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Doxtros AI mission is to deliver personalised healthcare better, faster and economically for every individual. It has been designed around a doctors brain to understand and recognize the unique way that humans express their symptoms.

How has Doxtro brought a change in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the field of medicine?Our AI feature asks questions to the user so that the doctors can understand the health concerns of patients better. The feature provides valuable insights to the doctor through inputs gathered from patients before they go for a consultation. The primary insights provided are based on how patients express symptoms, patients medical history and current symptoms and machine learning into the demography based health issues and not to prescribe medicines or medical advice.

How will this app help a patient who is unable to read or write?The apps user flow is designed in such a way that the patients can get connected to a doctor through a voice call with basic chatting ability by just typing their health concern simply in the free text box. The users can continue to chat or choose to connect through a voice call. Languages supported at the moment are Hindi and English. With the basic knowledge of these two languages, we made sure that the user can use the app through voice mode and consult a doctor.

Is there a feedback system in your app?Yes, we give the highest priority to users feedback and doctors as well. Users can rate and write reviews about the doctor in the app itself once the consultation is completed. We also follow a proactive process on the feedback system. Our customer engagement executives are assigned to collate regular user feedback, document the same and action it respective functional teams internally. This is being done, because, in general, not all users will come forward to write a review, whether it is a good or bad experience. We consider this feedback seriously to improve our quality of care.

How frequently can a patient contact the doctor through your app?There are no restrictions in terms of access to the doctor in the app. The users can also add their family members, facilitate consultations with doctors and store their respective health records in the app. Currently, we offer 12 specialisations, general physician, dermatologists, cardiologists, gynaecologists, paediatricians, sexologists, diabetologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, nutritionists, dentists and gastroenterologists.

The users may have various health issues and may have varying need to connect with different specialists at different times. Based on their need, they can contact any available specialists, n number of times. Post the consultation, the window is open for 48 hours for free follow up questions with the same doctor for the users to clarify any doubts.

How is Doxtro different from other healthcare apps that use AI?What distinguishes our technology is the fact that it has been designed around a doctors brain to understand and recognize the unique way that humans express their symptoms. Doxtro AI works with two major roles in the system. Data aspect of the AI which drives the ability to do self-diagnosis and Machine Learning (ML) aspect to assist with triage. Doxtro puts patients at the centre of care, AI-assisted conversations help the patient describe symptoms, understands it and offer information to ensure the patient understands their condition and connects the right specialist.

Doxtro AI asks smart questions about patients symptoms while also considering their age, gender, and medical history. The AI in our app is used to help users understand their health issues and to choose the right doctor. All this is accomplished by ML and natural language processing technologies that we use.

How do doctors benefit from this app?Our AI engine provides great insights to the physicians to understand the patients health issues better, thus saving their valuable time and ensuring doctors focus on doctoring. Doxtro AI puts together a patients response history to ensure that the doctor has context, along with this, augmented diagnostics help to translate symptoms into potential conditions based on patients conversation with the AI and saves the time of doctors for a better diagnosis of the patients health condition.

This supports the doctors to reach out to larger people in need especially considering the shortage of qualified doctors in India. Our app enhances their practice especially with smart tools like AI, excellent workflow and ease of use.

How long has the app been there for and what exactly is your user base?Doxtro app has been in the market for more than 18 months and we have a registered user base of more than 2 Lacs as of now.

What kind of patterns have you noticed in patients?We see a lot of people adapting to the online consultation, especially the ones who need the right qualified and verified doctors. Lot more people resort to proactive wellness than illness. Doxtro's main focus is in wellness and having the right qualified and verified doctors on board. So we see increasing trends of people using Doxtro mobile app.

As per the Security and Data Privacy policy, we do not have any access to any patients' data. All the voice or chat interactions are fully encrypted and the entire application is hosted in the cloud. Hence, we won't be able to arrive at any patterns.

