- [Male] This guy's still walking and following commands.
- [Man] Time for taser, I think.
- [Male] Gotta feeling that's about to happen.
- [Man] That looks like a bad dude, too.
Could be on something.
- [Man on Scanner] Which way are they facing?
- [Man] Police One, they're facing westbound.
I think he may have just been tasered.
- [Female Officer] Shots fired!
- [Male] Ooh! - [Man] I have a 321.
We have shots fired.
We have one suspect down.
We need insta here.
- [Male] We need to get this eastbound closed down
if they could because they're not going
to be able to let anybody...
- [Male] Okay.
(slow, dramatic music)
- [Woman] There are instances on battlefields
of gruesome, gruesome wars where people
have their hands up, and they live.
And those are on battlefields,
and we're talking about freeways.
- I think now when I hear the word police,
I feel very differently than I did when I was younger.
I think growing up, clearly as a white woman,
police was mostly a positive word to me.
It was people who kept me safe.
It was people who were in my family.
I think as as someone who has never had
any issues with the law, it never occurred me
that I'd have any sort of negative interaction with police.
So the word police, and the concept growing up,
was a very positive, helpful word that I felt fine about.
As I've grown up, and as I've become more aware of
the climate that we're living in,
the meaning and the tone of that word
has changed completely.
- Police are doing some things that makes me feel
that I don't know if they are
who I would call for safety.
- It's just upsetting that in a
law-enforcement profession, having the wrong
intentions or thinking too quickly about something
could result in the loss of a life.
- As a black man, the question has become,
will the world allow me to live?
- It's so unfortunate and so...
sad to think that
we live in the greatest country in the world,
and the people who are here to protect that
make us feel unprotected.
- And it's interesting because it's like,
I feel like every single time a black person is killed,
we always say, "This one is different."
And it's not, because you can have your hands up,
you can be reading a book in your car,
you can be disabled.
You're just automatically a threat.
It's not new.
It's just we're being killed in a different way.
- Look at the last year. Maybe one time it's an accident.
Maybe one time it's an isolated incident.
And when it's this many times,
like how many times have we had to watch videos of this?
- One of the first things a cop should do is
admit that we are all born with a racial bias.
- I think it is so built into our society, and our culture,
and our media, and the lessons that we learn as children,
that I think people reply on that.
Then if you're a police officer,
and you're trying to decide constantly
who's good, who's bad, who's a threat, who's not.
But the second there's a doubt,
all of these subconscious biases and opinions
and beliefs that we've been taught since childhood
in this country come up.
And they think, it seems likely that person will have a gun.
It seems likely that person's going to hurt me.
I mean, you look from a helicopter,
and you say, "That's one bad dude."
How do you know?
You only know because you've been raised in this country
where you are being subconsciously told all the time
that guys who look like that are bad dudes.
- I definitely think that some people go
into the police force with the best of intentions,
and I know some people that have and they're good people.
But ultimately it's to keep the system in place.
And the system that currently exists hurts minorities.
It does not stand up for everyone.
It is based purely on inequality and injustice.
It should be that we are all the same.
That we are all brothers and sisters,
but this world thinks otherwise.
- I think we got here because of 300 years,
or more, of slavery.
I think we got here because
the idea of black people being humans
is less than a century old.
I think that we got here because
after MLK made the "I Have A Dream" speech,
people thought that it was over, that it was done,
that everything was finished,
and I think we continue to operate under the guise
that we live in a post-racial America,
thus we stopped talking about race
and how we can progress it.
- I am not hopeful at all.
I've lost hope.
I don't think that anything is going to change.
And that's scary,
because I want to have kids,
and I want to have a husband.
I want to have a life,
and I want to live my life unapologetically.
I want my friends to be able
to live their lives unapologetically,
and I don't see that happening
without always being fearful.
Without always thinking twice about everything that we do.
I can't even drive down the street without being like,
"Are there any cops?
"What's going to happen?"
Or like having a cop car drive behind me.
That is the scariest thing for me right now,
and I shouldn't have to be scared of that.
It's just a cop car behind me.
That makes me scared.
I don't have any hope right now.
- Even for myself, I have witnessed
all these terrible things that have been going on,
just like everyone else,
but with this last one
it just felt a little different for me,
and I know that everyone needs to feel that
because it's not okay.
