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Major cities across the United States were greeted by protests after the recent police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castille. These two men were killed by police officers during events that escalated quickly, and with no provocation by these men, both of whom died as a result of unwarranted deadly force by the officers involved.

The city of Atlanta was filled with protesters, outraged that these killings happened mere days apart. News estimates of 10,000 to 15,000 people took to the streets of the city in protest. The mayor of Atlanta made appearances among the protesters, answering a few questions and presumably demonstrating leadership during trying times.

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I took the photos above during the march down Lenox Road and the subsequent march down Peachtree Rd. The sit-in that you see in these photos shows protesters shutting down the busiest intersection in the city of Atlanta! The common thread among all of the people that you see involved in the protest is the desire for true justice and human dignity.

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Many would make the argument that there is more black-on-black violence than there is police-on-black violence, and thus, those of us who protest these injustices should also be advocating for the end of black-on-black violence. Personally, I advocate for moral responsibility by all members of society, especially the police.  I advocate for an end of unwarranted violence by human beings against one another, whether they be civilians, private security, law enforcement, bounty hunters, or correctional officers, but another point must be made in relation to the black-on-black argument.

Firstly, the police are a government-sponsored entity which is to be held to the standard of “serving and protecting”. If the police are killing unarmed and innocent people, then they are engaged in state-funded violence against citizens. Further, there is indeed more black-on-black violence than there is police-on-black violence, but there is also more white-on-white violence and more Asian-on-Asian violence and so forth. Naturally, the violence committed against any ethnicity is likely to take place in that ethnicity’s own neighborhood. All that it takes is a little bit of the most basic human empathy to comprehend this. Such an understanding destroys the above mentioned black-on-black argument with ease.

Also, those who have taken to the streets are sick and tired of police killing unarmed suspects without any degree of justice or reprisal. This has caused some to even take the fight to the police, which I do Not advocate, but the level of sheer desperation that has been experienced by the public is still made manifest by these actions. Many of us would love to look up to the police, but with the knowledge that many people like us have been murdered, unarmed at that…well one can see how a simple police action can result in dread, despair, fear, intimidation, and hopelessness for many of us.

There is much more to be posted very soon, including video footage that I took at various protest marches and more photos as well.

CNN Video footage of the murder of Alton Sterling is below:

Highly sensitive video of Philando Castille, streamed on Facebook: