On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman opened fire from the University of Texas tower in one of America’s first mass shootings. Decades later, police still cite this tragedy to justify militarized SWAT raids.

There was no comfort to be found when George Zimmerman was acquitted—no accountability, no symbolic reckoning. Just the devastating confirmation that a Black teenager could be stalked, killed, and blamed for his own death.

A reflection on the “Stop Killing Us” protest organized with All of Us or None at the California State Capitol—featuring 600 posters of lives lost to police violence and a powerful call to end state-sanctioned killing.

Despite growing public awareness and calls for reform, the institutions responsible for these deaths continue to operate with minimal transparency. The absence of comprehensive data collection and reporting mechanisms allows systemic issues within law enforcement to persist unchecked.

Malcolm X’s centennial is a call to action—his legacy lives on in today’s fights for truth, justice, and Black liberation worldwide.

From May to October of 1967, the U.S. witnessed the worst wave of racial unrest in its history up to that point. More than 40 major riots and over 100 other uprisings exploded across American cities. It wasn’t random. It wasn’t senseless. It was rebellion.