So, I know what you're thinking: "oh great, another article about black lives matter." But this article is different, because while it's true that black lives matter, it doesn't mean that the lives of police officers don't matter. There are a lot of people on the blacks' side who are completely against police and the whole system and want to get rid of it altogether. But I don't feel that way. I think that the police was put in place to protect our citizens, and while they mainly have been racist (perhaps subconsciously), it doesn't mean that all police officers are bad. There are some great police officers who are great at their jobs and really care about the safety of everyone. Just because there have been many, many incidents of racism from the police doesn't mean that it's okay to shoot police officers just because they're police officers.
What happened in my hometown, Dallas, in the killing of innocent police officers was completely unacceptable. Those police never did anything wrong, and were actually trying to protect the lives of the people who were at the protest that night. The shooter committed this act out of hate--hate for police officers and hate for white people. His intention to stand up for black people did not justify what he did. Fighting violence with violence is not the answer, and sinking down to that level will never solve anything.
That being said, something does have to change with the police and the system. Time and time again, innocent black people are shot--Alton Sterling, Philando Castille, Michael Brown--the list goes on. This is not to say that innocent white people aren't shot, but that this has been happening repeatedly with black people. A lot of people associate blacks with crime. The fact that someone is black could make someone think that they're more likely to break the law. Statistically, 60 percent of people in prison are black. I also believe that many of these shootings of innocent people wouldn't have happened if the person was white.
On July 17 in Wichita, Kansas, the citizens held a barbecue with the police where they had a conversation about law enforcement and police brutality. The police provided the food, and the police officers even danced with everyone. It was very civilized. These are the kinds of events we need to be having. We need to have conversations between citizens and the police in order to try and resolve this in a peaceful way. Killing people isn't going to make the situation better, only worse.
We need to use love to overpower hate. That's the only way anything will be resolved. By having events like these, hopefully we will find a way to finally end police brutality and racism once and for all.
