Are videos desensitizing us to police shootings of black men?

An unarmed black man was shot and killed by police Tuesday in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon. Police there don’t wear body cams, but a woman working at a nearby drive-thru recorded a video of the incident with her cellphone, which she voluntarily turned over to police. The San Diego County District Attorney’s office requires footage of officer-involved shootings be made public. El Cajon police say they’ll withhold the footage for now pending their investigation. But when the video is eventually released, it will appear on people’s news feed or television screen. Whether it’s official dash cam footage or a livestream on Facebook, we’re exposed to video of police killing people like never before. At what cost?

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