Police brutality and brutality to police- what's going on here?

I would like to talk about the recent murders of black men, and the horrifying retaliation by one man at an otherwise peaceful Black Lives Matter protest.

This all started with a man named Alton Sterling being held to the ground by a police officer, while another officer shot him in the chest. Police claimed he was "grabbing for his gun", a claim that was found to be false. We didn't understand if anything happened between Sterling being held on the ground and being shot, until a second video emerged showing Sterling completely defenseless on the ground, and the officer shooting him to death multiple times.

In a second shooting in Minnesota, during a traffic stop, a man calmly tells an officer that he is licensed to carry. His girlfriend is shooting a video of the stop, as the officer is shouting and there is a four year old child in the back seat. They have a broken taillight. The officer tells the man to get his license out. As the man reaches for his license, the officer shoots his arm off. The girlfriend remains calm as the officer swears repeatedly and says he shouldn't have reached into his pocket. The girlfriend says calmly, "You told him to get his wallet, sir... Oh he better not be dead" as the four year old says she will protect her mom from the back seat. Here is where the girlfriend breaks down and starts sobbing.

These horror stories follow a trend in this country of police brutality towards civilians. The officers, though sometimes claiming "self-defense", sometimes make a mistake that is filled with regret, as in the case of the Minnesota traffic stop in which there was a four year old in the back seat. But sometimes, as we see in the case of unarmed citizens, a larger problem is at hand. Black Americans are fearing police authority, resorting to a "Yes ma'am, Yes sir" attitude for fear of being unfairly treated and unheard.

Are we doing anything about it?

Yes, in fact, social justice is in the making. A peaceful "Black Lives Matter" protest bears witness to this. Except this protest turned into a bloodbath when a black man shot 5 white officers and harmed 7 other people in cold blood. Civilians were injured- one woman shielded her children from the attacker and was hurt.

People in society take matters into their own hands if they believe that current efforts aren't quick enough. Change is slow and in the meantime, people are hurting. This is why we have countries divided against themselves, communities divided by race and religion.

If you want to change the way things are, speak with your community and present your case to local policy makers. The mayor, governor, sheriff, police. Come with intentions to make peace, and present all of the ways your communities are hurting. Speak about your children, your families. Bring facts and figures, really testimony. And speak to bigger and bigger policymakers and rulemakers if you feel like you are not being heard. Make a voice for yourself and others where there is none. Only then can you be a part of real, lasting change. Only by uniting together can we solve our problems.