This week, I hoped to discuss my thoughts on the annual slaughter of whales on Faroe Island, but I found the slaughter of human beings to be a much more pressing and current issue. I apologize, whales, but you are going to have to wait until next week.

In 2015 alone, 1,134 people died at the hands of the police. In other words, the police have the blood of 1,134 human beings on their hands. A staggering percentage of those killed by cops within 2015 were black males between the ages of 15 and 35. In fact, the likelihood of a black man being killed by the police was five times that of white men of the same age. Police brutality is a clear and present problem. Racism is a clear and deadly problem. Justice is far from blind. But, this is not new news for those of us who have been paying attention. We know what is going on. We’ve known that this has been a problem. My questions are, why is no change being made? Where is justice? Where is progress?

To answer my questions I had to look within. If I am being brutally honest with myself, I am a part of the problem. I have this terrible habit of hearing about a movement, supporting it on social media for a while, maybe going to a protest or a march, donating a couple of dollars to the cause, and then allowing my passion and drive for change to dull. Ironically enough, the same horrible habit that I possess, is the habit that is keeping America from progress. Generally speaking, Americans stand behind an issue until a new one comes along, and often enough, new issues come along before old issues can be resolved. We have allowed police brutality to advance. We have allowed the Black Lives Matter movement to be stifled. We have allowed the justice system to fail us time and time again. No longer can we allow innocent lives to be taken. No longer can we allow excuses to be made for police brutality. No longer can we allow the Black Lives Matter movement to be silenced at the hands of ignorance. No longer will we allow injustice to thrive. Our time is now.

As Americans, we cannot allow our

fire to be extinguished. We must stand together and channel our energy into change. There is so much to be done. Do not hide from the issues. Do not allow the issues to be forgotten. Educate yourself, advocate for the cause. organize and protest, vote, or demand public officials to rally for change. You can read, write, talk, scream, march, sit, stand, record, or photograph. You have the power to create change. The voices of the mass are only silenced if you allow them to be.