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GUEST: Courtney Morris, assistant professor of African American and Women’s Studies at Penn State University.

Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with first degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year old Laquan McDonald. The shooting took place over a year ago but dash-cam video of the incident was not released until recently, in response to a reporter’s Freedom of Information Act request. The video shows Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times over 14 seconds despite no immediate threat of violence. According to the Chicago Tribune , this case is, ” the first time a Chicago police officer has been charged with first-degree murder for an on-duty fatality in nearly 35 years.”

Meanwhile activists with Black Lives Matter in Minneapolis have been refusing to stand down over the police killing of Jamar Clark. Several suspects are in custody accused of firing shots into a crowd of BLM protesters, injuring five. The suspects include 3 white men and 1 Asian man. The deadline to charge them is looming.

Amidst all this was a shooting that took place at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs over the weekend. A 57-year old white man shot and killed a white police officer, a black Iraq war veteran, and a woman who appeared to be Asian, the wife of a vet.