In light of recent events, there has been an innate cycle of hate that plagues the lives of Americans, particularly between police officers and members of minority groups. Levels of police brutality have sparked a public outcry from members of the Black Lives Matter movement and has led to some discrepancies on both sides. Both sides are victims of this cycle of hate, and the only way to prevent the significant loss of human life and the destruction of families across differing communities is to understand and terminate the cycle.

This continuous series of pain exists in various forms: terrorism, police brutality and war. However most of the time, the very reasons behind the genesis of such a cycle are simple at best, but the nature of the cycle is one that seems impossible to break until all sides suffering can understand and come to a decent compromise. In this case, we have situations of severe police brutality, undermining and suppressing minority communities and preventing any individuals from said communities to escape from oppression. Police brutality exists in part by the one percent of bad cops, and as such breeds and fosters young individuals who mature with an inherent resentment for law enforcement. As such, these misunderstood and draconian people venture out to commit other atrocities against the members of law enforcement, doing the complete opposite to help end oppression and in turn forces the aggression of authorities to be even harsher. Law enforcement officials become more stringent and strict in minority areas and thus breeds a drastic increase in crime rates. It is a predicament created by the very presence of law enforcement, a phenomenon not unfamiliar to this world as this has happened in the case of terrorist organizations. The worst part of the whole ordeal is that neither side wishes to understand the fundamentals of the opposing victims.

Those families mourning the loss of their children and loved ones to the hands of police acting in the name of the law and abusing their power will never offer their sympathy to a cop gunned down by another member of their community. Likewise, chief law enforcement officials will never give leniency to minority communities that have killed officers in the line of duty even if their family was murdered by an unjust cop. Both sides need to listen and understand one another in order for this cycle to end.

There is one thing to be said. The Black Lives Matter movement is in no way a terrorist organization. Terrorists are individuals who oppose a specific philosophy and intend to change that philosophy with violence. No Black Lives Matter advocate condones violence and rather chooses to voice the opposition in the form of peaceful protest, same with the Blue Lives matter movement. To say that a specific movement is acting like terrorists because they are simply voicing their opinion is to defy the First Amendment of the constitution.

The only solution in this mess of a social system is to have law enforcement undergo severe training into the effects of police brutality and how to stop it when it is seen rather than silently condone it and say nothing. Young students, particularly in minority communities, should also be educated on the rigors and processes of law enforcement and how to appreciate the lives of those who serve to protect.