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AI-based health app: Putting patients first - ETHealthworld.com

The Jordan B Peterson Podcast (archive below) features audio versions of some of the most popular and compelling of Dr. Petersons YouTube videos, interviews with some of the worlds most compelling thinkers (Camille Paglia, Steven Pinker, Jonathan Haidt, Sam Harris, General Stanley McChrystal, Iain McGilchrist, Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, among many others), lectures from the 12 Rules for Life tour unavailable anywhere else, as well as an assortment of audience Q and As (a particularly popular feature). We hope to include a wider assortment of great scientists, in particular, in the upcoming year.

Philosophical and psychological topics include

Dr. Peterson concentrates primarily on the role of the individual, and the responsibilities that accompany mature individuality, assuming that productive, engaging, peaceful and otherwise highly functional social systems depend on the idea of the sovereign person, and the burden and opportunity of adventure, vision and destiny that accompany that idea.

On March 24th 2019, The Jordan B Podcast partnered with Westwood One, the largest audio network in the US, in the hopes of bring the podcast and its ideas to a larger audience, as well as to effectively and carefully monetize the endeavour so that it could continue to grow, and so that Dr. Petersons many other projects could find security and support. This new version debuted March 24, and features his daughter, Mikhaila Peterson, as co-host. We hope that this partnership improves the podcast during its second year, providing an optimized balance of news, conversation and (who knows) a bit of humor to the main lecture, interview and Q and A content.

Read the original here:

Jordan Peterson | Podcast

(Patricia Marcoccia)

I would say the social aspects of making the film were really difficult for me because a lot of my network and friends and social circle is progressive, and, obviously, progressives are not a fan of [Petersons].

Following up on his recent two-part interview with Maziar Ghaderi, the producer of the 2019 documentaryThe Rise of Jordan Peterson, Kambiz Tavana now sits down withPatricia Marcoccia, the films director (and Ghaderis wife). In this discussion, Marocccia walks Tavana through many of the artistic choices she made in directing and editing the film, as well as commenting on the feedbackboth positive and negativeshe has fielded since the film first screened.

So, first of allcongratulations. Great movie. Loved it. Tell me this: How did you decide to make this moviebecause when you first met Jordan Peterson he was not famous. Am I correct?

Thats right. Yeah. So the backstory is that Ive known about Jordan Petersons work for quite a long time: his work as an academic, his work on the psychology of meaning. Those are really the ideas that drew me to him initially.

So I used to study psychology as an undergraduate student at McMaster University. And at that time, I came across his book Maps of Meaning. This is probably in 2003, and I was taking a lot of philosophy classes as well, studying Nietzsche and such. I was very interested in the big existential questions. And so when I came across his book, I found it really fascinatingin particular the way he talks about the nature of reality: this kind of metaphysical idea of how theres the reality of objects. Then another way of looking at reality is a sort of narrative with these characters in a story. And when you look at it from a psychological perspective, its sort of just as true to look at reality from these two different perspectives as a narrative and as objects.

So I found this all very fascinating at the time, and I also was interested in the way [Peterson] studied ethical and moral questionsand the nature of evil and topics like this. I came from a pretty religious upbringing. My family is Italian, Roman Catholic though I sort of moved away from I guess those religious beliefs when I was in late elementary school or early high school, but I always kind of felt this gap of still being interested in having a space to think about these ideas. And so I actually found there was something about the way [Peterson] would engage with them that I found really interesting.

Then fast forward to 2015: this is when I decided to finally approach Peterson about making a film, and its an idea I had in the back of my mind for quite a long time. I thought that we were looking atIm not sure how familiar you are with his book Maps of Meaningbut in the introduction, he tells some of the back story of what led him to want to address these questions about the nature of evil. As a teenager, he was plagued by nightmares about the end of the world, and it wasnt just this abstract problem; it was something very personal to him, as well. So I was interested in these ideas, and I was interested in the person behind the ideas; and his ideas had come to be influential in my life. When I was in my early twenties, I knew that he was a very influential professor to a lot of students at the University of Toronto as well. So I approached him with this interest in mind about making a film in 2015 and little did I know that a year-and-a-half later, he was going to release those videos that ended up going viraland then sort of everything changed. If the order of events had been switched around and I had just heard about him through this controversy around him criticizing Bill C-16 and pronouns and political correctness, it probably wouldnt have been the story that I wouldve been chasing. So it was more like the controversy came to me.