- I have 100% believed that this country
is afraid of black men because this country has been taught
that black men are inherently monsters.
In every video we've seen of these police shooting
these black men,
if you look into that police officer's eyes,
they are rarely calm.
They're usually freaking out.
They're usually heightened beyond imagination.
The video of Philando Castile has the police officer
shaking as hard as he can because he just
has this idea that Philando Castile is this
inhuman monster that can jump out at him or attack him.
- The untrained, nervous person has to be the most
calm and collected human being over the trained authority.
- I think we need more social workers.
I think we need more counselors.
I think we need more community leaders.
What I don't think we need is police officers who
are afraid of people.
You can't be afraid of people
when you have to go into their communities everyday
in their worst times.
In their most troubling times,
you have to see people, and
if you're afraid of that,
if you can't deal with that,
I don't think police officers should be a thing then.
- I feel like you grow up now, in school you watch videos of
MLK, and the marches, and the civil rights movement,
and everyone goes, "Oh, I totally
"would have been a part of that."
But, what they don't realize is,
that is what's happening now.
This is the time.
This is not something that we can
drown ourselves out with news of Brangelina breaking up,
or whatever Kylie Jenner's latest lip gear is.
This is the moment, and this is the time.
We have to change this,
and no one else is gonna change this,
and honestly, to other white people,
this cannot change without us.
That's just how this works,
because we are still most of the power in this country,
and it has to also come from above.
It has to come from the streets and from social media,
but it also has to come from above,
from positions of power
from people who can actually make a change,
from people who can add policies into police enforcement,
who can change whether people wear bodycams,
who can change whether these police officers
are prosecuted when they kill someone
who has no right to be killed.
Every time that happens, we take a million steps back.
There are people, there are judges,
there are lawyers, there are jurors,
there are people in that courtroom
who could make a difference, who could say,
"This is unacceptable, and this is
"a sign that it's unacceptable."
But when those people, many of whom are white,
do not stand up for this,
and do not do what's right,
it just shows all the other police officers,
all the other people who are considering being violent
towards other people,
that they're not going to be punished.
That it's not something we value.
- Ultimately, it comes down to people power.
If enough good people stand up in solidarity
and fight the good fight,
which means bringing about justice,
then we can create a community
where we are all protecting each other.
(gentle guitar music)
- I understand all the pressure that you feel
to not say anything and to support where you work,
but this isn't what you signed up for.
This isn't what you took your oath for.
- I would say to the police that I love you,
and I respect the sacrifice that you make everyday
to put your life on the line for others.
But what I am asking for you is to understand
that because of the way things are,
my mother is making the same sacrifice
that your mother makes,
knowing that every day you go out on the street,
you have the possibility of getting killed.
I'll stop being afraid of you
when you're willing to stop being afraid of me.
- Everybody wants to get home.
No one wants to die.
Try to keep in mind, like if you were to reverse the roles
and someone pulled up on you with a gun,
how are you going to feel?
Let's try to make sure everybody
can get to see the next day.
(soft, quiet music)
- It's not going unheard
and unwatched and unlistened to,
and it's such an awful sacrifice to have to sacrifice
a loved one to make people care,
and to make people wake up,
and to make people do better and fight for what is right.
But please know that not only
are your family members' names going to be heard,
but this is what's going to change it.
- I would say to them that I do not take
your son's sacrifice lightly.
I do not take your daughter's sacrifice lightly.
I do not take your father's sacrifice lightly,
or your mother's sacrifice lightly, and that
I will continue to do all that I can to make sure that
people do not forget their names,
and do not forget the importance of their sacrifice.
- (sniffs) We will never understand your pain.
We won't, but...
I promise that I will life a life
charged with making change.
- I'm sorry that this happened to you,
and I'm standing here with you,
because the only way
that this terrible wrong could be righted
is if we stop it from happening to anyone else.
- I would say you deserve better.
You deserved better.
Your family deserved better.
I would say I love you,
and I care, and I'm here.
And as tired and angry
as I am, I will fight.
I will fight to honor the lives as best as I can,
because it is not your job alone to do so,
and we can't do it alone.
(soft music)