‘Selma’ cast wears ‘I Can’t Breathe’ shirts at NYC premiere
Ray Tamarra/GC Images ‘Selma’ actors E. Roger Mitchell, Wendell Pierce, Omar Dorsey, John Lavelle, Stephan James, Kent Faulcon, David Oyelowo, Lorraine Toussaint, director Ava DuVernay, Tessa Thompson, Andre Holland, and Colman Domingo wear ‘I Can’t Breathe’ T-shirts to protest the death of Eric Garner at the New York Public Library on Sunday. The cast of “Selma” used their New York City premiere on Sunday as a platform for protest.
The film’s star, David Oyelowo, led the demonstration at the New York Public Library where he and other members of the cast stood with their hands raised, wearing “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts before heading to the Ziegfeld Theater for the premiere.
Like thousands of activists who have taken to the city streets, their show was to protest the death of Eric Garner, who died in a chokehold by NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in July.
On Dec. 3, a grand jury voted against indicting Pantaleo for any actions leading to Garner’s death.
Ben Gabbe/Getty Images Actor Wendell Pierce joined in the outcry over the Eric Garner death by NYPD chokehold. 
Ben Gabbe/Getty Images Actor Corey Reynolds attends the ‘Selma’ New York premiere at Ziegfeld Theater on Sunday.
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“Thankfully, we’re considering a lot of the same good sides of protests happening with these protests,” Oyelowo, who plays Martin Luther King Jr. in the Ava DuVernay-directed civil rights film, previously told The Hollywood Reporter about the parallels the movie has to the demonstrations taking place across the country today.
“They are passive,” he continued. “And … we are now considering black and white and everything in between coming together against injustice.”
On Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters filled the streets of New York City in what has been described as the largest demonstration, called “Millions March NYC,” since the grand jury choice.
“We have to speak out against violence,” Tolulope Oyetunde, a 24-year-ancient medical student at Rutgers University, who was among those marching Saturday, told Newsday. “We have to respond and stand up.”
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