Thats what I wanted to know. Because now, no one is surprised if one wants to make a movie about Jordan Peterson. Hes very well-known; hes controversial. People have heard about him and know him, seen him. You brought up his book, and I read the Maps of Meaning actually. Its a tremendously dense book; its very hard to read. I love it actually, but when I read it, the prose reminds me of Thomas Hobbes because Petersons writing is so dense and so meaningful. But again, I dont know howat the time you didthat made the decision to make a movie about Jordan Peterson, someone whose book is so dense and hard to follow. What were you thinking at that time?

Yeah, again, I found the idea just so fascinating. I felt like there was something really deeply important there. I didnt quite even understand why, but I felt like this was a really important topic for me to pursue. Its really as simple as that. One of the ideas that stuck out to me in Maps of Meaning is in the very last chapter when he talks about the idea of the divine individual and, you know, the irony is that there are a lot of people who look at Jordan Peterson as this larger-than-life celebrity figure because of how hes impacted their lives. I think in a way thats what he was to me at the time when I was in my twentiesand when I first had these thoughts of being so curious and digging in to see if theres something really profound here and wanting to understand what it is. So for me, at the time, it was thatand, now, hes this larger-than-life figure for a lot of people, while also just being a human being. So, theres this reverse order of things, I guess.

In terms of having access to Peterson, how did that work out? Because when you started your movie, there was not too much attention surrounding him, but then it got very, very different.

Right, so it had been a year-and-a-half of already filming with him, his family, getting to know him and his family. So we already had an established relationship by the time things became controversial and more and more people started approaching him. There was a time when there were a ton of filmmakers and journalists all vying for his attention. But I think it was definitely beneficial that I was already there previously and that we already had built a relationship of trust. You know, I wasnt just coming to film him because of the controversy. He knew I had come with a different interest, and we had already done that before. It did start to become more difficult when he became more and more famousand more and more people were wanting his attention. Then, it was just basically trying to find time in his schedule.

We wanted to find a time to film an interview with him to get him to respond to the article written by his friend, Bernie Schiff, who we featured in the film. And the only way that we could do that was to fly to L.A., and thats when he had a free time in a time slot. And so, we live in the same city. Its kind of ridiculous that we had to fly to L.A. just to find an interview spot with him. But we did what we had to do, and it was important to really just kind of roll with things. We had to be flexible to make it work with his schedule because he was so busy. The kind of style of documentary filmmaking that I really like is when its not contrivedwhen people forget that Im in the room filming and you can just be yourself. And so to do that, you just have to be really flexible and go with the flow and recognize if things have to change a lot. So there were a lot of sacrifices. But touring the film over the last month-and-a-half has made all those sacrifices really feel worth it now that we actually have been able to share the film with people.

And you worked on previous documentaries before this one?

I had only done short films before this. This was my first feature film. Documentary filmmaking is something Ive been interested in and wanted to pursue for a long time, but it always seemed so impractical to me, to be honest. So I did other things around it. I did digital media producing; I did journalism; I worked as an associate producer on other peoples documentary films. But I had always wanted to direct my own story ideas. But this is the first one that I pursued, though it had started off as a completely different film idea in 2015.

Thats the thing about projects; they take you where they want to go. Its not up to you. They have a mind of their own. This is something that I was curious about when I was watching the movie: you capture some interesting moments. At the same time, when you search for Jordan Peterson on YouTube, you see lots of lots of good footage. Have you ever felt like, God, I wish I was there for this moment, and I captured for my film instead of finding it on YouTube?

