There are so many videos of police violence circulating the internet lately and today another one makes its rounds, depicting another person of color, Alton Sterling,  gunned down by the insufferable group sworn to serve and protect, and another family is torn apart because police officers, yet again using completely unreasonable excessive force, can execute a human for whatever reason.

When is this going to change? When will significant, actionable efforts be made to protect innocent people from a prejudicial system maintained by the government, perpetuating hate and violence in the name of the law? 

We are at our wits end. Continuously, excruciatingly, angrily mourning as a community, desperately trying to grapple with the frequency of these morbid recurrences. The countless families who have painfully lost loved ones, lost a piece of themselves, lost any semblance of hope and won’t get justice because a brown body has no rights and there is no amount of justice that can assuage the hurt of having someone you love die at the hands of senseless brutality.

It doesn’t seem like anything can stop these officers from terrorizing the black community. They’ve been doing it without consequence for years. What will it take? Not cameras, not protests, not town halls, not evidence. 

No justice. No peace.

*EDIT* 7/7/2016

Hours after writing this another video was put up. A live stream of a traffic stop where a woman WITH HER LITTLE GIRL IN THE BACK SEAT was filming her boyfriend, Philando Castile after he was shot by a police officer after he was asked to produce his license and let the officer know that he was carrying a legal firearm. I watched that video last night. Staring at the man’s blood-soaked shirt, hoping above all hope he was going to make it out of this violent interaction alive. The woman in the video was panicked, looking over at her boyfriend as he slumped further into his seat, blood pouring out of him. She pleaded, in shock, he wasn’t dead. There were comments of support throughout the entire happening, beneath this unbelievable, horrific event, but no one’s prayers or words of comfort could save that man’s life and today, I read, he died. TWO black men have been taken from their families within 48 hours and who knows if they’ll get answers or justice, though, we all know how that usually goes. 

I saw a note posted on Facebook and it said, The violence is not new, it’s the cameras that are new. And it’s so true. This kind of violence has been plaguing the black community for years and it hasn’t let up, but is now being broadcast to the world. In the age of social media, these instances aren’t being swept under the rug or happening in a vacuum. Real people are trying to curtail this carefree reign of terror police have been putting the black community through for years by desperately hoping to hold these police accountable. However, now that attention has been brought to this issue, I think we’re all asking, what’s next? How can we put an end to these senseless deaths?

We can’t. Civilians can’t. There have to be real steps taken within the police force, within the judicial system, to ensure the lives of people of color are not going to be threatened by personal prejudice or flat out hate. It’s time to start holding these men and women who are slaying innocent people accountable for their actions. Paid leave is unacceptable. Firing is unacceptable. They need to prosecuted to the fullest extent. Officers should go through rigorous training and tests before given a gun and license to kill. The good cops need to come forward and start being true heroes by pointing out the lunatics on their force. This cannot keep happening.

Again, no justice. No peace.