March 1, 2015, a task force in Los Angeles responded to a call on skid row after receiving a 911 call reporting a possible robbery.  The incident led towards an all too familiar police report of the victim “resisting arrest,” a struggle taking place,and a victim losing their life. The police report states that the victim was “reaching for the officer’s gun,” but a quote from Ida B. Wells reminds us that “those who commit the murders (also) write the reports.” Thus, we must be critical towards what we hear and see in these events.

“At least one officer involved in the incident was wearing a body camera,” said Commander Andrew Smith of the Los Angeles Police Department in the LA Times.

From body cameras, to eye witness video-recordings, to surrounding security footage, multiple sources and angles of the incident have been recorded.

From the trend of past police violence, close-up video evidence of police choking and  killings of black bodies brought inconclusive proof that would lead to a non-indictment. However, blurry far-out video footage of a black boy raising his arms (Hands Up, Don’t Shoot) brought conclusive evidence that his shooting and death were justifiable.

LAPD and the media ensures the community that because the incident was caught on camera, explanations will be delivered, answers will be discovered and justice will be served. What has become apparent is that even if you put body cameras on every cop, if they won’t be held accountable for what we see with our own eyes, it doesn’t matter. If juries continue to allow these racial murders to continue, these cameras do not matter. If judges continue to overlook evidence, these cameras do not matter.

While details are still being discovered, we must turn a critical eye to what is being reported by the LAPD. We must criticize what the media does and does not report on. This incident is already being called another Eric Garner case, reported as a story following Eric Garner, Mike Brown and Tamir Rice. There is an awful trend of police violence that includes not only black men but black women often being overlooked. This is an awful trend of violence that has bled into 2015. We must remember that All Black Lives Matter and that there have already been several incidents of violence and death towards transgender women of color this year, leading to the question: why haven’t these cases been reported? Why haven’t these cases of slain transgender women of color received the same level of attention as Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown or Eric Garner? This leads us to wonder whether the Black Lives Matter movement would be more aptly titled, “Cisgender Black Male Straight Lives Matter.” Do we only talk about incidents of police violence on black victims when we physically see it on footage?

The incident in LAPD is horrific and justice deserves to be served. It is not only the camera’s duty to hold these officers accountable for the victim’s death but ours to hold the entire criminal justice system accountable. Body cameras on law enforcement are solid towards the right direction. However, I don’t need the police officer’s POV. I need justice for All Black Lives.