The tragedies that keep befalling us in America are best described in one word: excess. There are simply too many guns on the street, too much economic deprivation of African Americans, too many poorly-trained police officers who seem to regard every person of colour an immediate threat, too much anger and fear in the black and white cultures and too much disregard for each other.
Blacks can’t seem to get over the fact they were once chattel and whites can’t get over treating them that way.
All this leads one to wonder if the nation isn’t facing some type of volatile, prolonged replay of aspects of the Civil War that divided us a century and a half ago, whether the residual hatred between the races left by slavery can ever be overcome and a level playing field firmly established for our benefit.
Despite strides, we clearly haven’t achieved as much in that direction as we thought we had.
The horrors (if that word is strong enough) appear to be coming much quicker now. At least it seems that way in the wake of a four-day period in which there were two seemingly unprovoked white police shootings of black males and almost immediate retaliation with the targeted slaying of five white police officers in Dallas by a black sniper who was a trained army veteran. In addition, seven officers and two civilians were wounded by gunfire.
Exacerbating the tragedy was the fact the Dallas killings took place during a multi-ethnic, peaceful demonstration for the two latest police shootings - one in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the other in Minnesota near St Paul.
There is no doubt that social media has played a heavy role in waking us up to the sometimes almost unbelievable nature of these affairs. Over and over disturbing images appear on our cell phones and tablets depicting law officers’ callous disregard for human rights.
This is demonstrated in the Minnesota and Louisiana cases by horrible graphic videos of sudden death without warning for minor offenses. The most moving of these is the Minnesota event where a child was a witness.
The victim’s girlfriend calmly records the entire horrific process and sends it off on the network before breaking down. Her 4-year-old in the back seat tells her not to worry “I’m here with you, mommy”.
Before those who are willing to forgive police for any action begin yelling, I must note here that the victim had explained to the officer that he had gun and that he had a permit for it, a proper way to try to assure that no one acts precipitously.
That obviously didn’t work because when the man reached into his back pocket for his licence and registration as he was ordered to do, the officer screamed and shot him through the window.
How can repeats of these events that rent our souls be lessened? No one seems to have an answer.
Every effort to reduce the firepower on the streets has failed and probably will again despite the intensifying efforts of some lawmakers. There just aren’t enough willing to take on the gun lobby. 
The fear that every routine traffic stop is a threat to their lives when a black person is driving has led white cops to act first too often, even without provocation. “They all have guns and are ready to shoot you,” a police officer told me years ago, identifying “they” as our black citizens.
The motivation behind that attitude comes from the horrendous statistics produced by gun violence in our major urban cities like Chicago where young African-Americans have been slain in gang wars.
The real victims are those good people who have seen their communities ravaged by street crime. 
Both presidential candidates have spoken out against the barbarism with promises to stop it. But once again, until we can find a way to put aside the days when we were two races and work as much as possible to achieve the reality of equality that the Constitution promises, we are facing more of the same.
When two people ride the same horse, one of them always has to be on the ass end, not a comfortable place.
Get rid of the guns. Get rid of the anger. Get over past injustices and demands for restitution for what happened two centuries ago. Get rid of workplace prejudices and take all lives as precious, and there may be a chance for us all.
Good luck.

*Dan Thomasson is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service and a former vice president of Scripps Howard Newspapers.
Readers may send him e-mail at: thomassondan@aol.com.