The deadly violence by police against African-Americans and other people of color continues unabated. 

The latest victim, 37-year-old Alton Sterling, was killed Tuesday outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, La. As the graphic video shows, he had been wrestled to the ground and restrained by one police officer when another shot him five times at point blank range in his chest and back.

According to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will be the lead investigative agency in this case, with the FBI, Louisiana state police and the U.S. attorney’s office in Baton Rouge assisting.

While the governor and others continue the usual post-police shooting pleas for calm and unity, we ask how many more of these police killings must take place before significant action is taken to stop the violence perpetrated by officers of the law?

The UK Guardian newspaper, on its website “The Counted,” is keeping a list of all the police killings in the United States. They are doing it because perhaps we are too chicken in this nation to maintain and report such statistics that clearly demonstrate this is a national emergency and disaster that exceeds even Zika virus proportions. These shootings show that the threat is not an imported bug, but an insidious enemy that lives within our communities and, ironically, is sworn to protect us.

The Guardian’s statistics show that Mr. Sterling is the 558th person murdered by police in 2016. His death is the 13th since the start of July — just seven days ago. 

This epidemic has got to stop.

We applaud our local constable, Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham, for continually working to build bridges and trust with the community. He is out there meeting people where they are — in barbershops and through walks in city neighborhoods. His latest community walk was Tuesday, when he led his command staff on a 5:30 p.m. stroll through the largely Latino neighborhood of Southwood off Hull Street Road in South Side, talking with residents.

Hopefully, through leadership such as Chief Durham’s, Richmonders won’t have to face the Louisiana kind of brutality here.

But we need to put tough questions to our candidates for mayor and City Council who want to lead this city. Ask them what they will do not only to stop the violence in our neighborhoods, but how they will keep the police from perpetrating violence on the people.

Those same questions need to be posed over and over and over again to our elected officials on all levels, including this nation’s presidential candidates. They need to provide solutions rather than being a part of the problem.