Black lives matter? Why would someone feel the need to express this? OF COURSE black lives matter. But so do white lives, latino lives, Asian, Japanese, German, Italian and cop lives. ALL lives matter. I can understand why black people started feeling like they were being discriminated against with all of the cop shootings that have happened, but does violence ever stop with more violence?
The Black Lives Matter movement may have started off as a hashtag in 2013 to show support for black lives after the Trayvon Martin shooting, but now this movement has turned violent and needs to be stopped. Innocent people and cops are being harmed because of other "bad" or not-so-bad (and the situation was just not a good one) cops. A few bad cops does not mean all cops are bad or racist. We can't even exactly know for sure that those cops who killed the black kid and the black therapist helping an autistic man shot them just because they were black. I'm not condoning the actions, but it's hard to know what the real story is.
Either way, though, whether the black people were shot unnecessarily, the Black Lives Matter movement is out of control. They were able to block I-94W in Minneapolis, stopping traffic for over two hours. The cops ended up arresting many of them, but they gained nothing by doing this except more disrespect by cops and the people who were waiting to get past these protesters.
If the Black Lives Matter movement wants to actually speak their minds and tell everyone how they feel, a peaceful protest would do the job. People may actually listen. But when it has become violent and people are scared of this movement, it doesn't send the right message. What are they trying to do anyway? Scare us all ... For what? What is their purpose now that they have added violence and terror into the mix? I'm sure some just want to get on the news, but I'm sure the others really are trying to make a difference. But they just don't understand that they are going about it the wrong way. Harming people will not get them their justice. The cops arrested many of the protesters involved in the blocking off of I-94W, so now what? Are they going to keep terrorizing innocent people to get their way?
These protesters are trying to find things to protest about. They could have kept quiet when the police shot an unarmed black kid, but they didn't. They used it as an excuse to start an uproar among the black community. It's possible that the cop who shot this kid really didn't have a liable reason to shoot him, but do starting violent protests help get the boy justice? NO. The way to deal with this is to investigate the cops who were a part in these shootings and give them the consequences they deserve. Not start hating on cops and white people. One bad person doesn't mean the rest are all bad.
Peaceful protests can actually get people to listen. Sometimes it doesn't work so people do other things to get more attention, like in this case. But becoming violent will not solve anything. It's only making things worse. Personally I think cops should be more careful about situations where a black person is involved. If they can handle the situation with no shooting, the protesters may start to see not all cops kill people because they're black. We are not back in the 1900s where the country believes black people are below whites or where a majority of whites are racist. This is 2016, and we are way past that. The fact that this movement is trying to make it seem like we are back there is a problem.
I hope the protesters watch the news because there are some cops and people out there trying to show them that all cops aren't bad. There are stories lately of cops purposefully treating a black person very well to show they matter just as much. Some cops are trying to really make a difference and show people that no one should feel discriminated against. The Black Lives Matter protesters should see these stories because they show how many cops are.
I don't believe we will be able to stop the violent movement unless we all try to show them that not every person is the same. The inspiring stories of good cops will hopefully get to these protesters and in time, they will back down. For now, we should all be more aware of how we treat people in general. That includes cops who are under a very tight watch right now. Anything they do can become a huge deal based on the race of the individual they are dealing with. So don't try to stop the violent protesters if you happen to come upon a Black Lives Matter protest, because they won't listen. They have an agenda and don't care how it affects others.
