Raven Simone’s recent response to a high school girl being dragged across the room by a South Carolina school police officer was less than acceptable last week. Essentially, she stated that the girl would not have been literally thrown around her classroom if she had just put her phone away.

Let’s back up. Last week, a viral video exposed Richland County Senior Deputy Ben Fields pulling a girl out of her desk in math class and throwing her to the ground, only to drag her in front of the room and arrest her for being defiant and not putting her phone away fast enough when asked.

Before even going into a “Black Lives Matter” rant, this officer was abusing his power, regardless of the race of the child. In fact, this excessive force can’t even be justified by the looks of the video below:

Police Brutality has made its way into schools. When will it end? #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh pic.twitter.com/KgKyoRmp5I
— BET (@BET) October">https://twitter.com/BET/status/658814742941822976"... 27, 2015

Now, not only does this video demonstrate what is wrong with excessive force and police brutality, but so does this one:

The population of people that agree with the idea that this girl asked to get thrown out of her seat and dragged across the room are the same ones who condone the acts of violence and excessive force brought upon people of color.

Even beside that fact, there was no need to use such force on a girl that wasn’t threatening an officer’s life. The girl deserved detention, not arrest, and certainly not physical harm.

It is inappropriate to lay hands on a student, defiant or not. A child should not be tossed around her classroom because she didn’t follow directions. There are rules and protocol for a situation like this.

So no, Raven, this officer does not deserve support. His actions are not justified, and his termination was indeed needed.

Now it is a shame that we can’t assume everyone will support this girl in the way she should be supported, and it is a shame she was subjected to such violence in the first place. Sure, she should’ve put away her phone, but a police officer wasn’t the correct authority to deal with her defiance.

It’s just somewhat ironic that children are going to start fearing for their safety because of the faculty and authority that works to protect others. We constantly express the need for officers in schools to protect our children, yet it seems like they’re creating a more dangerous environment for them.

This is not okay.

Neither is this,

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/05/us/trayvon-martin-sh...

...or this.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/08/us/south-carolina-co...

We shouldn’t be blaming this child for being thrown across her classroom.

We should be blaming the police officer for abusing his authority.