I woke up to a flood of Facebook and Instagram posts captioned with #AltonSterling. I was soon barraged with an incoming of group text notifications. It had happened again. A Black man was killed by police and it had been caught on video. Again.

As I scrolled through the posts, strategically avoiding watching the video of the murder, another hashtag kept catching my eye. #GoodCops.

Usually in times like this people are quick to say, #backtheblue, #alllivesmatter, #coplivesmatter, and “not all cops are bad”. However, today’s #GoodCops hashtag had a different message attached to it.

#GoodCops is a call to action. Many people are calling out the “good cops”, to show everyone they are good, and take a stand against cops who do a bad job.

THE INTERNET SENDS A 'CALL TO ACTION' TO LAW ENFORCEMENT via Swirl Nation Blog
THE INTERNET SENDS A 'CALL TO ACTION' TO LAW ENFORCEMENT via Swirl Nation Blog
THE INTERNET SENDS A 'CALL TO ACTION' TO LAW ENFORCEMENT via Swirl Nation Blog
THE INTERNET SENDS A 'CALL TO ACTION' TO LAW ENFORCEMENT via Swirl Nation Blog
Radio personality Rosenberg from NYC’s Hot97 joined the debate with his passionate response to a caller who, self identifying as a member of law enforcement, refused to admit that the known footage and public evidence in the police-involved Alton Sterling shooting, looked bad.  Rosenberg, visibly emotional, posed the following suggestion to the caller and all police across the country.
 “Can you say the words ‘it looks bad’?
... This is the problem I have with cops…Y’all don’t ever want to point at someone else and say ‘you can't do your job well’….Until you guys start taking responsibility for your own, people in the street are going to be upset instead. So how about y’all lead the movement instead. How about instead of people rioting, police officers get out in front of it themselves.”

Less than 24 hours later another man, Philando Castile was shot and killed by a cop near Minneapolis while his girlfriend caught it all in a Facebook livestream video. According to Fusion, cops have killed more than 550 people in 2016.  With Alton Sterling and Philando Castile being added to the list, we need to start looking for a way to change the trend.

Is police reform the best move towards putting an end to police-involved civilian fatalities?

What are your thoughts?

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