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In what are now tragically familiar scenes, America, and much of the world, was rocked by two more videos of US police officers shooting and killing unarmed black men. Only a day later, it stood in shock as police officers and civilians were gunned down in Dallas, in what appeared to be retaliation. In little more than a week, three police officers would be shot dead and seven more wounded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana – where earlier that month police were recorded killing the black citizen Alton Sterling with seemingly little cause.
The primary focus has been on the continuing history of racial violence by law enforcement – particularly against black citizens. From slavery to Jim Crow to the present, the country’s racial divisions have been preserved through official and unofficial terror. It also brought to the forefront rising fears (whether or not statistically justified) that this will only escalate racial tensions and violence while creating a hostile and deadly social climate for law enforcement.
