New Angels For Justice Song Shows Need For Unity and Why Racist Police Shootings Hurt Us All

People coast to coast, from Ferguson and Staten Island to San Francisco and the San Fernando Valley, are expressing grave concerns over the numerous incidents that involve the use of “excessive force” by an extremely small percentage of law enforcement representatives.

And, those people should be concerned.
In fact, we should all be…

The inappropriate actions of this tiny, often unqualified group of individual cops have produced a variety of negative results for everyone, including the truly brave men and women who make up the vast majority of police forces everywhere.

While it would not be possible to list all of these negative effects in one blog post, there are three in particular that we would like to shine a light on right now:

1) Unjust shootings and other uses of excessive force often result in the tragic, unnecessary deaths of our fellow citizens.

Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, and Michael Brown represent just a few of the victims who are frequently young adults and teens, particularly those of color… Another especially sorrowful example is a little 12 year old Cleveland boy, Tamir Rice…

On November 22, 2014 Tamir was shot by an on-duty police officer – 14 times in 1.8 seconds. After Tamir’s death, it was discovered that the officer responsible had failed part of his psychological testing when he previously attempted to join the police force in a different town. However, he did somehow make it onto the Cleveland force.

*By the way, the new song and video were especially inspired by Tamir’s death. Again, you can hear the song and view the video here: We Are American Lions

2) Unfortunately the abhorrent actions of a mere handful of “bad apple cops”, have created a deep-seated suspicion and distrust of all police. This includes the overwhelming number of officers who consistently “protect and serve” with dedication and respect for their communities and themselves.

3) We are now left with a series of devastating after-effects, including:
An uncooperative public that not only does not seek help from the local police, it often refuses to work with investigators at all… Suspicious, untrusting people tend to withhold the vital tips and information that law enforcement relies on to prevent and solve crime. Because of this, communities often become less safe.

The first step in bringing about a solution to these disturbing and needless tragedies, and to stop these incidents from continuing, is to raise awareness about them. Hopefully by doing so, the public trust in law enforcement can be restored which will then result in greater unity for everyone.

With these goals in mind, as previously mentioned the Angels For Justice band created the powerful new song and video entitled: “We Are American Lions”.

We strongly believe that after you view the video and hear the song, you’ll be deeply moved and want to share it with others, just as many folks already have.

Perhaps together, we can then help honor our fallen brethren, while also assisting in the healing process for us all…

Sincerely – Anthony Costa

Multi-Award-Winning Writer, Director,
Teacher, Filmmaker, Musician, Consultant