Katie Couric scored a major coup for Yahoo, getting to interview two of the children of Eric Garner who was killed by a police officer in New York City who put their father in a chokehold. The officer escaped indictment by a grand jury last week. Couric also opened up about her mother, who was Jewish, when she hosted a special panel at an intimate Peggy Siegal luncheon at La Grenouille.
Erica Garner told Couric about the grand jury’s decision not to indict the man who killed her father, “I was disappointed. You’ve seen him die on national TV just like everybody else. Why?”
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Couric asked the Garners about how their family has dealt with the loss of their father and what kind of a man he was. The Garners laughed about how their dad was always late for things.
They also said that they appreciate all of the support from the protesters who have taken to the streets of New York recently holding up signs which say, “I can’t breathe.” That is what the video of Garner’s death famously shows him saying while he died. Erica Garner said that the protesters are showing that they understand how the Garner family feels.
There was then a panel section of the show which included former New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and black political comedian W. Kamau Bell. The latter actually had the Chutzpah to say to Couric, “I have to be totally honest with you, Katie. I didn’t know Ray Kelly would be here. I don’t feel safe now.”
Couric also got to interview Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern recently about their new movie Wild. The three women all talked about things that they learned from their mothers. Couric said that her mother once told her, “let ’em know you’re there.” The newswoman said that she has taken this to mean not to be shy about who you really are.
Interestingly, Couric tweeted that she learned a new word in Church last week. “Be4 I sign off learned a new word in church today: Eschatology. Anyone?”
For the record, Webster defines eschatology as a branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of humankind. Couric was raised Presbyterian. Maybe they do not deal with that particular aspect of Christianity.
