Policing in America has gotten so bad that the United Nations human rights experts have accused the U.S. of violating international law.

The experts cite that police actions have violated international norms of protecting the right to life, and prohibiting torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

And that’s not surprising as 2022 was the single deadliest year for police violence EVER.

1,176 lives were taken at the hands of law enforcement. And I take that personally.

It breaks my heart to see that regardless of all the work that we’re doing to reduce police violence in our communities, we are still seeing these numbers getting even worse.

It has been years of demanding accountability from cops who kill our brothers and sisters, yet they continue to do so at INCREASED rates.

We marched, demonstrated, blocked highways, and did everything under the sun to demand an end to police violence yet every time we turn on the news, another life has been taken.

It seems that the problem we’re trying to solve is getting worse and worse.

And I don’t even think we’ve ever been wrong in our efforts against police brutality, but we have to realize that so far we have failed to end police violence and need to think of new, impactful ways to act.

When I got into this fight, I knew it would take years, even decades to see the real change that we need and see real safety in our communities. We CAN’T give up now.

And we continue to see this, with new names and faces, but the same story of police violence, because this country just barely tinkers with policing when the entire system would actually need to be completely overhauled in order for us to see something totally different.

It can be done. But so far not even one single large American city is willing to drastically overhaul how policing is done there.

That’s why Grassroots Law is doing more than simply demanding that every officer and EMT involved in the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols is held accountable. We are taking action on systemic change to stop police violence before it happens.

We’ve started new campaigns over the past few weeks demanding that cities, counties, and states ban police from traffic stops and disband so-called “elite” police units that cause more violence than they ever prevent — like the SCORPION Unit that murdered Tyre.

One thing is clear: It’s going to take everything in our power to bring about the systemic change necessary to finally stop police violence. And, I can’t do it alone. Will you make a contribution today to Grassroots Law Project as we collectively look for new ways to stop police violence before lives are lost?

Even though I’m talking about how we’ve failed to stop police violence, I can’t deny the victories we’ve had to hold police accountable over the course of this fight. And these have been some BIG wins, only possible because of your support.

The cop who killed Botham Jean is now serving time. The police officer who shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson is going to prison. The three officers who killed 8-year old Fanta Bility are awaiting their sentencing. The officers involved in beating Tyre Nichols to death have been charged with murder.

One of the reasons we run these campaigns for accountability is to deter and prevent officers from killing us in the first place. If cops knew that they’d be prosecuted 100% of the time when they commit violence, they wouldn’t do it.

But the reality is that only a tiny fraction of the officers who commit these crimes are held responsible.

American cops are not protecting our lives and never will, unless we change our approach in this fight.

Simply holding some cops accountable just won’t cut it.

We need real systemic change and real public safety solutions that invest in our communities and reduce police interactions with the public.