This week, I don't wish to approach a political problem, make a list of summer activities, talk about sports, or any other such thing. This week, I am going to write about a problem (PROBLEM, KEY WORD) that we have seen over and over again in the news. This is a problem that, unfortunately, has polarized our nation beyond anything the election could ever have done. This is the problem of interactions between police and citizens in our nation that we have seen over and over again.

First and foremost, I do not mean to say in any way that all police everywhere are the problem. They are not. I have met many police officers in my life, and I have never had a negative experience. However, we see over and over again in the news these videos of people being killed by officers in what would appear, to many of us, to be unnecessary killings. So I ask, what is the problem?

Many people say that this is a racial issue, that African American's are targeted by police officers on a regular basis. I do not believe this to be entirely true. While there may be cases of racially motivated targeting by officers, for almost every single video or case that I have heard of racially motivated targeting by police officers, I also hear a case of brutality or unnecessary force against a white citizen. We need to recognize that this is not just a black problem, a white problem, or any other race: it is an AMERICAN PROBLEM!

Beyond that, there is an inherent urge among many citizens to jump to justify the actions of police officers simply due to the nature of who they are. These are men and women who are sworn to serve and protect, to uphold the law. How could they ever do wrong? The fact of the matter is that they are people too, they are subject to human feelings and reactions. However, we must hold our police officers to a higher standard. Automatically trying to justify the actions of officers without looking at any evidence or without having any investigation is simply a folly. And this is not to say that all officers are out to commit acts of brutality or "throw their weight around" as an old saying goes. However, it would be simply preposterous to assume that, in the thousands, if not millions of police officers in our nation, there are not a few bad eggs among the bunch. Therefore I would ask, why is it so frowned upon that we would try to root out these bad eggs? I will not ever deny that their are some cases where uses of lethal force are justified, or that in many cases, the media may succeed in smudging details in these cases that we see to pin blame upon officers. However, after a certain amount of time of seeing similar cases over and over again, how can we pretend that their is no issue here?

At the end of the day, we also need to realize that there is no need to take sides in this issue. A person can both respect the law enforcement officers to who do their jobs superbly, who uphold the law, and who are respectful, honorable men and women, and also wish to hold these officers who appear to have possibly committed an act of brutality. We all need to realize that supporting one automatically pits you against the other.

I hope and pray that we can deescalate the situation that has become so prevalent in our society. We can support our police officers, and hold them to a high standard at the same time, and we can try to weed out the bad eggs. We can weep for the officers killed in Dallas, and pray that we can sort out the good cops from the bad. To all police officers, I pray for you, I pray that you are safe on the job, and that you come home to your family and friends at the end of the day. Stay safe out there! To all citizens, realize that not all officers are evil. Until we can come together to talk about and solve this issue, then we cannot hope to solve it. We are all Americans, none of us should fear the other, and I hope that we can learn to live in peace.