--- title: Eric Garner: #CrimingWhileWhite Hashtag Spreads After Grand Jury description: Tweeters looks to show a racial double standard in policing canonical: https://time.com/3617996/eric-garner-chokehold-crimingwhilewhite/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-04T16:07:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:17.298Z og:title: Eric Garner: #CrimingWhileWhite Hashtag Spreads After Grand Jury og:description: Tweeters looks to show a racial double standard in policing og:url: https://time.com/3617996/eric-garner-chokehold-crimingwhilewhite/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Eric Garner: #CrimingWhileWhite Hashtag Spreads After Grand Jury twitter:description: Tweeters looks to show a racial double standard in policing twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Twitter Users Confess to #CrimingWhileWhite After Eric Garner Grand Jury Decision > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=18927c64-b4af-4c9e-880e-0d735312e376&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Dec 4, 2014 4:07 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Dec 4, 2014 4:07 PM UTC Hours after a [New York grand jury declined to indict the officer](http://time.com/3616780/eric-garner-chokehold-new-york-staten-island/) who killed Eric Garner in July, protests broke out both on the streets of several U.S. cities—and on the Internet. But as many Twitter users posted with hashtags like [#BlackLivesMatter](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BlackLivesMatter&src=tyah), [#DyingWhileBlack](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23DyingWhileBlack&src=typd) and [#HandsUpDontShoot](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HandsUpDontShoot&src=typd), some white users posted confessions to crimes they said they had gotten away with, using the hashtag [#CrimingWhileWhite](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23crimingwhilewhite), with the intent of showing a racial double standard in policing. Garner died after being grappled to the floor by several New York police officers during his arrest for selling loose cigarettes in Staten Island. His death was caught on videotape. Jason Ross, a writer for _The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,_ has been [credited](http://mic.com/articles/105694/criming-while-white-brilliantly-destroys-law-enforcement-s-racial-double-standard) for starting the hashtag and pushing people to share their stories: > [](https://twitter.com/jasonjross/status/540250505256005632) > [](https://twitter.com/jasonjross/status/540259742073909248) According to [Topsy](http://topsy.com/analytics?q1=%23crimingwhilewhite&via=Topsy), a social analytics company, the hashtag has been used in more than 225,000 tweets between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. Here’s a sampling: > [](https://twitter.com/TheTexpat/status/540267298527789056) > [](https://twitter.com/Official%5FLov/status/540291640951590912) > [](https://twitter.com/naporeon/status/540268515677048832) > [](https://twitter.com/EliAllen/status/540276598608781312) > [](https://twitter.com/Cecilyk/status/540299186051485697) > [](https://twitter.com/narents/status/540264780502933504) > [](https://twitter.com/NatAnglin/status/540272759981744128) > [](https://twitter.com/justinmclachlan/status/540341587591847937) ### Witness Protesters Taking Over the Streets After the Eric Garner Grand Jury Decision  A group of protesters rally against a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer involved in the death of Eric Garner occupy the eastbound traffic lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City in the early morning hours of Dec. 4, 2014. Jason DeCrow—AP  Protestors block 15th Street near Pennsylvania Avenue to protest the Staten Island grand jury's decision not to indict officer Daniel Pantaleo in the Eric Garner chokehold case in Washington on Dec. 3, 2014. Jim Lo Scalzo—EPA  Demonstrators march through the streets of New York City on Dec. 3, 2014. Andrew Burton—Getty Images  Regina Bates speaks during a demonstration in Oakland, Calif. on Dec. 3, 2014. Elijah Nouvelage—Getty Images  Police stand guard on the West Side highway as protesters block traffic in New York City on Dec. 3, 2014. Shannon Stapleton—Reuters  Anwar Thurston, 36, joined demonstrators who gathered to protest the Eric Garner grand jury decision during a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at City Hall in Philadelphia on Dec. 3, 2014. Mark Makela—Getty Images  A demonstrator cries while gathering to protest the Eric Garner grand jury decision during a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at City Hall in Philadelphia on Dec. 3, 2014. Mark Makela—Getty Images  Demonstrators block traffic on Highway I-395 in Washington on Dec. 3, 2014. T.J. Kirkpatrick—Getty Images  Protestors lay down in Grand Central Station during a protest in New York City on Dec. 3, 2014. Timothy A. Clary—AFP/Getty Images  People take part in a protest against the grand jury decision on the death of Eric Garner in midtown Manhattan in New York City on Dec. 3, 2014. Eric Thayer—Reuters  Protesters raise their arms and chant at police officers in Times Square in New York City on Dec. 3, 2014. Caitlin Ochs—Polaris  Demonstrators march in protest on the streets of St. Louis on Dec. 3, 2014. Michael B. Thomas—AFP/Getty Images  Police officers block protesters from marching up a highway entrance ramp near Times Square in New York City on Dec. 3, 2014. Seth Wenig—AP  A man holding a child walks with protesters as they march past Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Dec. 3, 2014. Adrees Latif—Reuters  Atlanta Police face off with protesters blocking Spring Street in Atlanta on Dec. 3, 2014. Erik S. Lesser—EPA  A demonstrator stands next to a makeshift memorial where Eric Garner died during an arrest in July in the Staten Island borough of New York City on Dec. 3, 2014. Shannon Stapleton—Reuters _Read next:_ [_Behind the Video of Eric Garner’s Deadly Confrontation With New York Police_](http://time.com/3016326/eric-garner-video-police-chokehold-death/?xid=time%5Freadnext) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3617996/eric-garner-chokehold-crimingwhilewhite/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3617996/eric-garner-chokehold-crimingwhilewhite/"},"headline":"Twitter Users Confess to #CrimingWhileWhite After Eric Garner Grand Jury Decision","datePublished":"2014-12-04T16:07:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:17.298Z","description":"Tweeters look to show a racial double standard in policing","url":"https://time.com/3617996/eric-garner-chokehold-crimingwhilewhite/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Crime","Internet","twitter","activism","online","hashtag"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3617996/eric-garner-chokehold-crimingwhilewhite/","name":"Twitter Users Confess to #CrimingWhileWhite After Eric Garner Grand Jury Decision"}}]}] ```