The civil rights icon the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr once said: “That old law about an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind; the time is always right to do the right thing.” Dr King, whose teachings are the basis of my civil rights work, was unequivocally correct, and during these challenging times we must renew our collective commitment to those ideas.

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I do not condone violence from any side; no police killings of people and no killing of police officers. The objective is to stop police misconduct – not to kill police. We need proper policing in the US, not criminalisation of entire groups of people or movements. We need good cops to help us root out the bad ones. And we need everyone to voice his or her outrage and discontent in a peaceful manner. Then, and only then, will the substantive reform we seek transpire.

I’ve worked on the cases of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was fatally shot in Florida in 2012; Eric Garner, 43, who died in New York in 2014 after being placed in a chokehold by a police officer; and 18-year-old Michael Brown, whose shooting by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 led to huge protests. All the way to the present moment and the fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling (we’ve been asked to come in and assist on that case), my work has always been guided by Dr King’s principles of nonviolence.



There are those who, unfortunately, don’t adhere to those principles, and therefore the objective of improving relations between the community and law enforcement is paramount. But in order to bring about such improvement, there are several areas we must tackle and we can no longer dance around these issues.

First and foremost, in order to come to some sort of peaceful coexistence and build trust, there must be equal protection under the law. According to the Washington Post, 123 black people have been shot and killed by police in 2016 alone, while the ­Guardian’s project, The Counted, places the number of deaths at 138. (The latter includes all deaths resulting directly from police encounters, not just police shootings). Out of all of these tragedies, how many officers have gone to jail? The answer: none.

For police officers to unjustifiably kill citizens and not be convicted of a crime is unthinkable, and adds to the uncertainty that black people are not on an even playing field with the rest of society. I have been at the forefront of fighting for justice and pushing back against police brutality for decades, and I believe things are even worse now than they were in the past.

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In the 90s the New York cops who raped Abner Louima were convicted and did federal time; in fact, one is still in jail. But today, with a litany of cases, videos and evidence, no one serves time. Before we address other issues, we must make clear that whether a person wears blue jeans or a blue uniform, he or she must be equal under the eyes of the law.

Second, cops must live in the cities and neighbourhoods that they patrol. By doing so, they are not policing strangers, but rather neighbours who they see at the grocery store, whose kids go to school with their kids and who want the same things for their community.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘America must and can do better than this – together.’ A Black Lives Matter march in New York last week. Photograph: ddp USA/Rex/Shutterstock

The police must never be an ­occupying force that comes in to profile, stereotype, harass and oppress. They must be invested and interested in us, and want to ensure the safety and protection of our streets.

Third, there must be ­extensive cultural and sensitivity training across the board. Those hired to serve and protect need to know the difference between a criminal and a person just walking down the street or driving a car.



Officers can no longer view all of us as a threat; they must get to know us and work with us. We need a strong policing/community programme so there are no more tragedies like the deaths of Sterling or Philando Castile, the 32-year-old shot by Minne­sota police last week – and all the others.



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All the above concepts must be ­implemented if we are to truly build trust and repair this great divide. Our desire is to have a society where police are the community partner, where kids want to grow up to be cops – not run from the police. It used to be that parents taught their children about the birds and the bees; now parents in black homes are teaching their kids how to act if police stop them so they won’t be killed before the encounter is over.

The longer these flaws and injustices in the police remain unaddressed, the longer they fester away. This poses a danger to us all. The unprecedented events in Dallas remind us that it just takes one disturbed individual to commit a gross, tragic act that derails attempts at peaceful change and sows further division and strife.

America must and can do better than this – together.