Seizing on the growing backlash against police brutalization and discriminatory mass incarceration, people across the country on Tuesday took to the streets. With mass demonstrations, sit-ins, and blockades, protesters in 30 cities demanded an end to "business as usual" within the U.S. criminal justice system.

Back in June, Seattle resident Oscar Perez Giron committed the most minor of crimes, and ended up dead.

When fare enforcement officers approached 23-year-old Giron and his two companions on the light rail and asked for proof of fare payment, they could only produce two valid ticket stubs.

In 2004, Sean Bailey recalls, he was driving through the streets of St. Louis County en route to a party, when he saw a familiar black-and-white car out of the corner of his eye. He reached for his phone to warn the friend he was following to slow down, but it was too late; the cop blared his siren and pulled up behind him. Bailey, who had a warrant stemming from a failure to appear in court for unpaid traffic tickets, felt a familiar pang of anxiety. He knew exactly what was going to happen next.