“I’m in New York City. I am from New York City. And these cops are hurting people I fought to protect. There’s no reason for this. There’s no honor in hurting unarmed civilians, and I won’t let it happen.”

— Seargant Thomas, Marine Veteran of two Iraq tours. Mother served in Afghanistan, father in Iraq.

Yes, it’s true. But it’s happening every day, all over the country. It happens every day in my city, for the last 15 years at the very least.

My ex-girlfriend Willow had her leg nearly torn off by Oakland Bay Area police ‘testing riot equipment’ during a peaceful protest. But this isn’t a problem related to protests. We need to understand this clearly. What we see during protests is what happens every day, slightly magnified by the context.

In our streets, homes, and lives. City and state police (who you pay the salaries for) use the capacities -we endow them with- like tyrants who are so excited to be empowered to demean, dominate, and rape the people they are sworn to protect that they can barely wait to find another opportunity. And afterwards they gloat, resting safe in their immunity from prosecution or justice.

How do I know this?

Because they did it to me. And people I love. Over and over again, throughout my life.

It stops now. In our generation. Forever.