Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a two-part column by Eric Ward, senior fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center.

This is what I can point towards, 21 things those committed to inclusive democracy can do right now.

1. Recognize the precarious moment that American democracy finds itself in right now.

2. Honor the grief and anger that the public is feeling over the recent lynchings of Black Americans, many at the hands of law enforcement.

3. Understand the culpability of elected officials and senior law enforcement who waited until people were at their wits end (protesting and rioting in the streets) before taking the issue seriously and taking action, and who now stand by as the police riot in cities across the nation.

4. Condemn Donald Trump’s call for violence and demand that the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate open hearings immediately on the President’s unlawful incitement of violence.

5. Be troubled by the seven people shot in Louisville; the 21 yearold shot and killed in Detroit; the law enforcement officer shot in Milwaukee, the two law officers shot in Oakland, one killed.

6. Raise concern about the number of vehicle assaults against protestors by both law enforcement and possible vigilantes, a deadly tactic we remember from the protest against the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally where Heather Heyer was killed.

7. Decry the disparate and disproportionate policing response to the protests of police brutality in cities around the nation compared with the hands-off response to “reopen” rallies where armed white men shut down state capitols.

8. Acknowledge that white folks (rioters, not protestors) have again and without invitation, hijacked, sidelined, and distracted from Black communities’ leadership attempts to stop Black lynchings in America.

9. Demand that law enforcement prioritize de-escalation and that all violence against non-violent protestors cease immediately.

10. Build the collective memory that law enforcement has a longestablished track record of disproportionate response to social movement protest that comes from the left, and of employing agent provocateurs to incite violence.

11. Insist that police not equate property damage with the taking of a human life to justify state violence against protests.

12. Lift up the peacemakers, those like Erika Shields, the chief of police in Atlanta who walked the streets with protestors, talking to everyone; Ruhel Islam, whose restaurant burned in the Minneapolis uprising and said that wasn’t the most important thing; networks like the Movement for Black Lives (#DefendBlackLives #DefundPolice) and local NAACP chapters (#WeAreDoneDying) who are calling for concrete and tangible changes to systems of policing.

13. Raise alarm about the activation of national guard and military units, martial law, and states of emergencies, and the idea that those opposing fascism could now be labeled terrorists.

14. Condemn accelerators on both the right and left who glorify and center violence over justice, othering over community, divisive ideology over commonground values. Demand that all parties cease engaging in violence and the targeting of civilians and their property through arson.

15. Demand that cities and state governments launch independent investigations into the deaths or injury of any individuals in the midst of protests and rioting.

16. Call on cable, news, and other media to drop all pay walls during this time. Americans need access to real-time, fact-checked information.

17. Call on the United Nations to immediately appoint a human rights Special Rapporteur to investigate present-day lynchings of Black Americans and organize towards a Truth and Reconciliation Commission on policing in America.

18. Press philanthropy to immediately double grantmaking, for at least three years, to advance real equity in America.

19. Acknowledge injustice but call on all to restrain from a cycle of systemic and physical violence that will only escalate the rise of authoritarianism in America. Continued violence — from white nationalists, from law enforcement, and from the left — puts beleaguered communities in further danger and will contribute to the re-election of Donald Trump, which could end forever the dream of inclusive democracy that our ancestors fought and died for.

20. Bring together people of goodwill who believe the American experiment’s best days are yet to come. Defend inclusive democracy by using disciplined nonviolent protest and non-violent direct action to demand justice and hold local elected officials accountable.

21. If you believe that Black lives matter, support the goals being established by the Movement for Black Lives. Respect the Black leaders who have lived this reality their whole lives. Educate yourself and others on the connection between police brutality in America and fine and loan forgiveness, universal basic income, and other forms of reparations as outlined by the Black-led movement for justice.

Do one thing. Do them all. But take seriously — and warn others — that the attempt to create an inclusive American democracy is now on a precipice. Words and actions carry real consequences that could drive us over the edge and to a point of no return.

Eric Ward is a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center.