African American

At least they are impacting me.

The barrier to believing was giving police the benefit of the doubt that a wallet really looked liked a gun, a movement really was furtive, or brutalized person resisted forcefully. Not knowing what happened, it was impossible for me to declare any particular case a use of unjustified force even as I recognized the numbers didn't make sense. Recent police camera and witness mobile phone videos are breaking through the denial.

The Walter Scott murder in Charleston, SC was a perspective changing experience for me. Watching the police escalate situations with Sandra Bland and Eric Garner taught me that police are pushing people to react a certain way that provides superficial justification for their brutality.The recent case of (now former) Officer Travis Cole's treatment of Dejaun Yourse for sitting on his mother's porch is just one of many.

I see white people posting more anti-police brutality videos on Facebook now than ever before. Police brutality of Black Americans is even beginning to resonate with the anti-gov white crowd.