The police have always been quick to draw their weapons and kill Black and Brown people. Our communities have lost too many lives at the hands of the state, whether it happens on the streets, prisons, or the border. For too long, the families of those who’ve had their loved ones ripped away have cried out for justice. In the few instances where governments have responded, they’ve tossed crumbs like trainings and some minimal oversight.

Real safety, however, continues to elude Black and Brown communities, because police cannot and will not be held accountable when they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. The system is working as it has been designed to work – keep our communities in check, with a boot on our neck. As the target of their constant harassment and violence, we know all too well that the only solution is to reduce the scale, scope, size, and power of the police. That will only happen if local governments do what is just and defund all of their police departments. Outsized budgets have not kept us safe; on the contrary, they serve to increase interactions between community and police that keep turning deadly.

How many more deaths must we be subjected to and bear witness to? How many more times do the cries of mothers who’ve lost their babies need to go unheard?

This is not just about a few bad apples, it is about an entire system that is based solely on punishment and profit and that is focused on criminalizing Black, Brown, migrant, poor folks, and anyone who is deemed undesirable. Judging the victim, making excuses for the officers involved, and cracking down on communities rising up in protest will always be par for the course.

We mourn, we rage, we organize.