Being born in 1993, I was pretty young when America experienced the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center. This was my first experience with the unfortunate reality that I was living in a world that was not as safe as I thought. While it was beautiful to see our country come together as a unified front, it’s upsetting to think something so tragic had to happen before we could appreciate each other.
The killing of Michael Brown in the summer of 2014 sparked a movement that is quite arguably one of the most powerful of our generation. Yes, Black Lives Matter is an important sentiment that should be brought to light. However, I think it’s important to remember that simply lives matter. The violence in our country is despicable and not what our country is meant to be in the least. This is a world that I do not want my nephews to live in. It has honestly made me question bringing children into a world where the violence against everyone is so prevalent.
I completely understand that when the Black Lives Matter movement began, there truly was a strong divide and a seemingly proven agenda against the black race of our country. Thursday evening, five Dallas police officers were targeted and murdered out of revenge during a protest in regards to the recent killings by police officers across the country. It is easy to find yourself torn between the many sides of the same discussion. After all, we are all humans and our emotions can be tough to read.
In light of the recent shootings, I decided to do a little research of my own. I found a great article by Aaron Bandler with the Daily Wire that honestly sheds some light on the topic. It explains that in the year 2015, police officers killed almost twice as many white individuals compared to black individuals. Heather MacDonald’s research states that 12 percent of homicides with white or Hispanic victims were linked to police violence. However, only 4 percent of homicides with black victims are related to police violence. Finally, black and Hispanic cops are more likely to shoot at a black victim when compared to white police officers.
An important point I would like to stress however is the fact that no matter who the victim is, murder is still murder. The connection between all of these untimely deaths is the simple fact that the violence in our country needs to come to an end. Just recently, I wrote about the heartbreaking attack on the nightclub in my second home of Orlando. Why is our world consumed with the concept that it is okay to take the life of another human being? If something does not change soon, our world will continue to fall in this downward spiral that is ignorance and racism.
Please remember, all lives matter. Whether you are black, white, purple, yellow, pink, or even polka-dotted, your life, safety, and love matters in this world. “Darkness cannot drive our darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
