"You better flee. They're comin'."
As I crossed a street in the middle of New York City, I couldn't escape a teen who spat these words into my face. This was just seconds after about 20 police vehicles had zoomed past me. Confused and still startled by the flashing red and blue lights that were unfamiliar to me in such large numbers, I just happened to look to my right. A block away, I saw hundreds of protesters marching down the street in Manhattan. Some screaming at the top of their lungs for their basic human rights, which I could never stand to deny, but others with rage and violence in their eyes. In today's age, it seems as if there is just a fine line between justice and brutality.
This small glimpse into a nationwide fight that I was able to catch on a trip to the Big Apple taught me more than I could imagine. I am against anyone who wants to put out a flame by adding more fuel to the fire. I am against a cop killing a Black person for no apparent reason. I am against a black person fighting for their rights in a violent way. I am against fighting fire with fire. Two wrongs do not, and will never, make a right.
I am not against the Black Lives Matter movement whatsoever. I am all for the illumination of such an ancient problem that America possesses. There are situations, later in greater frequency, that have pit Whites against Blacks, specifically in a law enforcement setting. This is sickening. If there is no apparent physical threat in these situations, why is someone getting murdered? That is unfair, no matter the race, no matter the gender, no matter the age - murder is murder. And these recent events of "self-defense" do not always seem to be justified. I think it is important that we highlight the word "Black" in the recent news. Because, in fact, some people have been acting like Black lives do not matter. This is not the 1950s, people. Black lives do matter.
On the other hand, this retaliation with a similar caliber of violence will continue to lead us in a whirlpool of problems with the absence of solutions. Be vocal about the problem. Stand up for the rights of others, for the rights of yourself, but always and forever keep your hands to yourself. It is insane what the power of words can do and what the power of fists can not. This continued separation and violence is not what any one wants. So, whether you are a cop, a Black person, a White person or anyone that eats, sleeps and breathes, you do not have the right to cause harm to any other person.
White people. Black people. There is something so similar that everyone seems to forget about. It's just a single word: "people."
