People: be humble and be kind.
What is this country coming to?
The divide between Blacks, Whites and the police is growing rapidly. It needs to come to an end. Everyone needs to stop being selfish and start thinking about America as a whole.
As civilians, we do not know how it feels to go out every day and constantly put our lives on the line to protect and serve. We do not know how it feels to deal with drugs and crime on a daily basis. We do not know how it feels to run towards danger to try to save lives.
And as White citizens, we do not know how it feels to have to tell our children to be careful when approached by a police officer. As White citizens, we do not know how it feels to have to worry about racial profiling. As White citizens, we do not truly know how it feels to be scared that our sons, brothers, husbands, or any family members, in general, might not come home that night because they were shot by someone who was supposed to protect them.
As a White female civilian, I will never know how it feels to be scared of the police or how it feels to be a police officer. And I am humble enough to admit this.
As citizens of the United States we need to realize that in order to see progress we need to stand united, stand together and fight for justice. We need to fight for equality for all, but we need to do it without violence. Why fight fire with fire? The Black Lives Matter movement is an important part of todays history and todays society.
This movement has never once said that other lives do not matter. This movement is clarifying that to some (not all) police officers Black Lives don’t matter. This is not OK.
In my opinion, in order to fix this problem we need to unite as a country, people of all races and genders need to stand together and spread love not hate. The police force needs to change their ways. They need to be trained to shoot to disarm not shoot to kill. Police need to start using batons more than guns. I get that being a police officer is hard and dangerous and that they have a protocol to follow but they should not be trained to kill. They need to be trained to protect and solely that.
I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion but if you don’t think racism is a problem in todays society you need to open your eyes. Yes, there is Black on Black crime. Yes, there is White on White crime. Yes, there are whites killed by police officers, but I’m sorry; it's statically proven that more blacks are shot down by police officers. Because of this is it OK to kill cops?
No.
Martin Luther King Jr said it himself, “Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding a deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only love can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
Stop the hate. Stop the violence. Lets unit and start a movement with love. Let's stop this divide. People in uniform are not to all blame. There are dirty cops, there are racist people. Are we going to get rid of all of them? No. But let's rise above and have our voices be heard. Let's speak louder than them and be the bigger person.
There is too much division in this debate. We need to start coming together. Do not make the division worse and target anyone, nonviolence is how we are going to move forward. I am sorry if through this rant I have offended anyone. I stand with people. I stand with basic human rights and if those aren’t met thats when I get angry. I want justice, but I do not want to hurt anyone in the process. Again I do not mean to offend anyone of any race or gender.
All lives cannot matter until Black lives start to matter, and I will do anything and everything in my power to achieve that.
