When "I Don't Know" Is The Reason You Get Shot | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Politics and Activism

When "I Don't Know" Is The Reason You Get Shot

The simple truth here is that Charles Kinsey did absolutely nothing to get shot

7
When "I Don't Know" Is The Reason You Get Shot
Identities.Mic

By now, everyone has heard about Charles Kinsey and the officer who shot him. Last Thursday morning, Twitter was blowing up with #CharlesKinsey trending, with over 37,000 tweets. By noon, I walked into the lunch room where I work and I could already hear the talk about what happened.

Charles Kinsey, a group home therapist, was unarmed and shot in North Miami. The video that’s been all over social media shows Charles Kinsey laying on the ground with his hands up in the air while trying to calm down an autistic patient. The police showed up to the scene after they received a call about a suicidal man with a gun. In the video, one can hear Charles Kinsley saying: “All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I’m a behavior therapist at a group home.” Despite Mr. Kinsley’s attempt at reassuring the police he was unarmed, he was still shot in the leg, and then handcuffed before he was taken to the hospital. This event has been all over social media, especially Twitter, and it just depicts how many citizens are beginning to lose their trust in the police -- epecially considering the fact the police officer stated he fired because he thought Charles Kinsley was in danger.

With all the recent protests that have been going on, many are beginning to question why nothing has been done to put a stop to police brutality. Things are getting so bad to the point where many are losing their trust on the system and are beginning to see the police as corrupt and abusive of their power.

How is it possible that a man, who was supposedly in danger, got mistakenly shot? Has the system come to the point were they do not even bother to invest in proper training for the officers? Since when is it OK for an officer to shoot the wrong person?


Can it be possible that what happened to Charles Kinsey is what the Black Lives Matter movement needed to prove -- that, yes, this is indeed a race issue and the media needs to stop making it seem as if every unjust shooting is justified. Because let's be honest here, every unjust shooting has been done without any real justification besides the fact that the cops who have been committing these shootings are just afraid of black people. Well, why are the cops afraid of black people?


Maybe because, for the longest time, the media continues to unjustly portray the black community as the community we should all be afraid of. The community that commits crimes and gets shot by police officers because they were being uncooperative. The community that always seems to have a criminal record.

The simple truth here is that Charles Kinsey did absolutely nothing to get shot. He was cooperative, he was laying on the ground and he had his hands up in the air. The fact he was supposedly shot by accident is just an excuse. Not every cop is bad, and it's horrible that all cops have to pay for the atrocities the bad ones make. However, this isn't going to end until the media and the police force begins to hold the bad cops accountable for their actions. There would be no need to protect the cops if the bad ones were held accountable for their mistakes.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
ross geller
YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

12 Things I Learned my Freshmen Year of College

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

3315
friends

Whether you're commuting or dorming, your first year of college is a huge adjustment. The transition from living with parents to being on my own was an experience I couldn't have even imagined- both a good and a bad thing. Here's a personal archive of a few of the things I learned after going away for the first time.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

302289
Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause
StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less
blank paper
Allena Tapia

As an English Major in college, I have a lot of writing and especially creative writing pieces that I work on throughout the semester and sometimes, I'll find it hard to get the motivation to type a few pages and the thought process that goes behind it. These are eleven thoughts that I have as a writer while writing my stories.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments