Minneapolis, MN – An audience of over 500 people gathered at North Community High School in Minneapolis, Nov. 30, to hear Shaun King speak on the rise of police killings of African Americans.

Throughout his presentation, King focused on providing historical context and reflected into how “we are in a dip in the quality of our humanity.”

“In the scheme of human history, if it's true that humans are steadily evolving, how do we explain the horrible injustices that we see in relatively modern history?”

To further illustrate this context, King provided facts pertaining to the vast amount of police killings stemming in 2015. “The 1208 people killed by police last year is the highest recorded in history.” 102 of those killed by police were unarmed African Americans.

King went on to provide numerous examples like Philando Castile and the events in Ferguson, Missouri in evidence of a system targeting and criminalizing Black Americans. “Ferguson issued over 32,000 arrest warrants for a city of 24,000 residents.”

Present in the audience was John Thompson, a friend of Philando Castile, who spoke for the family of Castile and to whom the audience gave a warm welcome of applause in solidarity with the family.

Shaun King breaks down the rise of mass incarceration

Shaun King is a senior justice writer for the New York Daily News who has been a prominent voice within the Black Lives Matter Movement. He spoke at two other locations on the day, including Macalester college in Saint Paul.

Speaking to a crowd filled with students and activists, King concluded by providing encouragement to organize against the “historic level of oppression we are experiencing. The organization needs to match our outrage.”

During the event, mobilization was urged for members in the audience to turn out at the trial of the white supremacists who shot five protesters at the Fourth Precinct occupation. North Community High School is only two blocks from where an unarmed Jamar Clark was killed by police on Plymouth Avenue in North Minneapolis in November 2015.

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