The shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile are horrifying to the black community – horrifying, but unfortunately not surprising. There are a couple of critical things that need to happen to end this ongoing violence.

Standout street artist and surrealist Percy Fortini-Wright is curating “Black History Matters 365,” a seven-artist exhibit opening Thursday at a Lesley University gallery.

Black Lives Matter Cambridge’s candidates forum Sunday was billed as an event for black and low-income Cantabrigians to “have a safe space to hold their elected officials accountable for their concerns,” and for the few who attended, it may have delivered.

We are grateful Cambridge has largely been spared the deep fractures between police and the people they serve. And yet, Cambridge is no stranger to social dysfunction at the intersection of class, race and law enforcement practices.

There have been no black people killed by police here as there have been recently in Ferguson, Mo., and many other places, and white faces account for many among protest marchers.