You see, unlike those men recently shot, I do not fear for my life from the police. Quite the contrary, my life is made safer by the police who stand between me and people like Sterling, who is much more likely to break into my car or stick me up at night compared to any harm that might come to me from a police officer. The fact is, the police are not shooting black men like me. Why? Because I am not a criminal, and when the police stop me, I politely do what they say, and they leave me alone. I do not run away, fight back, or mouth off. It’s really pretty simple.

Why is no one asking how these men’s families and communities failed them so badly that they became criminals or thugs? If you look up “tough” in the dictionary, my grandmother’s picture will come up. If you were raised under her and acted up, after she got done with you you’d wish the police had gotten to you first. I’m glad my father was raised in such an environment. Discipline happens in the home, and it starts early. When it doesn’t, the police are left to clean up the mess of deeply broken human beings who were already doomed before their first interaction with the law. It’s totally unfair to ask the police to treat hardened criminals with kid gloves.