More and more, we are seeing police officers in the actual act of taking peoples’ lives. The police murder of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July 5 was videotaped as it happened and has gone viral. But Sterling’s death was not filmed by bystanders who just happened to be there at the right time: It was filmed by members of an organized group. No—it’s not a group formed to catch cops in the act of committing police terrorism. Stop the Killing, founded by Arthur “Silky Slim” Reed, actually sent a member of the group to that location:
Early Tuesday morning, members of the group, called Stop the Killing, followed a call they overheard on police scanners to the Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge. There, they filmed the shooting that has created a nationwide furor.
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Reed said he and his group of anti-violence activists have filmed upwards of 30 killings in Louisiana since 2001. That was the year he put his violent past behind him and founded Stop the Killing in his home town of Baton Rouge.
The organization seeks to prevent violent crimes, particularly among black youths, by performing outreach to local schools, prisons, churches and group homes.
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One of the organization’s methods of deterring young people from crime is by filming violent crimes, often killings, and creating documentaries from the videos to show at demonstrations.
Early Tuesday morning, members of his team — he wouldn’t say who, nor confirm he was present, citing safety concerns — filmed the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling outside the Triple S Food Mart. After police did not immediately release any footage of the shooting, Reed and his team uploaded the video to Facebook and Instagram at about 5 p.m. Tuesday.
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Many, many thanks are due to Arthur Reed and the members of Stop the Killing. Their presence at the Triple S Food Mart ensured that Sterling’s death was known widely. But more importantly than that, their presence is tangible proof of the grassroots efforts underway in black communities to stop so-called “black on black crime”—a favorite, go-to talking point whenever police terror and murder of black bodies is critiqued and condemned.