In kindergarten there were a couple of major rules that my teacher taught us:

1. Keep your hands, feet and objects to yourself.

2. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

If kindergarten teachers saw how some of their past students are totally disregarding these rules now, they would be very disappointed. Students that could have been major leaders are now leading others in a way that harms others or themselves. Students that could have made a huge difference in this world have been murdered before they had a chance to live.

So far, in 2016 there have been over 680 shootings resulting in death by police officers in the U.S. This number includes all races, ages and whether the victims were armed or not. That is a scary number. Of course, the most prominent issue as of late has been the murder of unarmed African Americans by police officers, otherwise known as "police brutality." As a white female, I cannot say that I understand the fear that African Americans are feeling in a time where it feels like everyone is against them. I cannot say that I, too, am afraid without feeling as if I have no right to be because of how prominent white privilege has become. However, I can say that human beings being scared of those who are sworn to protect all citizens is wrong. I can say that I dread getting online and reading another story about a life being taken unfairly. I can say that I am afraid for my friends whose lives are threatened just because of the color of their skin.

Of course, there are those who argue about whether the victims of police brutality were deserving for different reasons — such as threatening the police officer. For those who believe this, I ask you to read the stories of Charles Kinsey, Sandra Bland and Delrawn Small. Unfortunately, these are just three examples and a simple Google search of "police brutality cases" will show you many more. All three of these people were murdered out of fear. I'm not sure what the police officers who shot them were afraid of, but that doesn't make their deaths any less real. Just because a police officer feels threatened that does not give them the right to shoot without real cause. If an officer's life is truly threatened with a gun to their or their partner's head, then shooting in a non-fatal area would be understandable; however, shooting someone who is clearly not a threat out of anger or racist, unsolicited fear is ridiculous.

I am not trying to make police officers sound like villains. That is the last thing I want to do. I only want to help bring justice to those who were murdered by making others aware of what is truly happening. I want to help bring safety to those who are threatened when they did nothing wrong — especially nothing punishable by death. Everyone should be able to feel safe when they see those blue and red lights flashing in their rearview mirror. Seeing those lights should result in a ticket, not death.

It is 2016. People should not be killing other people simply because they fear the color of another's skin. There are too many other problems in this world that deserve our attention without having to fear those who are supposed to protect us. Even if we can't all hold hands and "Kumbaya" by the campfire, we should all still do our best to protect and respect each other.