I certainly had moments where Im like, Oh, I wish I was there for this day or that day for this. Its almost impossible to have the camera rolling all the time. It cant be everywhere all the time. And then theres the reality of budgets and time and the crewand also finding a balance of giving your subjects some space. Its impossible to be filming all the time, but then when youre in the editing room, you wish you had everything. So that did happen sometimes where I wished I were there, but we captured the most that we could. And I think given all the circumstances and because a lot of new things, we were having to make decisions on the fly. Which events do we need to go out to? Is this something we need to fly out to? And for the first stretchuntil Fall 2017thats when we actually got a budget, which was amazing. But before that, it was all self-funded. So we had to make decisions on when it was worth it to spend money on traveling here and there with him.

If I read Maps of Meaning and I wanted to direct a movie about the author I would find it extremely hard because that book is layers and layers of different types of knowledge together. I really admire that you even found your way through them. Because I was watching it and I looked at you and said, How do you approach this? Its almost impossible to do that.

Well, it took a long timea very long time, I would say. But, it was complex. It was layered. I realized through this processmaybe also because it was my first feature film that I filmed enough for there to be like three different types of documentaries. I initially thought, Well, all of these topics are related, but you have to be so hyper-focused to make a cohesive film. So we ended up focusing in on it being intimate and behind the scenes: looking at the human being going through this tumultuous period because that was really the unique picture that we could offer that isnt already out there. Of course, theres already the saturation of content of Jordan Peterson in the media, his YouTube channel, and other peoples YouTube channels. For some people, what could there possibly be that isnt already out there? And we tried to really make sure we brought another dimension to the story that isnt already out there.

Right, and if it were up to me, I would want to see something about the deep meanings of how he interprets the world, but, at the same time, you also had this opportunity to walk his life story with him.

I know there are some people that are really interested in his ideas, and they wanted the film to be about going deeper into his ideas. I can understand that, but at the same timeone: its a 90-minute film, and many of his lectures are even longer than that. So how deeply can we even go into the ideas of one question? We would have to really hone in on just one. But again, its already out there, and I wasnt interested in making a talking head film. And Im also interested in this idea of what is it like to see these ideas manifesting in real life when you see the human being trying to live out these beliefs in the messy world. And I think the visual aspects are also the strengths of a film. So, for a lot of those reasons, thats why I decided to hone in on the film in this way.

Id like to ask you about your editing of the film. I have biases that kick in when Im watching because Im interested in Peterson. Ive followed him, but, at the same time, you are not just a fan making a movie. Instead, youre treading this line thats more objective. How can you do thatkeep your biases out of it? I couldnt do that.

Well, I would say there are a few things that kind of kept that in check for me. First, though I did come in with the bias of being really interested in his work and inspired by it and having already known him and his family for a year-and-a-half when this started, I also had the bias of being more left of center politically. So I think that put me in a position where I often felt conflicted by some of the things he was saying, so I went and I met with the people who were disagreeing with him. I really listened to them. And so I empathized not only with him, but I also empathized with the others, and it was important for me to really care about what was at stake for people coming at this from different sides. So it made it conflicting and uncomfortable for me, but I think it was really important to stay grounded in thatin order to offer a more accurate picture through the film and not just try to sway viewers one way or the other. Then we also held test screenings as we were editing the film with everyonefrom people who knew nothing about Jordan Peterson, to super fans, to people who really were against what he was doing. And we would listen to how they would react to things and see where they brought up points that we thought were valid in criticizing the film. So I think taking all of those things into considerationit helped to shape the film into what it turned out to be.

Was there anything that you captured with your camera, but, for some reason, you couldnt put it into the film? If so, was there a reason that it didnt make it in?

