America’s Protests Won’t Stop Until Police Brutality Does

This country has failed to provide one of the most fundamental protections in the Constitution: the right to life.

“Stop Killing Us!” Three words, scrawled on a sign held by a 5-year-old black boy at a Tampa protest against police brutality. Messages don’t get any clearer than that. Yet to judge by the days of protests sweeping the country, this message still hasn’t gotten through.

Last week it was George Floyd, who died while restrained by a police officer in the middle of a Minneapolis street in daylight, though he posed no physical threat. His alleged offense? Passing a counterfeit bill to buy a pack of cigarettes. Before him it was Breonna Taylor, an emergency room technician in Louisville, Ky., shot dead in her own apartment by officers who used a battering ram to burst through her front door.

Before Ms. Taylor it was Laquan McDonald. And Eric Garner. And Michael Brown. And Sandra Bland. And Tamir Rice. And Walter Scott. And Alton Sterling. And Philando Castile. And Botham Jean. And Amadou Diallo.

The list goes on and on, and on and on. Black Americans brutalized or killed by law enforcement officers, who rarely if ever face consequences for their actions. Derek Chauvin, the officer accused of kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck until he was dead, had 18 prior complaints filed against him.

In the name of all these men and women and countless more, this is why thousands of Americans have taken to the streets — to express a rage born of despair. Despair that their government has failed to provide one of the most fundamental protections in the Constitution: the right to life, and to not be deprived of that life without due process of law. Stop killing us.