Where can we start?

Dashcam footage and documentation surrounding Philando Castile’s shooting were released today. The footage and story make a few things clear:

• Before the stop, the officer radioed that the driver of Castile’s car (that is, Castile) resembled a suspect in a recent robbery. When asked about what he saw before the traffic stop, that officer said he couldn’t be sure of the driver’s height, weight, or even gender — only that the driver had a “wide set nose,” like the suspect. In other words, Castile was pulled over for driving while black.
• Once pulled over, Castile stayed calm, admitted that he had a gun, and did not threaten the officer.
• Somehow, with a citizen complying and a child in the backseat, the officer shot Castile seven times and immediately realized that that shooting was a tragic mistake.

Statutorily, I don’t know if this was murder. Legally, I don’t know if the jury was correct to decide the officer who killed Castile was not guilty of manslaughter. And I don’t claim to understand the challenges police officers face or what goes into an appropriate use-of-force policy for law enforcement.

I do know that an unarmed black man is seven times more likely to be fatally shot by police than an unarmed white man during confrontations, according to research from the University of Louisville and the University of South Carolina.

There’s no way Philando Castile — or many other black men killed by police officers recently — should be dead. If even some of our officers are willing to pull someone over because of their “wide set nose,” then we have to improve how we select and train our officers. If we are hiring and training police officers who are frightened enough to use lethal force against unarmed black men at seven times the rate of unarmed white men, then we are systematically endangering and devaluing the lives of our neighbors.

Castile did everything he was supposed to do during a bogus traffic stop. His death was unwarranted, and there is no justice in it. We have to look that in the eye and do something about it.

Can we start there? Can we value the work and risk that police officers take on, while also admitting that there is something wrong? Can we admit that the system is quantifiably broken and treats people unequally? Can we work to improve the way that officers are selected and trained, such that black people don’t die unnecessarily at the hands of the people who are sworn to protect them?