As everyone in this area is aware, the recent seemingly “peaceful” protests in Charlotte, NC quickly escalated into mass widespread violence and destruction across the city. This isn’t something that we’re used to. Nothing like this has ever happened here before. How could our seemingly normal city be turned into a seething pot of anger overnight? The actions of these people are doing nothing to help the cause that they say they’re there for. Riots do nothing more than cause harm and hurt the peaceful and happy communities that we love. By rioting, looting, stealing, destroying, and causing violence and terror, the rioters are doing nothing more than accepting and embodying the generalized stereotype that they claim to be so blatantly against.

Yes, a man was killed in Charlotte last week. So our response is to senselessly kill and harm other innocent citizens and their families? At the time that these riots began, an official report was still yet to be released. Rioters began by throwing objects at the police and at least one police car has been destroyed so far in this senseless violence. After assaulting officers, the rioters moved on to I-85 and started looting tractor trailers. Not only did the looters cut off traffic in this obscene display, but they also began to light their freshly stolen goods on fire right there in the middle of the highway! They even begin attacking innocent people and their cars on the interstate with traffic barrels, cones, and rocks. At least a dozen officers are currently injured, and one person has died after being shot during the riots and put on life support. A State of Emergency was issued by the governor and the National Guard was even recently called in to aid in the control of the masses.

The riots all started over the death of Keith Lamont Scott, an African-American man who is said to have been posing an immediate threat to the lives of the officers at the time. An African-American man who was killed by an African-American police officer. Headlines read "the killing of a black man by police officers" and fail to mention the fact that the officer who shot Scott was indeed black himself. Some of the rioters were mislead by the vast misinformation spread by Scott’s family after his shooting, which, coincidentally, they did not even witness. Videos by the family include the targeting of a white officer as a killer of Scott when this man was in fact not involved. While most all the protestors advocate for “black lives matter”, a female participant was interviewed saying, “It’s not about race.” Her response is clearly not representative of the group.

Black lives matter. White lives matter. Hispanic lives matter. Blue lives matter. All lives matter. It doesn’t matter the color of your skin. Going around and rioting does nothing for the cause. In all actuality it only draws more attention away from what we should focus on and onto something else. Rioting, looting and burning things isn’t going to solve any problems for anyone. Honestly, as I’m sure that we can all agree, violence tends to only make things worse. All these people are doing is destroying the city, all while giving no help to the cause.

Yes, I will say that unnecessary police brutality has become a sudden problem recently. But we can’t categorize all officers based on the unintelligent actions of a few. Likewise, I’m positive that the African-American community doesn’t want to be categorized on the actions of an unrepresentative group of rioters. Racism and bigotry aren’t innate, they’re learned behaviors, and anything that you learn, you an un-learn. Everyone matters. The safety of everyone is important. Hopefully, we as a nation can learn from these senseless acts of violence and move forward with a new understanding.