After all of the recent shootings throughout America, the new thing trending is #BlackLivesMatter. Society has begun to teach us that using social media to get information out is the best option. The way it is making us portray every situation is sad and demeaning. If you’re for blue lives matter, you are racist. If you are for black lives matter, you are against the police. Mistakes happen. Things happen. Ranting over social media is just begging to tear apart the nation by causing controversy where it is no longer needed. I may not be a person of color, nor do I understand to their dismay at what it is like to see such tragedies, but it hurts me just as much as them to see the assumptions made against all police for the wrongdoing of one. Some of the most hardworking men I have every met were cops. Growing up in a small town knowing every cop in sight was the normal. You have to trust in them to allow them to trust in you. Society is the one telling all of us that for saying all lives matter we do not understand that that cannot be a thing until black lives matter. Pushing that does not allow us to look past the idea of race. It keeps us pushing for it. All lives do matter, and by saying that, it is pointing out the fact that both police and those of color matter. Hispanics. Blacks. Whites.
It is automatically assumed that if a white cop kills a black person, it is because they're racist. Isn't assuming that because a person is white they are racist, a racist accusation against white people? The color of a person’s skin shouldn't determine what happened. Police officers are given the assumption of having dignity. For those of you who do not know what that means, it is the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect. They are here to serve and protect. To serve for the nation and protect its people. I, as a person not involved in law enforcement, am not here to judge what they do. I am here to give them the respect that they deserve. I am here for them to prove themselves of having dignity. Would it have even become a big topic of discussion on whether or not police officers misuse their power if society would not have trained all of us to make assumptions? It is not up to me or my neighbor or the guy living on the boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to determine what had happened. The world these days has become to stuck on everything revolving around racism that everyone is getting torn apart. It is a known fact that officers kill twice as many whites as they do blacks. Was there anything about the shooting of Dylan Noble, a 19-year-old white male? Didn't think so. He was shot by an officer. Why was his case not brought to the view of social media? What if he had just kept his hands out of sight because of habit? Mistakes occur every day. Ranting about it on social media is causing more conflict than not.
Police do the best they can to keep the communities safe. Automatically assuming that every decision they make is based off of race is a racist accusation against them. The world needs to leave the idea of what is right and wrong based off of skin color behind. It's 2016. No matter how much people press for racism to not be an issue, posting all over social media is not going to change it. People are going to think what they want to think no matter how hard people try to press their opinions onto each other. Surround yourself with those who believe what you believe.
Only four percent of black homicide deaths involved police officers, while over 12 percent of whites and Hispanics were caused by officers. Things happen. You cannot stop someone from protecting themselves if they feel threatened. If you have never been a cop facing someone who is armed and dangerous, then you do not know what you would have done in their shoes. All lives matter. The idea of being equal won't occur if society is so stuck on the idea that every white cop who kills a black person is racist. Causing arguments over social media just creates tension where tension is not needed. A person has a right to speak their opinion, but at least back your opinion up with facts before pushing it upon others.
Black, white, purple, green or rainbow. All lives matter. Every living human matters. Tearing people apart with accusations is not going to create a world where everyone is equal. Getting into arguments over something in the past is not going to help anything in the future. Believe what you believe in, but do not push your beliefs onto other people. I am not OK with people yelling at others for saying all lives matter on social media. Just because they do not agree with you does not mean they are wrong. It’s their opinion, so leave it alone.
I hate politics and all the drama behind it, but I will fight for what I believe. I believe the lives of cops and the lives of all people matter. My condolences go out to those families of everyone whose loved ones were taken too soon. But please, stop letting your views tear you apart from those who have their own beliefs. All lives do matter, and no life matters more than another. Society is poisoning all of us to believe there is a good person and a bad person. Good people make bad decisions, and bad people can make good decisions. Society is not the one to judge which is which.
