"I can't breathe. What did Frank say? I can't breathe. What did Frank say? I can't breathe. No justice, no peace. No justice, no peace."

This was the chant of protesters who were angered by the police's handling of Black American Frank Tyson, who died after an officer knelt on his back and whose last words were "I can't breathe."

The tragic incident in the Ohio city of Canton happened just a month before the fourth anniversary of George Floyd's murder, which at the time laid bare the U.S.'s longstanding institutionalized racism.

While the reaction to Tyson's death was incomparable to the Black Lives Matter protests that swept across the world, it serves as a microcosm of the police brutality and systemic racism that still pervade America today.

"George Floyd should be alive today. His murder shook the conscience of our nation and reminded us that our country has never fully lived up to its highest ideal of fair and impartial justice for all under the law," U.S. President Joe Biden admitted in a statement on Friday.

U.S. police killed at least 1,247 people in 2023 – a figure higher than any year in more than a decade – and 27 percent of them were Black, despite being only 13 percent of the American population, according to Mapping Police Violence.

Throughout the years, "most killings by police begin with traffic stops, mental health checks, disturbances, non-violent offenses, and where no crimes were alleged," the organization said on its website.

A recent Associated Press investigation revealed at least 1,036 people died between 2012 and 2021 after they were subdued by police via means not intended to be lethal.

"This is certainly an undercount, because many departments blocked access to information. Files that others released were blacked out and video blurred, while officers routinely used vague language in their reports that gloss over force," the AP said.

In addition to what happened to Tyson and Floyd, there were other cases of deaths in police custody where the words "I can't breathe" were used but were disregarded, the investigation also found.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Tyson's family and previously represented Floyd's, has urged his country to learn its lessons after what he called "George Floyd 2.0" took place.

"How many more teachable moments, America, at the cost of Black people's lives, do we have to give you before you believe us when we say, 'I can't breathe,'" Crump said during a press conference.

Yohuru Williams, history professor and founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas, described Tyson's case as a "deep disappointment," but he "was not surprised."

"I think unfortunately, despite the conversation (after) the killing of George Floyd, especially with regards to African Americans and the African American community, very little has changed," Williams told television network KARE 11.

"There's been a lot of dialogue about efforts toward reform, but unfortunately it's something we've seen before, this impetus to try to create meaningful pathways to reform, but then videos like this (a police body camera video from Tyson's incident) prove that these practices continue and continue to cost lives," he said.