My advice to those reading this article is to think of yourself in these men and women's shoes. How scared you would be in these situations. How awful you would feel if a little boy or girl waved a sign in your face saying they hated everything you stood for. How your family must feel as you walk out the door to work and possibly never come back.

Just think of them as people. The good regular people and the bad regular people.

Alton Sterling, Louisiana. Philando Castile, Minnesota. The Dallas sniper attack. This past week, headlines were brought to the attention of the United States media as two African American males were shot while in encounters with law enforcement. In retaliation, some Black Lives Matter Movement members held peaceful protests in large cities to bring attention to their cause. Others decided to start confrontations with police officers who were monitoring the rallies and eventually, the Dallas sniper attack occurred.

Many have blamed the police community as a whole for the injustice and police brutality. No doubt what happened in these cases are horrible, but why put the blame on the entire police community instead of targeting the specific departments and people related to the subject? In New York City after the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, why did someone assassinate two NYPD officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, who had no encounters with the two men in the past? And now, why did the Dallas sniper attack occur when both cases were in Louisiana and Minnesota respectfully? The Black Lives Matter movement advocated for the idea that African American men and women shouldn't be persecuted by their color. In actuality, shouldn't that mean they should stand with police officers to not be persecuted for what uniform they wear and what job they have? All I have to say on the matter is that every person you encounter on the street, whether he be African American, Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic or even wearing a police uniform, is someone's brother, son, husband, friend and father. EVERY life should matter under every circumstance.

To the men and women in blue,

I know this past week has been rough considering you all have been under scrutiny after the two past shootings that occurred while in police custody. Also, you have heavy hearts considering what happened in Dallas to your fellow officers. Personally, I wanted to give you my condolences as well as to the African American community for what has happened this week since I know losing loved ones is a hard thing to overcome.

All my life, I've never had a bad experience with a police officer and I know many people who belong to different nationalities and religions agree. To this I say, we met the good majority of police officers who attempt to do the right thing and protect the citizens of the United States as per the oath they took when becoming a police officer.

One of my best friends explained why he doesn't trust police and how they prowl on the African American community in his area. He may have met the "bad cops" who get off by insinuating fear in the public in an act to maintain control. Some people think that the overwhelming majority of the police officers in this country are "bad cops." But many forget the humanity of police officers and how they actually are regular people. There will be good regular people and bad regular people. They will go home to their kids every night and kiss their wives and husbands after a long day's work protecting the communities that sometimes ostracize them. Then the next morning, they will do the whole day over again without fail to ensure safety.

So in summary, thank you for protecting those who don't want you near them. Thank you for risking your lives everyday and taking on the challenge to prevent criminals' success. Thank you for being a person behind the badge.

Regards,

Liz Powe