racism more generally contributed to her death.
During a February 6 appearance on The View, Esaw Snipes spoke on coping with the loss of her daughter and husband and how her life has changed.
“After last year I kind of distanced myself from doing any media and stuff like that,” Snipes said when addressing a rumor about the officer who performed the chokehold on Garner. “I’m tired. I’m over it. I’m past the anger. It’s pointless.”
Snipes also revealed that during the time leading up to Erica Garner’s death, she warned her daughter to avoid the internet and other stress-inducing activities.
“It’s still surreal to me. I just talked to her that morning, and I kept telling her, ‘You have to stay home…stay in the house and build up your heart strength,’” Snipes said. “I said, ‘Stay off the internet because you make yourself angry and it’s causing stress.’”
Erica Garner’s candor on social justice matters made headlines when she took both ABC and President Barack Obama to task in person and via Twitter during a 2016 town hall meeting on race relations. As it related to Garner’s demeanor, Snipes joked that she “couldn’t tell [Erica] nothing from the time she was able to say something back.”
The full interview, which also features Snipes explaining how she’s adapted to new phone technology to keep up with her children and grandchildren, can be seen above. Snipes’ comments about warning Garner to stay off the internet can be found at the 1:07 mark.
