On January 3rd, Kenan Anderson returned to the familiarity of L-A for what was supposed to be a short visit. He’d recently set out to embark on a new professional career: that of educator as a high school English teacher in Washington, D-C.

Kenan hoped to collect a few belongings left behind in the city after the move to his new home. Instead, the man remembered by his uncle for his fearlessness in the face of challenge and adversity, was killed by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department. As tasers remain ubiquitous in police departments across the nation, and officers continue to kill using the weapon, we’re left to wonder if they’re truly “less lethal”.

Alex Vitale, Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College, author of City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed New York Politics and The End of Policing joins for more.