Where there's smoke there's usually fire

There’s an old saying about smoke and fire that needs to be applied to the whole idea of the police killing unarmed black men. In a recent online report The Root.com posted a list of 20 black unarmed black men who were killed by police. Taken one by one, they may not seem to be a big deal, but the preponderance of the killings makes one pause.

It’s easy to just pass things off as if it doesn’t matter since, after all, it isn’t anyone I know. But the stark reality of the situation is that it’s really just a matter of time before it is someone you know. We sit and look at incidents like the Trayvon Martin or Michael Brown cases and naively set those aside, making ourselves feel good by saying, “Well they shouldn’t have done this or that.” But in the end, you have two unarmed dead men.

If these were isolated incidents, then perhaps we can turn our heads away and forget about it. But more and more these kinds of lethal incidents are taking place around the US. Why? Is it not possible for the police to take a bit less confrontational attitude when they are in these kinds of incidents?

Certainly, everyone at this time believes that George Zimmerman should not have been tailing Trayvon Martin. But the elements of the laws are such that Zimmerman got a pass. Then we had the Michael Brown incident, and it is easy to say that Mr. Brown should not have been grabbing at the officer’s pistol. But the bigger question is why didn’t the officer simply wait for backup to get there?

There seems to be a problem with the procedures. And perhaps the video solution might help. But it seems as if we need to change the way we go about things in the first place. In a lot of ways it’s similar to the high speed chase problems in which the chase creates more problems than it solves. In this case, you have a person who for whatever reason is acting in a manner that the officer ought to recognize as potentially dangerous. Their attitude alone should have been a big hint, and the fact that the officer called for backup.

Why not wait? This isn’t like some TV show where the police call for backup and then take off after the perpetrator. Would more than one officer have changed the equation enough to have saved Michael Brown. Whether the shooting was justified or not, shouldn’t the preservation of life be a more important part of the clause? In the end, aren’t the police supposed “To Serve and Protect?”

There will always be police shootings. It is inevitable given the nature of the job they have to do. And it’s inevitable that in some instances innocent people will be shot and killed. Still, these kinds of killings are epidemic in the US right now. The following list was compiled by The Root, which reviews incidents in which black men and boys without weapons lost their lives to law-enforcement officers or others who decided that they were dangerous enough to die.

Akai Gurley, 28, was killed when a police officer opened fire in a dimly lit staircase at a Brooklyn apartment building where he was walking with his girlfriend.

Kimani Gray, 16, shot four times in the front and side and three times in the back by two New York City police officers as he left a friend's birthday party in Brooklyn on March 9, 2013.

Kendrec McDade, 19, a college student shot and killed in March 2012 when officers responded to a report of an armed robbery of a man in Pasadena, Calif. He was later found to be unarmed, with only a cellphone in his pocket.

Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams killed in Cleveland after police officers fired 137 rounds into their car after a chase in December 2012.

Ervin Jefferson, 18, shot and killed by two security guards -- also African American -- outside his Atlanta home on Saturday, March 24, 2012.

Amadou Diallo, 23, four officers in street clothes approached Diallo, a West African immigrant with no criminal record in 1999, on the stoop of his New York City building, firing 41 shots and striking him 19 times as he tried to escape.

Patrick Dorismond, 26, shot to death in 2000 during a confrontation with an undercover police officers who asked him where they could purchase drugs.

Ousmane Zongo, 43, Officer Bryan A. Conroy confronted and killed Zongo in2003 in New York City raid on a counterfeit-CD ring with which Zongo had no involvement.

Timothy Stansbury Jr., 19, unarmed and with no criminal record, Stansbury was killed in 2004 in a Brooklyn, N.Y. stairwell.

Sean Bell, 23, In the early-morning hours of what was supposed to be Bell's wedding day, police fired more than 50 bullets at a car carrying him and his friends outside a Queens, N.Y., strip club in 2006.

Orlando Barlow, 28, was surrendering on his knees in front of four Las Vegas police officers when Officer Brian Hartman shot him in 2003.

Aaron Campbell, 25, in 2005 Campbell was shot in the back by Portland, Ore., police Officer Ronald Frashour, who said he thought the unarmed man was reaching toward his waistband for a weapon.

Victor Steen, 17, in 2009, Victor, who was riding his bicycle, refused to stop when chased by a police officer in a cruiser in Pensacola, Fla.

Steven Eugene Washington, 27, was shot by gang-enforcement officers Allan Corrales and George Diego in Los Angeles one night in 2010 after he approached them and appeared to remove something from his waistband.

Alonzo Ashley, 29, police say Ashley refused to stop splashing water from a drinking fountain on his face at the Denver Zoo one hot day in 2011, then made irrational comments and threw a trash can.

Wendell Allen, 20, was fatally shot in the chest by officers executing a warrant on his house on March 7, 2012, in New Orleans.

Ronald Madison and James Brissette, 40 and 17 respectively, were killed in 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when five officers opened fire on an unarmed family on the east side of the Danziger Bridge. Officers then shot at brothers Lance and Ronald Madison. Ronald, a 40-year-old man with severe mental disabilities, was running away when he was hit, and an officer stomped on and kicked him before he died.

Travares McGill, 16, in 2005 in Sanford, Fla.  was killed by two security guards, one of whom testified that Travares was trying to hit him with his car.

Ramarley Graham, 18, in 2012 Officer Richard Haste shot and killed Graham in the bathroom of his grandmother’s Bronx, N.Y., home after a chase while he was attempting to flush a bag of marijuana down the toilet.

Oscar Grant, 22, Oakland, Calif., transit-police Officer Johannes Mehserle said that he accidentally used his gun instead of his Taser when he shot Grant on a train platform on New Year's Day 2009.