Police Execute Two More Unarmed People Of Color

The virtual executions of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling by police in the last two days are brutal and shocking. And all too common. How many of these videos will we have to see before something gives. The victims are almost always people of color and I guess it goes without saying that the police are always overreacting. Obviously, racism has to play a significant role. But there is also clearly  a lack of proper training. And even more importantly, I think the proliferation of guns and the concealed and open carry laws have helped build this climate of fear among the police that every potential contact may have a gun. In the case of Castile, it appears that he was only reaching for his wallet during a routine traffic stop with his family in the car, hardly a situation where officers should feel threatened. And yet he ends up dead.  Because our government and apparently our media can not properly document these police actions, we have to rely on the British newspaper, The Guardian, to inform us that this is nearly the 600th person to be killed by police this year, a number that is simply unfathomable. One change that would really help is to finally make these police officers accountable for their actions. Yes, we all understand how difficult the job is but many of these incidents are clearly so far over the line. One way or another, this has got to stop.