Did you know that last week, on Tuesday Sep. 20, it was found out that Donald Trump used $258,000 that was originally donated to his charity, The Donald J. Trump Foundation, to settle his own legal fees regarding his personal businesses? Did you also know that last week, Monday Sep. 19, video was released of an unarmed black man, with his hands in the air, getting shot and killed by a police officer in Tulsa? Or what about the fact that the very next day, protests erupted in Charlotte over yet another black man who was shot and killed by police officers? Or maybe you heard that there were two bombings and one stabbing spree that were all allegedly connected to ISIS and all happened within the last week? Not to mention the mass shooting in a Washington mall that left five people dead just this morning. If you didn't know about most of these major events that took place, it was probably because what most people, news outlets and social media networks seem to be concerned about lately is the earth-shattering news of "Brangelina's" divorce.
I am sure most of you already know that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie filed for divorce last week, which means that "Brangelina" no longer exists. Now, I have to admit that this is unfortunate news because, let's be honest, they were great together. However, unlike most of America, I was not devastated by it. Why? There were about a hundred more important issues going on in our nation during that exact time that I felt I should be paying more attention to than the break up of a celebrity couple.
Honestly, it's been pretty disappointing, these past few days, scrolling through my Twitter feed and realizing that probably 85% of it is cluttered with something or another regarding Brad and Angelina's divorce. It's even more disheartening that the news of a celebrity break-up can cause a national frenzy, while the news of an unarmed, non-threatening, African American father of four being gunned down by police in broad daylight because "he looks like a bad dude" barely makes headlines. I was shocked that the news of Donald Trump using Americans' hard-earned money, that they thought was being donated to a good cause, but was actually ending up in Trump's own pocket, became irrelevant compared to the topic about how Jennifer Aniston was going to react to the "big divorce."
It's incredibly sad that most Americans don't know or care about real and important issues that are happening all around us, issues that are actually relevant to each of us personally. Instead, we are consumed with gossip about two celebrities, who none of us know personally, getting a divorce. Think about how ridiculous that sounds. How about we actually start paying attention to the things that matter, the things that are happening right under our noses, and actually work towards solving these problems together? We say we love this nation. Well, America, it's time we start acting like it.
