“Excuse me, miss?”
I turned around, and a tall man in a pristine police uniform was catching up with me. Immediately I stiffened. Did I do something? Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
“Is this yours?” the police officer asked, his eyes boring into my soul. I nervously looked at what he was holding in his hand. It was none other than my credit card. The card had fallen out of my bag while reaching for my phone a few seconds before.
“Oh, my gosh, yes! Thank you so much! I am such a klutz…” I rambled on, flustered and still nervous from the whole encounter.
With a smile, he handed me my card back and went back to stand with his partner at the corner. My friend looked at me with relief and then we went on our way to continue enjoying the festival. Here I am, a white, 19-year-old college student, familiar with police officers, hell, even friends with some of them. Apart from a silly traffic citation from my first year of driving, my record was completely clean, and I had no desire, whatsoever of changing that. There was absolutely no reason for me to be nervous about this interaction with this man who was, in fact, a really nice guy, just saving me from the horror of losing my card.
Flashback to second grade when we learned about the heroes of our country: firefighters, soldiers, and yes, police officers. All these men and women were placed on pedestals in our minds. We were encouraged to trust them, confide in them, and befriend them. What changed? What happened that was so influential that now I get a queasy feeling when I see a police car driving behind me? Truth be told, as a white, upper-middle-class girl and student, I am not often the object of oppression or questioning, so I do not know the struggles of either a black individual or a middle-aged officer. However, as an American and as human being, I do know that something has to change.
With horrendous stories of police brutality flooding the media, the nation is all on the edge of their seats, looking back over their shoulders, divided on the issue of crime (or lack thereof) and punishment. When videos of Sandra Bland take over the internet and what happened in Ferguson still haunting the country, it is no surprise that there is an obvious division. Everyone is looking for someone to blame.
Not all police officers are killers. The black community is not made up solely of criminals.
There is always a villain and it will always be hard to understand, However, isn’t this the time, now more than ever, that we need to band together and work to ensure equality and mourn the deaths of those who have been caught up in this national struggle? We have to support each other: black, white, straight, gay, rich, or poor. There is no room for us to focus on insignificant details. We have to trust and build each other up, instead of shooting each other down. Prejudices must be swept clean, the past must be put in the past, and we must move forward together. We have to work together to create a society and culture that is accepting for all—an environment we feel comfortable handing down to future generations.
