--- title: Michael Brown, Eric Garner: Congress Staffers Walk Out for Protest description: Staffers protest the recent grand jury decisions in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases canonical: https://time.com/3630858/congressional-staffers-walkout-michael-brown-eric-garner/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-11T22:17:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:25.588Z article:section: Politics og:title: See Congressional Staffers Stage a Powerful Walkout Over Grand Jury Decisions og:description: Staffers protest the recent grand jury decisions in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases og:url: https://time.com/3630858/congressional-staffers-walkout-michael-brown-eric-garner/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b681c8db40c49af/69876e582dce01e8229dc64d/congressional-staff-eric-garner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: African-American Congressional staff and others hold their hands up during a walk-out outside the House on Capitol Hill on Dec. 11, 2014 in Washington D.C. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Congressional Staffers Stage a Powerful Walkout Over Grand Jury Decisions twitter:description: Staffers protest the recent grand jury decisions in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b681c8db40c49af/69876e582dce01e8229dc64d/congressional-staff-eric-garner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Congressional Staffers Stage a Powerful Walkout Over Grand Jury Decisions > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Black Congressional Staffers Protest Michael Brown and Eric Garner Decisions [Watch (HLS stream): Black Congressional Staffers Protest Michael Brown and Eric Garner Decisions](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/g6QqRCjH.m3u8) (0:22)  _Published 2014-12-11. Black Congressional Staffers Protest Michael Brown and Eric Garner Decisions_  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Dec 11, 2014 10:17 PM UTC  African-American Congressional staff and others hold their hands up during a walk-out outside the House on Capitol Hill on Dec. 11, 2014 in Washington D.C. African-American Congressional staff and others hold their hands up during a walk-out outside the House on Capitol Hill on Dec. 11, 2014 in Washington D.C. Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Dec 11, 2014 10:17 PM UTC Dozens of congressional staffers walked out of their offices in Washington, D.C., on Thursday afternoon to gather on the steps of the Capitol in a show of protest against two recent grand jury decisions in the police-invovled deaths of unarmed black men. The staffers posed in the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” position that has been used in demonstrations across the country in response to the death of Michael Brown, the Ferguson, Mo., teenager shot and killed in August by a white police officer, who was not indicted by a grand jury. Senate Chaplain Dr. Barry Black also led the demonstrators in a prayer. “Forgive us when we have failed to lit our voices for those who could not speak or breathe themselves,” he said, invoking the last words “I can’t breathe” by Eric Garner before his chokehold-related death on Staten Island in July. 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