Well, theres a lot of things that didnt end up in the movie just because of the number of hours of content we had and having to shorten it down. But I guess one that popped up in my mind was that there was this private investigator. In the early days of the controversy with Jordan, this private investigator was actually looking to collect evidence in order to raise a case against Jordan Peterson with the Human Rights Tribunal. We got to interview him, and he kept his identity anonymous. So it was a dark interview, with his face not lit, and that didnt end up in the movie becauseno matter how many times we tried editing itit was just one of those things that left people really confused, and we would have had to have gotten deeper into it for it to work. Like, sometimes there are these things that work in theory, but, then in practice, you put it together and it just doesnt really work to be clear enough for viewers. So it was a lot of trial and error and writing and rewriting the film, and we had so many different edits of it. So thats one example of something that just didnt really work in the film but was really interesting to follow.

The last question I want to ask you involves something that happens to me from time to time if I try to make the case that I agree with something Jordan Peterson has said. Im often attacked for defending him, but I know that some women who defend Peterson have an even tougher time. Part of it might be because of that New York Times piece discussing forced monogamy and such. Do you ever have moments of, Why me? Why am I the Jordan Peterson person? In the minds of many, women should be really against him. How do you handle these moments?

I think I dont get into those kind of debates very often because I try to stay away from them; Im not trying to convince people of whether hes good or hes bad. But that New York Times article was just awful. It was so inaccurate, and for someone who has been closely following [like I have]. Maziar and I even met that journalist backstage at one of Jordans events when she was there, and we just had such a different impression of her when we spoke with her. I was so shocked when I saw the article because it really wasnt nuanced at all. It didnt give him a break at all. It was just this like one single note the whole way.

I would say the social aspects of making the film were really difficult for me because a lot of my network and friends and social circle is progressive, and, obviously, progressives are not a fan of hisin some ways because of the news they see about him. In some ways, I can understand whybecause, sometimes, he would be pretty abrasive and not cut much slack to the social justice Left. But, in other ways, there have been progressives that have been incredibly unfair in mischaracterizing him. But anyhow, the social aspects for me were difficultlike going to some documentary networking events and whatnotI was pretty uncomfortable to talk about, Oh, Im working on the Jordan Peterson film because there was this sort of automatic judgment of: Oh, youre giving a platform to him; this is something unethical that youre doing. So it has been challenging, but it was never enough of a reason for me to not pursue the film. I just do the best that I can to be honest with people and then state my case. I think this is importantand also to show that I understand where theyre coming from, as well. I think that sounds sometimes helps for them to feel like, Okay, well at least youre not just a total brainwashed person; you are understanding where Im coming from. I think that helps to open up some trust with people. But I do feel like Ive been following this situation enough that maybe you read that New York Times article and you have that impression of him, but theres a lot more that I can say about Jordan than just that.

After that New York Times piece, I remember I wrote or said something about Jordan Peterson on social media, and people were either reporting me or blocking me. They thought I was a horrible person, but I never understood it. When I see people who are against him and then they dont want to hear anything about him, but they still call themselves progressive, I tell them: Youre not progressive if your eyes and ears are closed. Quick follow-up question: Whats next for you?

So I actually intend on going back and finishing the first film that I was making before this controversy started. So I was following Jordan; I had approached Jordan with an interest in his ideas, but the film ended up turning into a film about his friendship with Native carver Charles Joseph. Maybe Maziar also told you about this. But, when I first learned about different things happening in Jordans life, he was telling me hes adding a third floor to his home, which is modeled after an indigenous longhouse. And I thought, Okay, well this is really interesting.

And his friendship with this carver is very interesting. Charles family was actually going through the process of adopting Jordan into their family. And I dont mean that legallybut through the protocols of their customs and traditions because of the significance of their friendship. So this ended up being what I was focusing on for that first year-and-a-half. This film was tentatively called Mixala, which is in Kwakwala, which is Charles first language. Hes from the Kwakwakawakw nation, and most of them live on Vancouver Island, the Northern part of Vancouver Island. And Mixala means to dream. And the film focuses a lot on the idea of the dream world in forming reality because Jordan is interested in the Jungian perspective and its also very useful for their nation, it seems. And Charles is a very vivid dreamer and has dreams about what hes going to carve, and his great-grandparents visit him in dreams. Hes also a residential school survivor. So theres a whole rich story there that I want to go back and finish. So thats one of the projects that Ill be working on immediately once were finished with this film.

