America has a problem with its police force, and playing ignorant to this issue isn’t going to fix it. How is it the majority of the world has police forces that use little to no force, have few or no weaponry, and still get the job done at a better and far more successful rate. Countries throughout Europe have police without guns, in fact South Korean police for the most part do not have guns at all. Why is it that the United States is facing such a singularly large problem? Simply, take a second look at your police force. We live in a nation whose police force does not reflect its actual population, police who care little about the communities they are designated to “protect”, and a system that awards “getting the job done” versus taking part in the actual community and investigating the cause of the problems.

How is it various people of color all agree that the police take a hostile attitude with their communities? The fact of the matter is, as a person of color in the United States, you can never do enough: going to college, having a respectable job, and living in a nice area does you no good. You will still be stopped and questioned without probable cause, ticketed, asked to submit to unlawful searches and seizures. Some might think a big black man can be “seen” as intimidating to cops, what about a five foot 4 inch, 118 pound, African and Muslim teenage girl? Do I scare you? Am I shockingly intimidating? Every time I am in downtown, or uptown I am stopped and asked for identification (*which I am not required to do), my white friends are not asked. At the mall I am questioned, in my own hometown I am given the side-eye along with my entire family by the same few cops who I have seen for the past four years.

The reality is if a large part of your country is claiming there is something wrong with part of your institutional systems, check it; point, blank, period. Although, there are a few good cops, for the most part as someone who has never been ticketed, arrested, or convicted I agree I don’t trust them. Why is it that my dad who’s never had a ticket is repeatedly questioned, yet my neighbor’s daughter who has repeatedly been drunk, disturbed the neighborhood, and driven ridiculously in a neighborhood full of children is never even visited by the police? Ask yourself objectively are there things that could be changed within the police system? The stats show black males in America are 21 times more likely to be shot by police compared to their counterparts. Something needs to change.