James "Smokie" Phillips has been a police officer for three decades. He's black. And he moonlights on the weekends as an instructor for people - almost all African-American - interested in licenses to carry weapons.

He's a stickler for the rudiments of training. Still, he emphasizes the importance of demeanor and courtesy when black people exercise their Second Amendment rights in America to carry guns.

Shelby Stewart is a retired Houston police officer and also black. But he doesn't exercise his right to openly carry his weapon.

Both think there's a difference for those who carry while black - especially for African-American men.

Before a Dallas demonstration Thursday night ended in gunfire that killed four police officers and injured seven others, Phillips and Stewart were among those reacting to police killings this week of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. The slain black men were armed but apparently never drew their weapons before being shot by officers at close range.

Minister Robert Muhammad - a black Houston activist and mosque leader - went so far Thursday as to suggest that the ongoing deadly violence against black men by officers could largely be resolved removing white law enforcement officials from black neighborhoods.

"People aren't going to like what I'm going to say, but I'm going to have to tell the truth - we're going to have to get white policemen out of our community," Muhammad said.

It's a problem that has simmered just under the surface in Houston. The city faces a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the father of an unarmed mentally ill veteran, Kenny Releford, who was shot and killed by a Houston police officer as neighbors watched in 2012.

The lawsuit challenges the city's internal reviews of intentional police shootings of unarmed people as woefully inadequate.

More than 150 people were shot by Houston police between 2010 and 2015, yet every intentional shooting was ruled to be justified in internal department investigations.

Early Tuesday, 37-year-old Alton Sterling was shot dead by Baton Rouge, La., police outside a store after an anonymous caller reported seeing an armed man. Several videos of the incident emerged, sparking outrage in that city and on social media and igniting protests nationwide, including in Houston's Discovery Green this week.

On Wednesday night, 32-year-old Philando Castile was shot in a St. Paul, Minn., suburb after being pulled over for a minor traffic offense. According to his fiancée - who filmed the immediate aftermath of the shooting - he had told the officer he had a concealed permit to carry and that he had a weapon. He was reaching for his license and registration as requested by the officer when the shots were fired.

Systemic problem

At the Parkview Barber Shop on Houston's south side Thursday afternoon, perspectives were tempered among the black men, but they were also direct: Officers who are afraid of people should not be on patrol.

Barber and shop owner Gary Jedkins said the continued lost lives of African-American males at the hands of police indicates a systemic problem.

"Something's wrong when a man is selling CDs … in Louisiana and he gets ambushed by police and while he's on the ground with two police on top of him," he said.

Bill Miller, 68, a retired Texas Southern University English professor, has three sons, including a 17-year-old.

"My major concern when he leaves the house is that I want him to come home," he said. "All it takes to justify (a shooting) is for a police officer to say, 'I was in fear of my life.'"

Retired auto industry worker Eugene Pack, who took a turn in Jedkins' chair, said he can't call all police officers "the enemy" because he needs law enforcement to work on the 2009 unsolved murder of his son in Harris County.

"I'm still putting my faith in the system. I'm still trusting in them," the 65-year-old said. "But I can't stand the idea of somebody putting on a badge and brutally killing somebody. That's not what they signed up for."

'Keep hands … on wheel'

D. Kimathi Nelson, the presiding bishop of the Pan African Orthodox Christian Church, which includes Houston's Shrine of the Black Madonna, said institutional violence against black people in America has roots in slavery and the nation's continued struggle with racism.

"If you're going to be afraid of a black man, then you have disqualified yourself from being a police officer," Nelson said, as he was getting a haircut. "If you're so worried about going back home to your family that you can't act with judgment and prudence and can't act responsibly, then you don't need to be a police officer."

Phillips, 53, the firearms instructor, works as a captain in the Harris County Precinct 7 constable's office and teaches gun licensing classes every other Sunday.

He tells his students to do a few things immediately if they encounter police: Don't reach for anything, and tell the officer that you have a legal firearm and where it is located.

"Wait on the police to tell you what to do. If you are not given instructions, ask for instructions. Keep your hands on top of that wheel," he said. "At night, cut your dome light on. If you have a camera or cellphone that can capture video, turn it on."

Stewart, 58, retired from the Houston Police Department in 2009 and said he doesn't carry his pistol openly because it's less threatening.

"I think it would be extremely dangerous for African-Americans to open carry," he said. "You can say what you want to say about the Second Amendment and open carry laws in each state, but the bottom line is: If the police show up, how will they react to a black man who is open carrying?"

Stewart advocated for body cameras on Houston police and said he's encouraged that personal and police equipment have provided footage of recent incidents.

"The video is going to be the clearest indication as to what happened on the scene," he said.

Brooke Lewis contributed to this report.