Zimmer called it "a peculiarly powerful rallying cry", and noted, "to intone the words 'I can't breathe,' surrounded by thousands of others doing the same, is an act of intense empathy and solidarity. The empathy comes from momentarily stepping into the persona of Eric Garner at that instant the life was being choked out of him."[9] Zimmer noted that, in the variant "We can't breathe", the phrase becomes directed towards social change and more metaphorical. Phrases seen on protests signs such as "Justice can't breathe" and "Our democracy can't breathe" remove the meaning entirely outside of the physical circumstances of Garner's death.[9]