#CrimingWhileWhite Trends After No Indictment in Eric Garner Case

By Carla Murphy Dec 04, 2014

Following last night’s decision by a Staten Island grand jury not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo for killing Eric Garner this July, something extraordinary happened on Twitter. 

All night long whites took to #crimingwhilewhite to publicly document their past crimes and how police treated them they believe, because they were white. Alone, one or two tweets would’ve elicited a few SMHs and easy comparison to comedian Dave Chappelle’s white buddy, Chip (see clip above). But taken together #crimingwhilewhite is perhaps the first large-scale public confession from whites that, "Yes, I’m raced, too. Race isn’t just something that a black person brings into a perfectly unraced room." Check out the #crimingwhilewhite stream yourself; it’s fascinating. A sample of early tweets (unverified) are below. 

Reaction appeared to be largely positive: