Yet again, another Black man has been killed unjustly in Baton Rouge, Louisiana stirring major controversy among social media and across America.


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Justice is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as, “The principle of moral rightness; decency” and “The attainment of what is just, especially that which is fair, moral, right, merited, or in accordance with law.” It is now midway through 2016 and the US still has to wonder, “when will we receive our rights to justice in the Black community against police brutality?” As the video of Alton Sterling‘s killing quickly went viral, one very important question remains unanswered, when will we receive justice?

The footage of the killing leaves little room for understanding as to why Sterling, 37, was shot and killed in front of a store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. According to The Advocate, allegedly an anonymous call was placed to authorities about a man who was selling CDs outside of the Triple S Food Mart who pointed a gun at someone telling them to leave the property. When officials arrived, the man in question was Alton Sterling, a distributor that had sold CDs and DVDs in front of the store for years. No one is exactly sure what happened between the time the officers arrived and when the video footage began, but all witnesses agree that the officers were aggressive with Sterling upon arrival, as Sterling just wanted to understand what he was being detained for. “They were really aggressive with him from the start,” Abdullah Muflahi, the store owner said.

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As the video footage starts, you can see the officers standing a distance from Sterling as one officer tases him with the next officer following suit. Sterling did not immediately drop from the tasers, but did not pose a threat as his hands were raised in the air and his body was in evident shock. One officer stopped tasing and tackled him to the ground onto his back. One officer placed his knees around Sterling’s arms and the other officer used his knees to pin down Sterling’s legs while both officers used their arms to press down on Sterling’s chest. “His hand was nowhere (near) his pocket,” Muflahi said.

“He’s got a gun! Gun,” one officer is heard saying which caused the next officer to pull his gun from the holster and respond saying, “You f*****g move, I swear to God.” Both officers’ guns were aimed toward Sterling’s chest when you can see and hear two gunshots being fired into Sterling’s chest. Muflahi described the officers as if they were “freaking out” as the officer who fired the shots cursed and he heard them say “Just leave him there.” East Baton Rouge EMS arrived to the scene to find the father of five dead.

Social media is in a frenzy trying to understand how this shooting is justified. Videos of Jessie Williams‘ speech from the 2016 BET Awards resurfaced as a reminder of exactly what he meant when he pointed out the flaws in our justice system. This has been one of the many undoubtedly unjust shootings of Black boys and men nationwide and throughout each one, the question still remains, will there be justice? Passionate members of the social media community took to Twitter with the hashtag #AltonSterling to voice their levels of concern and disgusts with the legal system. Footage of the shooting can be found here.