If anyone has watched the show The Newsroom, they might have seen an iconic snippet in an episode where the anchor Will McAvoy argues how he believes America is not the greatest country in the world and how it once was.
“First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.”
When I first saw this in my US History class in junior year, I agreed with him, and now, after the recent events that have occurred this past week and have been occurring these past few years, what he said rings true even more.
We became a nation on the sole purpose of wanting equality, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; where a man can come from nothing, from any race or culture, and have a chance to make a better life for himself with equal rights and representation granted. And it seems as a nation we have forgotten these values.
The recent shooting in Dallas of 14 police officers, the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile has shocked our country this week. The countless more shootings that have occurred by police these past two years alone has brought worry and grief over this nation, when our country has been the forerunner for working towards peace and unity within its borders for decades.
Statistically according to WhiteHouse.gov and NAACP.com, twice as more African Americans are shot by police than white citizens; twice as more African Americans are arrested than white citizens; and one in six African Americans have been incarcerated since 2001. And since the death of Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, the rift between police forces and the citizens of this country, mainly the black community, has widened with 136 black citizens being killed by police in 2016 according to a project done by The Guardian. Even though we had one of the biggest civil rights movements in the 1950’s and 60’s, we still have an ongoing battle with racism and prejudice in this country.
Though the facts and what we see in the news has brought uneasiness and fear to people this past week, America should not lose hope or resilience.
We are a country that neighboring nations have looked up to as a beacon of hope, one that has been looked down upon but has triumphed again and again. We were the nation that brought forth a democracy that allows us to have a voice in our government and a voice from the East to the West. We were the nation that said all people have the same rights and all people will be treated fairly and equally. We shouldn’t be scared to say that our country is at fault right now, that we haven’t faced our mistakes, and that we need change. We have to realize that we have a broken relationship among African Americans and the police force in this country; how areas in the police force are corrupt and haven’t been examined thoroughly; how police reform needs to be done systematically; and how the stereotypes that have been made between both groups need to end.
An example of this change has been seen in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2001, Cincinnati broke out in riots and was in turmoil after Timothy Thomas, a 19-year-old unarmed African American, was shot and killed by the Cincinnati police force after trying to arrest him for non-violent misdemeanors. Since the incident, it has taken over a decade for police reform to take place in the city. With the reform, the police department in Cincinnati has built a working relationship with the people, developing an early warning system to inform police officers where lots of complaints were occurring; forming transparency between the police force and community leaders by holding press conferences 12 hours after an incident occurs; and using as minimal force as possible in difficult situations and altercations.
With a five year Justice Department intervention and help from local leaders, “use of force by the Cincinnati police department has decreased to 22 incidents in 2013 from 145 incidents in 2002” according to an article by St. Louis Public Radio.
This progress is a good step forward in the right direction and has proven to be effective, but this has only occurred in one city, with citizens in Cincinnati still not being able to fully trust police forces. “ ‘I don’t think I can say we are trustful yet. I can say things are workable’ “, said Jesse Roley in the article by St. Louis Public Radio. It will take much more time for other cities across the country such as Ferguson and Dallas to implement reform, but action needs to be taken now.
Yes, it will be a daunting and demanding process. Yes, it will take help from everyone in local communities and the Justice Department to work together and collaborate. And yes, it will take many years for true reform to be solidified, but this needs to happen now.
America has been through countless changes. We started as a nation of people wanting to make a new frontier, where we transformed, innovated, inspired, and conquered the world with what we have accomplished in the world and on our homeland. We have come from the bottom before, and we have to still believe our country has the grit and strength to come up again and change.
