Before beginning, I would like to send my prayers out to the friends and family of Sylville Smith.
This past weekend, Milwaukee stepped into the national spotlight when rioters burned cars, destroyed small businesses and threatened cops. It started with the death of Sylville Smith, a black man, at just 23 years old.
According to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and "Heavy News," on Saturday, August 13, 2016, Sylville Smith fled from police around 2:30 p.m. at a traffic stop on Milwaukee’s north side. Two police officers chased him on foot and Sylville was shot in the arm and chest and was killed. It wasn’t long before news spread and protests began. What started as peaceful protesting grew into burning down local businesses, throwing bricks at police officers, and threatening the lives of all white people.
On Sunday, burned debris lined the streets of Milwaukee and people opened their doors to see the wreckage from the night before. The riots left four officers hospitalized and 17 people arrested. Some generous individuals gathered to clean up the city and held a prayer service for the friends and family of Sylville Smith. Although the riots were over, the problems were far from being solved.
I wasn’t far from the protests and riots that erupted after the death of 23-year-old Sylville Smith. I am a student living in Milwaukee, and I, like my friends and family, watched the news and read articles about the violence happening in my city trying to understand what had happened. As I read and researched about the Black Lives Matter movement and the Blue Lives Matter movement, it gave me an idea of the problems in our society. But I still didn't understand the severity. It wasn’t until I watched a video titled, “Whose Lives Matter…?” from "Freedom Daily" that I saw another side to the story.
WARNING: Video contains graphic content. Violence and vulgar language are shown in video.
The video left me speechless and terrified. No matter the race, religion or gender, what right does anyone have to take the life of another? Police officers are not all good or all bad and the same can be said for anyone, regardless of what they look like or their beliefs.
Watching people who don’t know each other kill one another is beyond what my mind can grasp. It opens my eyes to what is actually happening in our country. Blind anger is driving people to act out and is clouding any kind of judgment. We should not be gathering together out of hatred and violence. No matter the race, religion, and gender, killing is not justified.
