Odds are, if you watch the news, or are on the internet, or exist, you've heard about police brutality. It's a hot topic these days. A hot one, but not a new one. Incidences of police brutality have been recorded as early as the 1920's and I would be willing to put money on the notion that they happened before that as well. The difference is now we all conveniently carry video cameras everywhere we go, via smartphones, and police officers are now caught in the act...and then let go, free of charges, consistently.

I'm not going to rant to you about the atrocities of police brutality (well maybe a little). If you have any sense of empathy or feeling for other people, than you are probably well aware of this, and you're probably not the type of person who needs to be reading something like this. What has been bothering me lately is the ideology that seems to follow those who speak out against police brutality.

What I've noticed is that when someone who speaks out against police brutality, either someone says something along the lines of "BUT THERE IS GOOD COPS TOOOOO," or "Police officers are brave and noble people that save our community. Of course it's the 'criminals' fault for acting out. THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE OF PROTECTING AMERICA NEVER MAKE MISTAKES OR HAVE FLAWS."

Both of the responses are extremely bothersome. And though admittedly I did exaggerate the wording for some mild comedic relief, I'm sure you are well aware of the types of responses that I'm talking about. For example, #alllivesmatter completely undermines the importance #blacklivesmatter movement. The #blacklivesmatter movement is supposed to be drawing attention to the black lives that were unjustly taken by police officers. #Alllivesmatter is pathetic attempt for other (mostly white) people to demonstrate how "fair" they are. It ends up being a ploy for attention created by people of privilege.

Let's begin by the "there's good cops too" defense. Of course there are! There are wonderful, altruistic police officers who do their jobs well. That's great! But, there are also barbaric, prejudiced police officers who are power hungry and corrupt, and those are the ones that we need to talk about right now. The problem is the police officers who are blatantly abusing their power, and that is what people fighting against police brutality are fighting against. They are not fighting against all police, or authority, or America. They are fighting against a flawed system that needs to be fixed. So yes, I'm sure your police officer father who rescued a kitten from a burning playground is a wonderful man. However he probably works with people who are not as wonderful as him, and that's who these conversations are focused around.

And going along with that, of course there are brave and noble police officers that are valued members of their communities. I cannot stress enough how wonderful these people are. But again, the focus right now needs to be on the not so wonderful, actually atrocious ones. Police officers need to enforce the law, not break it and then face no consequences.

Now, here's where I get irate. When the crimes of police officers are justified, I am absolutely disgusted. "Well, he was a big kid who was attacking him," was a common justification for the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014. Michael was eighteen years old, and unarmed. Guns are to be used as an absolute last resort. Being in law enforcement can be terrifying, I do not deny that. I ask, why did a police officer who is trained and has experience in the field, not tase him first? Or why did he have no way of escaping other than killing him?

There was also the shooting of Tamir Rice a twelve year old boy who was shot for having a fake gun in the park. Instead of, you know maybe talking to him, or warning him to put the 'weapon' down, the officer who shot him did so immediately upon arriving at the scene. Ah, so protocol was neglected. Also, neither officer present tried to administer CPR. How could someone shoot a twelve year old, and then not at least approach him, or try to administer CPR upon realizing the terrible mistake that they made?

Please tell me how either of these were the victims fault. I would love to hear your argument on this. They were children slaughtered by competent adults who are supposed to keep them safe. Of course people don't trust the police when any encounter with them could result in their death. They don't know if they're talking to your wonderful, kitten-saving, police officer father, or the murderous sociopaths who are allowed to have authority. If this was something that only happened once, then I would believe that it was an accident, or that the officer genuinely made a mistake and felt threatened. But this has been happening all the time for a long time.

It's also notable that the injustices that black people face in the criminal justice system do not stop with the violence of police brutality. Black people are more likely not only to get arrested, but also to receive longer or harsher sentences. Not because they commit more crimes, but because this is a flawed system that refuses to see its flaws.

Police officers are human beings. That means that they are prone to the weaknesses of humans, just as I am, and just as you are. They are vulnerable of bias, the addiction of power, hot tempers, false entitlement, and any fault that any other human being is capable of. They should not be put on a pedestal, or only be acknowledged for the good that they do. They need to be held responsible for their actions just like anybody else. We, as a society, need to realize this. We need to be empathetic to the victims of the horrid acts of injustice, and we need to acknowledge the faults that have caused far too many deaths.