Titania Kumeh- When Police Shoot and Kill Unarmed Men

Police shootings in Anaheim, CA and days of protests that followed, received widespread media attention in the last week of July.

Most reports left out one disturbing connection: America's list of unarmed civilians killed by police has grown steadily over the past several years.

Manuel Diaz was unarmed and was the eighth Anaheim Police shooting in a year.  Only one of the mostly Latino men is still alive to tell the story of being shot twice in the back.

The Diaz shooting incident escalated when neighbors, who had gathered at the scene to demand an end to the violence, were shot with rubber bullets by officers who also released an attack dog on an unarmed assembly that included children.

Titania Kuhme authored the report, "When Police Shoot and Kill Unarmed Men", in 2010 in Mother Jones Magazine. Since that time the number of unarmed police victims has escalated. Ms. Kumeh is a former Orange County resident now living in Oakland.

What's causing this trend? What can be done? In this 32-min. interview with co-host Daniel Kerbein, Titania Kuhme explores the recommendations of police experts and study groups.

At the root of the violence, she observes, is "culture of fear", with police seeking to instill fear in minority neighborhoods, creating an us-vs.-them war rather than community engagement.

This interview first aired on KBBF-FM 89.1, Calistoga/Santa Rosa. Please support public community radio.