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Sitting Down with the Director of The Rise of Jordan Peterson - Merion West

It wasa decade of progress.

Former President Barack Obama, the nations first black president, was elected for a second term.

Protesters and professional athletes took a stand against police killings of black men.

Social media becametheplatform for calls for racial justice,sparking the launch of the Black Lives Matter social justice movement.

The 2010s were, by all means, monumental for black activism, giving many Americans hope that their voices might be heard.

It was a decade, however, that also saw theelection of President Donald Trumpwho pledged to support tougher law enforcement and limitimmigrationas well as renewed activity from thewhite nationalist movement, resultingin mass shootings and other incidents of domestic terrorism against people of color.

Civil rights activists now say more must bedone in the new decade to advance the rights of black people in the U.S. and build on the progress made since 2010.

Weseem to have taken significant steps forward, but it alsofeels like we havetaken significant steps backward," said Martin Luther King III, the son of Martin Luther King Jr. The policy changes that we need have not yet been manifested."

Martin Luther King speaks in Atlanta in 1960.(Photo: AP Photo)

King said movements such as Black Lives Matter motivated young organizers across the country to protestagainst violence and systemic racism towardblack people. In many ways, thatactivism was a continuation of the work civil rights leaders started in the 1960s.But while the Black Lives Mattermessage resonated for much of thedecade,Kingsaid, not much has changed in how police officers treat people of color.

Since 2012, when George Zimmerman, a white Hispanic, shot and killed17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was black,in Sanford, Florida, sparking activism that would become the Black Lives Matter movement, manyblack men and women continue to die at the hands ofpolice.According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this year, about 1 in 1,000 black men and boys in the U.S.can expect to be killed by police. That makes them 2.5 times more likely than white men and boys to die during interactions with law enforcement. Meanwhile, black women are 1.4 times more likely than white women to be killed by police.

The nation is also struggling to overcomeinjustices such as voter suppression, disparities in the education systemand housing inequalities that targetpeople of color, activists say.

A survey released earlier this year by the non-partisan Pew Research Center revealed nearly 6 in 10 Americans saidrace relations in the country were bad. And 56% said Trump maderace relationsworse.Conversely, in 2009, 41% of Americans saidrace relations had gotten better with Obama's presidency, while 22%said they had gotten worse, according to a Gallup Poll.

Martin's slayingfollowed by the acquittal of Zimmerman in 2013 marked a pivotal point for race relations in this decade.Millions were protesting across the country, demanding an end to the racial profiling of black men. Some wore hoodies to the protestssymbolizing what Martin wore the night Zimmerman shot him as the teenager walked to his father'sfiance's house from a nearby convenience store.

Protestors, Lakesha Hall, 32, of Sanford, center, and her son, Calvin Simms, 12, right, gather early for a rally for Trayvon Martin, the black teenager who was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch captain last month, at Fort Mellon Park in Sanford, Florida, on March 22, 2012.(Photo: Julie Fletcher, AP)

Soon after the shooting, Obama acknowledged that Martin's death proved theUnited Stateswas still not a post-racial society."You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," Obama said during a news conference at the White House. "All of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves."

On July 13, 2013, Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder. That same day, the Black Lives Matter organization was officiallylaunched.

Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, said the movement exposed what was already happening to black people in black communities.It also inspired a new generation of activists millennials and Gen Zers to fight for equality, she said.

Their efforts, however,have been challengedby a growing white supremacy movement. In 2018, there was an almost 50%increase in total white nationalist groups, jumping to 148 from 100, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"The rise of white nationalism has everything to do with the backlash against the black uprising," Cullors said. "It iscritical that we situate what has happened in the last 10 years as part of a longer history of this happening."

Two years after Martin's death, the nation became divided once again when Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson fatally shotunarmed black teenager Michael Brown.The St. Louis suburb became the center of unrest when demonstrations, violence and looting erupted.

