When will race relations in this country ever be sufficiently “better” that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his supporters can feel comfortable ending their protests?

A personal aside:

My son — biracial but black in the eyes of police — told me during the Charlotte demonstrations about the time he pulled over to the curb, during the day, in the Los Angeles suburb of Montebello to take a cellphone call.

Someone apparently thought he looked suspicious. Soon police pulled up and, with weapons drawn, told him to put his hands in view and get out of the car. He allowed himself to be frisked, after first refusing, when one of the officers said he worried he might be armed.

But he refused to let them search his car. When they looked inside and failed to see anything “in plain view,” he was handcuffed, without being read his rights.

Soon another six or eight police arrived and milled around for 45 minutes while my son’s identity was checked. During that time, he explained he was a Stanford graduate and had even taught math, chemistry and biology to at-risk students at nearby Crenshaw High School – presumably helping to serve the same community as the police.

Finally, he was uncuffed and told he was “lucky” by the lead officer. Baffled, my son said, “Now, why would you say that, after I just explained how we’re on the same side!”

To which the lead officer said if he ever saw him in the neighborhood again he’d be arrested on sight. Sensing it was not the time to push it, my son got back in his car and drove off.

The story gave this father a palpable chill.

So I get impatient with whites who put down the Black Lives Matter movement. And there are plenty: Four out of five Trump backers say that discrimination against whites is as big a problem as discrimination against blacks (Brookings Institution, June 2016).

The good news in Hawaii: According to my son, he and his friends agree that the Honolulu Police Department does “a decent job with interracial policing.” But he stresses we’re not problem-free.

There’s the case of three officers of African-American or Mexican ancestry who charged they were denied backup and support based on race – a case that was recently settled by the city for $4.7 million.

Then there’s Officer Vincent Tripi, who posted on Facebook, “(expletive) BlackLivesMatter. Unfriend me PLEASE if you’re offended. I’m locked and loaded 24/7. Come!”

Right. Room for improvement all around.

Where do we go from here?

The Intercept, created and funded under the umbrella of First Look Media by Civil Beat’s benefactor Pierre Omidyar, looked at eight specific policies regulating the use of police force:

1. Require officers to de-escalate situations before resorting to force.
2. Limit the kinds of force that can be used to respond to specific forms of resistance.
3. Restrict chokeholds.
4. Require officers to give verbal warning before using force.
5. Prohibit officers from shooting at moving vehicles.
6. Require officers to exhaust all alternatives to deadly force.
7. Require officers to stop colleagues from exercising excessive force.
8. Require comprehensive reporting on use of force.

The Intercept reported on research examining 91 of the country’s 100 largest cities’ police departments: Not a single one had implemented all eight policies.

Concluded The Intercept:

“Better regulation of use of force is better for police, too, as the report also shows that the numbers of officers assaulted or killed in the line of duty decreased in proportion with the number of regulations adopted by their department.”

What if Colin Kaepernick, and those of us he inspired, focused on getting those eight specific policies put in place?

Now that could be an endgame.