Activists have lobbied for mandatory body cameras on police and the death of Sam Dubose bolstered their case. Video footage, show above, contradicted the version of events given by Ray Tensing, the officer who shot and killed Dubose. #

College students in Canada, the U.S., and South Africa exploded in activism against institutional racism on their campuses. #

Though long-standing, the debate around the Confederate flag grew prominence following the killing of nine black churchgoers in a historic Charleston AME church, by a self-declared white supremacist. #

Activists in the Black Lives Matter movement met with Hillary Clinton, interrupted a Bernie Sanders rally, and consistently organized throughout the year, carving out a political role for the movement in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. #

Protests continue in Ferguson, Missouri, over a year after the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown by former police officer Darren Wilson. #

Former officer Daniel Holtzclaw was found guilty and recommended a sentence of 263 years in prison on 18 charges involving the sexual assault of multiple black women. #

Nebraska ruled the death penalty illegal, and the debate over the constitutionality of lethal injections reached the Supreme Court. #

Discussion around the hugely disproportionate incarceration rates of black men in the U.S. continued this year. In The Atlantic’s October issue, Ta-Nehisi Coates looked into the system’s origins.   #

Theoretically rooted in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s death in 2014, the Ferguson effect is the hotly contested theory that police are supposedly hesitant to go after criminals for fear of political retribution, resulting in an increased crime rate. #

Freddie Gray’s death in police custody sparked protests in West Baltimore, prompting a city-wide curfew for five days. A mistrial was declared in the case against Officer William Porter, one of the police officers on trial in connection to Gray’s “rough ride” death. #

An investigation, a hashtag, and protests followed Waller County police’s declaration of Sandra Bland’s death in police custody as a suicide. #