The crowds wanted police to stop racial profiling.Ferguson police had a history of unfairly targeting black people, but the Obama administration'sDepartment of Justice ultimately concluded that Wilson shot Brown in self-defense.

Demonstrators raise their arms and chant, "Hands up, Don't Shoot", as police clear them from the street as they protest the shooting death of Michael Brown on Aug. 17, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri.(Photo: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

The next five years would bring more controversial deaths of black people. Activists maintain that racism motivatedeveryincident:

Experts say some of these incidents were better documented in the 2010s because of advancements in technology.Police body cameras, dash camerasand cellphone videos from witnesses provided unprecedentedevidence for law enforcement officials, as well as the American public.

For example, a police dash cam video recorded Yanez shooting Castile during thetraffic stop. Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who was sitting in the passenger seat,also recorded the moments after the shooting on a Facebook Live video.Yanez was acquitted of all charges in the shooting, despite protests from the community.

Castile's mother, Valerie Castile, said she was not surprised when the jury acquitted Yanez. Castile saidshe has watched police get away with shooting black men her entire life.

With hopes of saving lives, Castile said she is working with the state of Minnesotato distribute a manual that tells drivers what to do if they are carrying a gun and get pulled over by police.

Valerie Castile, mother of Philando Castile, listens on during a press conference on Nov. 16, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi filed charges today against St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez, who shot and killed Castile during a traffic stop.(Photo: Stephen Maturen, Getty Images)

There is never a reason why the police kill our black men," Castile said."But there are a hell of a lot of excuses, and we are trying to eliminate some of the excuses."

Robert Bennett, a Minneapolis-based attorney for the Castile family, said he remains hopeful that with "hard evidence" from cameras and publicawareness, morepolice will be convicted of shooting black men when appropriate.

One sign of progress was in October 2018 when Chicago police officerJason Van Dykewas convicted of second-degree murder for shooting Laquan McDonald, 17, as he walked away from police.

Police initially reported that McDonald, who was black, refused to put down a knife he was carryingand lunged at them. But when the court ordered police to release the dash cam video, it showed McDonald walking away from police when he was shot.

"It doesnt give the police as much room to wiggle," Bennett said ofthe cameras. Theres some reason to think they might be held accountable at some point."

The fight for equality also showed up in sports and entertainment this decade.

One of the most discussed events came in August 2016 when Colin Kaepernick, then the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, refusedto stand for The Star-Spangled Banner before a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. Kaepernick said he could not show pride for a flag in a country that oppresses black people.

San Francisco 49ers' Eli Harold, Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid kneel in protest during the playing of the national anthem before a NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium on Oct 6, 2016.(Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)

Critics blastedKaepernick for his stance, characterizing him as a divisive figure. In August 2016, Trump said maybe Kaepernick "should find a country that works better for him.In September 2017, Trump said NFL owners should "get that son of a bitch off the field" when any players protest during the national anthem.Kaepernick has gone unsigned since2017 and has accusedthe NFL of blackballing him because of his political statements.

Kenneth B. Nunn, professor of law at the University of Florida, said the backlashtowardKaepernick hurts the movement for equality because a black man is being punishedfor speaking out against police brutality.

"It seems to be a social message of rejection and sort of ostracizes Kaepernickand members of the Black Lives Matter movement," Nunn said. We are looking at decades of asetback for AfricanAmerican progress."

Black celebritiesalso spoke out against the Academy Awards in 2016 when, for the second year in a row,no actors of color received an acting nomination.Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith and other actorsthreatened to boycott the show.

A year later, in 2017,"Moonlight" becamethe first film with an all-black cast to win the Academy Award for best picture.

Other milestones for black America this decade included Beyonce being the first black woman to headline Coachella in California in April 2018, andMeghan Markle, a mixed black and whitewoman from Los Angeles, marryingPrince Henry in the United Kingdom in May 2018.

