Harvard Law School Professors' Portraits Emblazoned With #LastWords

Protesters covered professors' faces with dying words, like "I can't breathe."

ByABC News
December 9, 2014, 5:18 PM
Images of professors from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass.
Images of professors from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass.
Wesley Dietrich

— -- Among the recent protests in response to the killing of unarmed African-American men by police, one reaction is turning heads among Harvard Law School faculty.

Portraits of professors in the main building of the law school have been covered with fliers containing the last words of victims who were either killed by police or whose controversial deaths embroiled the political justice system. The quotes end with the hashtag #lastwords.

PHOTO: A piece of a paper posted on a professor's portrait in the halls of Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., that reads "I can't breathe."
A piece of a paper posted on a professor's portrait in the halls of Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., that reads "I can't breathe."

Among the images in Wasserstein Hall for this display is a portrait of Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, who is a former professor and dean of Harvard Law School.

PHOTO: A piece of a paper posted on a professor's portrait in the halls of Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., that reads "You shot me. You shot."
A piece of a paper posted on a professor's portrait in the halls of Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., that reads "You shot me. You shot."

Kagan's photograph is covered by the words "You shot me," spoken by Oscar Grant III, whose death was portrayed in the 2013 film "Fruitvale Station." He was unarmed when he was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer on Jan. 1, 2009.

PHOTO: A piece of a paper posted on a professor's portrait in the halls of Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., that reads "What are you following me for?"
A piece of a paper posted on a professor's portrait in the halls of Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., that reads "What are you following me for?"