The very sight of militarization immediately snatches the bottom out of the possibility for community policing, or an officer-friendly relationship. What it suggests is that in a blink of an eye, we can go from an idea that we can work together, to suddenly there are tanks and rifles on the ground... How do you build community with the same people who, within one encounter can easily transition into full deal militarization - with you standing on the other end, appearing to be an enemy combatant?

Sociologist Andrea Boyles examines the dynamics between police and Black and Brown communities in the five years since the Ferguson uprising, and explains why justice and peace is impossible in a society where the use of force is monopolized to enforce an unjust, violent proposition - White supremacy.

Andrea is author of You Can't Stop the Revolution: Community Disorder and Social Ties in Post-Ferguson from University of California Press.