In the last week tensions have risen again between Police Officers and POC. Two black men were shot by police officers this week, resulting in many peaceful #BlackLivesMatter protests. One such protest in Dallas, TX was targeted by snipers who shot and killed five police officers who were guarding the protest.
As has become the norm for the aftermath of these tragic events, people on Facebook continuously share things that they believe to be right, generally on opposite sides of the spectrum, ranging in context from Black to Blue to All Lives Matter. Everyone has their own opinion and many people are sharing their thoughts online.
This is fine. The point of social media is to voice your opinions. Yes, sometimes it can cause tension when you call out something racist that your great-uncle posted or when your grandmother comments on your most recent status with an argument catalyst, but everyone has the right to share their opinion regardless of if it happens to be correct or not. Some people have bias, and that sucks, but they are speaking for themselves and molding the way that others see them.
What is absolutely not okay is when media outlets outwardly expose their bias. One of the most compelling arguments I have seen in this context is that when Brock Turner was all but exhonerated for raping a woman, the media used his college swim photos and posted his best swim times; however, when a black man was shot in the head at point blank range by a police officer, they posted his criminal record. By posting Turner's swim times, the media tried to justify his shortened sentence. When posting Alton Sterling's criminal record, the media was attempting to justify his murder.
Another double standard that was observed in the last week was in the wake of Philando Castile's death at the hands of police less than 24 hours after Sterling's death. In the weeks before this shooting, gun-advocating Americans made a point to say that many mass-shooting related casualties could have been avoided if only people in the crowds would have been armed with guns. This logic was quickly turned on its head after Castile's death. When Castile, in the passenger side of his fiance's car, informed the officer that had stopped the car in a routine traffic stop that he was carrying a weapon but had a permit, the officer ignored his words that he was reaching into his coat to get his permit and shot into the car. Diamond Reynolds, Castile's fiance, and her 4-year-old daughter were in the car.
Many of the same gun-totin' Americans that claimed that the tradgedy in Orlando, FL could have been avoided if anyone in the Pulse nightclub would have had a gun also believe that Castile's death was justified because he had a gun. This is blatant racism. Castile obtained the gun through legal channels and had a conceal-carry permit which he was attempting to show the officer when he was shot.
This is my opinion. It is based on facts, yes, but this is still what I believe. I have the freedom, on this platform, to share my personal feelings. This is not true of news sources such as NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN, MSNBC, and countless others. They are strictly news sources, and, because of that, it is absolutely crucial that they treat every crime the same. They must treat all victims with respect and all perpatrators with the same intensity as any other who commited the same crime.
It is absolutely crucial in times of tension like this for journalists to maintain their journalistic integrity and tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Watch the videos. Hear the witnesses. Make your own decisions, but report on facts.
