People of color and veteran activists know that murders and cover-ups by police are nothing new. What’s new is the recording equipment that enables us to document them, and the Internet, which enables us to publish this evidence.

After the video of Officer Slager gunning down Walter Scott as he was running away surfaced, Adam Johnson of Fairness & Accuracy In Media wrote, “most of the local press,” by simply repeating what police said, “amplified a storyline that, in retrospect, was entirely made up.” Even NBC News published a mock report based on “official sources,” observing that these were the only known sources before the video came out.

The police department in Baltimore has been quick to tweet about “violence,” “looting,” and “bottles and bricks being thrown at officers;” a local teacher tweeted her experience (“police were forcing busses to stop and unload all their passengers,” students “were trying to leave on various busses but couldn’t,” cops “in full riot gear marching toward any small social clique of students.” This video shows cops throwing things back at protesters, and WBAL TV in Baltimore interviewed gang members.