On July 7, 2016, I checked my phone like I always do, only to see something different on Twitter and Facebook news feeds. Pictures of the city I know and love with the hashtag #PrayForDallas. 10 officers had been reportedly shot via two snipers, four dead, and the rest minor and critically wounded.
I have lived in the Dallas area my entire life. This city is my home. It's all I know. It's what I love most in the world. It terrifies me to my very core to think that after this day, my city will be forever changed. It will feel different every time I get in my car to go downtown. It will feel different the next time I tell someone I am from Dallas. It will feel different the next time I see a police officer.
However, this is not the only issue facing our country at the moment. This horrible attack on my beloved city was caused by one thing and one thing only- a protest on the recent brutality of police officers on African Americans.
I am in no way claiming that the police are at fault. I am in no way claiming that African Americans are at fault.
In this particular Dallas scenario, there are no "sides" here. There should not be "an eye for an eye" situation going on. Just because there has been police brutality against African Americans does not mean that African Americans should go attacking the police. That will solve absolutely nothing. These cops are trying to protect peaceful protestors and dying for it. They do not deserve to die, just like the recent deaths of African Americans at the hands of police did not deserve to die.
There is the talk of "Black Lives Matter" and "Blue Lives Matter". Let me tell you: it does not matter if you're black, white, a police officer, a normal citizen, a political figure, a celebrity, or anything the same rings true: all blood runs red. The world does not need to be this haze of violence and corruption. No person on this earth should feel like they cannot walk outside because it is not safe.
Targeting people because of the uniform they put on is no different than targeting due to the color of someone's skin.
There are always going to be good cops, bad cops, good people and bad people. That is the world we live in. We cannot fully eradicate evil simply because there is always going to be evil out there in the world. However, we can unite together, as a world and as a human race, to fight against the violence that plagues our world. I am so incredibly tired of seeing #PrayFor____ in the news.
VIOLENCE. IS. NEVER. THE. ANSWER.
Can we not just get along? We cannot fight hate with hate. We must learn to love one another despite our failures and despite our differences. We are human. We will screw up from time to time because it's in human nature to make mistakes. However, we do not need to use violence and brutality as a way to pay for our mistakes we make. No one benefits from hatred of one another.
I have never been more hurt to see so much hatred and darkness in the world I live in. This is not a world I want to raise my children in. My heart breaks knowing that this is happening in our world.
"The thing is, though… the thing is that just because we’re magic doesn’t mean we’re not real."- Jesse Williams
"The light shines through the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:5
I love you, Dallas. You will always be my home.
