No mom or dad, no son or daughter, should ever have to fear a loved one could come to harm at the hands of those charged with protecting them. Yet look at the headlines. Thirteen-year-old Tyre King, as well as Keith Scott and Terence Crutcher, both fathers, were killed by police just this week.  What's going on isn't right, it isn't fair, and it's not okay. It’s not only breaking our hearts, it’s breaking our nation.  And it must stop. Studies show that even though White Americans outnumber Black Americans five-fold, Black people are three times more likely than White people to be killed when they encounter the police in the US, and Black teenagers are 21 times likelier to be killed by police than White teenagers.
 
Enough is enough. #BlackLivesMatter. Period.
 
At the national level, we need higher standards of policing, strengthened accountability mechanisms, and critical reforms to end: Biased racial profiling, police brutality, and militarized policing targeting African American and Latino youth, families, and communities throughout our country.
 
Local police departments have all too often been ineffective in investigating themselves. It is time for fair, outside, independent, federal investigation and prosecution of police misconduct. The more pressure we mount, the more voices we share, the stronger the call for justice. Don't be silent.  We must end this now.