Young black men are dying, and fear keeps us from love

Recent news, as so often is the case, has brought images and descriptions of young black men shot by police officers. The narrative is sickeningly familiar: a young person dies; protests take place; authorities promise a full and fair investigation and, if warranted, consequences for the officers involved; journalists and community leaders remind us of the long series of these deaths; voices call for mutual respect and genuine collaboration between minority communities and law enforcement agencies, and insist on reform of the justice system. 

Hardly anything changes. Young people continue to die. 

In such circumstances, it’s harder and harder to remember that most law enforcement officers are honorable and motivated by a desire to serve. They put themselves in often-dangerous situations on our behalf. They deal with the effects of our nation's failures to meaningfully address generational poverty, despair-driven drug abuse, inadequate education, and de facto segregation. Violence against police, as we saw in Dallas last week, is tragic and wrong.