There's been so much controversy these last couple weeks.
Instances of police brutality involving race issues have been brought forth into the public light, arguably stronger than ever. The cases of both Michael Brown and more recently Eric Gardner are tragic indeed; no one ever deserves to have their life taken from them before their time. Much of the outcry from these cases extends not just from the excessive force used, but primarily (as far as from what I have seen) from the issue of their skin color. Black. Several protests have set to emphasize the fact that as African Americans, their lives matter just as much as anyone else's. Black lives matter. Except there's one little looming factor that invalidates all of the riots, the violence, the emotions of the situation.
This has never been about race.
Never. Not once. This is strictly and purely an issue of police brutality. By centering around race, it belittles the cases and even the victims as a whole as simply black versus white. Not just on personhood or citizenship. Only racial tension. Look, I'm sure you've seen the statistics popping up everywhere by now about white cops killing black citizens, vice versa, yada yada yada. There's no need for me to draw attention to that. But what these arguments have derived is that every killing from white cop to black citizen is entirely racially driven. Let us not forget, Michael Brown committed a crime, as well as allegedly struggled with Darren Wilson to obtain his weapon. Whereas there is no video evidence of this, any sane person can rationalize that in an act of defense for your life, mind you, you need to do what your were trained to do. Was his intent to kill? That's something we're never going to know. But there is one thing I do know:
Rioting and protesting is not going to resolve the issue.
Over these last two weeks I have seen video from several cities that aimed to protest peacefully these issues. And guess what? Peace wasn't fucking there. Instead, because of the death of a young man, people feel compelled to vandalize and steal and retaliate to the cops who have so wronged us for our entire lives. Fucking disgusting. It's repulsive. What the fuck has humanity come to when we rationalize that one isolated incident deserves violence to those uninvolved? Just a couple days ago protests in Denver resulted in four police being hit by a car. Unacceptable. Humanity is better than this. We're acting like animals. The blame has been spread completely on to the police forces of America who simply are just trying to do their fucking job. Sure there are the extremists on both sides of the coin, but retaliation is not the answer. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. What are we missing in this entire situation?
Responsibility.
Have any of these protesters - maybe yourself, even - taken into consideration that maybe, just maybe, that not every cop condones these actions? Lethal force is a very, very sticky issue, and yes, you should be upset about the misappropriation of such force! But what is rioting and shaming cops going to do for the situation? Do something! Call your congressman or woman, write in to the police force for a request for body cams or dash cams! Don't sit on your computer and be the fool on a soapbox preaching what is right and what is wrong. It's not fucking helping anything. How about instead of instilling a feeling of hate, racism, destruction, send a message of peace and of understanding. Realize that not everyone is a bad person. There are so many more good things that happen that are clouded by incidents like this. Don't be a bystander to this situation.
Do something.