These high-profile moments in black history, as well asracial anxiety among some white voters from having a black president for the first halfof the decade,might have contributed to Trump winning his election in 2016, Nunn said.

President Donald Trump talks with former President Barack Obama on Capitol Hill in Washington, prior to Obama's departure to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, on Jan. 20, 2017.(Photo: Rob Carr, AP)

Obama often defended the Black Lives Matter movement andmet with young civil rights activists at the White House in 2014.Under his administration, the Department of Justiceinvested in training and research tohelp reduce implicit bias in police departments. It also provided millions of dollarsto agencies with community policing initiatives.

In 2017, Trump's administration ended the program and announced it would instead focus on providing support forofficersfighting gangs, drugs and violent crime. Trump would later tell police they didn't have to be nice to suspects.

Trump, meanwhile, has at timesbeen labeled a racist for his comments and tweets toward Latinos, black people and Muslims during his time in office.In January 2018, the presidentreferred to Haiti andblack-majority nationsin Africaas "shithole countries" during a meeting to discuss the U.S.visa lottery.

In July,he told four minority, liberal congresswomen,known as "the Squad," togo back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came."Trump also drew criticism when he called a majority-black congressional district inBaltimore "a disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess."

Not only has hemade race relationsworse, but he has done so in ways that are both explicit and subtle," Nunn said.

Despite making little progress with racial equality in the 2010s, activists say they are still optimistic.

Cullors said she hopesthe nation is seeing the last vestiges of white nationalism in the Trump era. To make more progress, young activists needto engage in politics and prepare to run for office, Cullors said.

"I think racism has to die off with structures, too," Cullors said. "We have to change these policies the systems in place, the policies that hold people back."

Castile said policymakers are more likely to listen to people sitting at the table with them compared withprotesters.

We have a long way to go because once you turn social issues into politicalissues, then you have a bunch of red tape," Castile said. "But I've got so much hope, and I spend a lot of time talking to leaders."

King said progress in the next decade will require drastic changes to law enforcement practices, including training for police, community policing and civilian review boards.He is also working to end voter suppression and encouraging more voter registration and voter education efforts.

King acknowledged that these changes likely won't happen soon. But he hopesfuture leaders will move the nation forward.

We have to believe the best is yet to come," King said.I have great hope for the generations behind me."

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End of a decade: What the 2010s, Obama, Trump and Black Lives Matter meant for Americans - USA TODAY

Former PresidentBarack Obama is spending the holidays as he usually does golfing in Hawaii. But this year, hehugged a few babies along the way.

It started Friday whenObama approacheda family and asked if he could hold their 3-month-old daughter, Riley Lewis. In a video that has since racked up over 1 million views on Twitter, Obama is heard saying,"Who is this cutie pie?"

The former president thenholds Riley in his arms and gives her a kiss.

"I was just in awe," Riley's mom Tiffany Lewis told Good Morning America. "I look back at the pictures and I look so crazy because my mouth was just wide open in shock."

Andrea Jones,Riley's aunt, posted an additional photo of the president with Riley and her parents.

"Im convinced President Obama has baby fever,"Jones said.

Jones just might be right because as if that moment wasn't sweet enough, Obama managed to find another baby to hold on Sunday.Krystle Ilar told HuffPostshe and some friends were at Mid-Pacific Country Club in Lanikai when they got word that Obama was on the 18th hole.

They made their way to where he was and to Ilar's surprise, he asked to hold her 2-month-old son, Levi.

In a video shared on Instagram, Obama is seen holding Levi and cooing at the baby. He says hello and even shakes his hand.

"As I watched him hold my son, my heart overflowed. He was so genuine and so gentle with my son, Levi," Ilar told HuffPost. "Its an amazing experience and one that well all cherish for a lifetime!"

"When Levi gets older, my husband and I will share with him about how he got to be held and loved on by the 44th president,"she added.

Obama's trip isn't over just yet, so there may be more baby-holding moments before the year ends.Fingers crossed.

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Barack Obama is spending the holidays golfing and holding babies - AOL