But to those living in fear of the patrol car, police may seem like uniformed terrorists. If endless peaceful rallies across the nation protesting police violence against people of color result in the deaths of even more people of color at the hands of the police, some people will give into their rage against injustice. Watching live-streamed video of what looks like police shooting with no justification Philando Castile and hearing the governor of Minnesota describe the shooting as the result of racial bias creates an atmosphere of blacks feeling as if the country sees their skin color as a color of a target’s bull’s-eye. Whatever the reality, the perception is that no one is listening or, if they are, they don’t care. That despair is confirmed by a Pew poll that shows that half of whites don’t believe blacks are treated unfairly by police, despite numerous studies that indicate otherwise. Despite the videos. Despite the body count.

That perception is bolstered by a bumper crop of what Billie Holiday called “strange fruit” out there: dead people of color who seemingly did not deserve to die and whose main crime seemed to be Breathing While Black. To some cops, color means criminal, and because there is no cessation of excessive force from these officers sworn to protect the public, the part of the public with color in their skins must live in fear that at any time they may be unjustly killed. Which is the definition of terrorism. Eventually, the terrorized feel hopeless and, right or wrong, hopelessness leads to violence.