Philando Castile lost his life about a week ago because an officer pulled him over claiming he had a broken tail light. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, claimed that the officer asked for Castile's license and registration. While reaching in his wallet to retrieve these items he mentioned that he had a firearm on him and he had a concealed weapons permit. Diamond said that before Castile said anything else the officer shot him. This has been national news for the past week and upon looking into this horrible incident I became aware of the fact that Castile was pulled over because he matched the description for an armed robbery that had happened on July 2nd. In Lauderdale Minnesota, an armed robbery occurred around 7:30 p.m. on July 2nd. A Super USA employee stated that two African American men demanded cash and cigarettes while holding firearms. When the officer pulled Castile over, he radioed in that Castile fit the description of one of the African Americans, so when Castile said that he had a firearm, the officer obviously became very cautious. I am not saying that I believe that Castile deserved to die, because I do not believe that.I believe that maybe there could have been a better way to handle this situation so that nobody had to die that day. My condolences go out to his family, girlfriend, the baby girl in the car, and anyone who love him.
Alton Sterling, 37, was selling CD's outside of a convenience store on Tuesday night at around 12:35 a.m. The store owner, Abdullah Muflahi, stated that as long as Sterling had been selling CD's outside of the Triples Food, which was six years, he had never known him to get into a fight or confrontation. However, the police were called to the store on Tuesday night because a homeless man asked Sterling for money mulitple times and after repeatedly saying no, Sterling decided to show the homeless man the gun he was carrying. The homeless man then phoned the police and told them that a man was threatening him with a gun. The police tasered and tackled Sterling to the ground before fatally shooting him. It was said that Sterling lived at Living Ministry Transitional Housing Center which was managed by Leroy Tackno. Tackno said that Sterling was a good man who did not cause trouble. It is extremely hard for me to find any support for the officers in this case. I watched both of the videos floating around on the internet and Sterling seemed to be cooperating with the officer. My condolences go out to his family as well.
Even with both of these murders that occurred, I feel very strongly about the slaughtering of the Dallas Officers. It was extremely upsetting to read that a sniper targeted five INNOCENT officers. My blood began to boil while learning that the sniper, an army veteran, shot the officers because he wanted to kill all of the white officers because of the recent shooting. Revenge, which I do not agree with, is one thing, but to kill innocent officers is another thing entirely! The only one who has any right to get revenge is the man upstairs! I do, however, believe in protesting as long as it is peaceful. I respect Martin Luther King Jr. for making a change without violence. We should all follow his example. Those who feel passionately about the Black Lives Matter Protest should have the right to protest, but doing so peaceful is the important key.
In this world, there are countless of bad people. Not every stranger you meet on the street is necessarily a good person. This apply's to everyone of every race, occupation and religion. When race, occupation and religion is stripped away from us, we all still have something in common. We are human beings. We have people that love us and we have people that we love. We have feelings and opinions on how things should be done. We all matter. I am not more important that the guy sitting next to me on the city bus and the man living in the $200,000 home is not more important than me. The one aspect that I used to love about The Land of The Free, was that in a time of crisis we gathered together. After 9/11, did strangers not stand in long lines to give blood to those who needed it? Why is it that now we can no longer unite? Why is it that now we are divided? I believe wholeheartedly that there are bad police officers out there, but that number could never compare to the number of good police officers out there. Officers that just want to make it through their shift to go home to their families. Officers that just worked a car wreck scene where a 17 year old lost her life. Officers that had to go tell a family member that their love one was not coming home. I believe wholeheartedly that there are bad criminals out there, but I also believe that one huge mistake could follow a good person around for the rest of their life. We make mistakes everyday, some of us are just lucky enough to push those mistakes to the side and forget about them while the rest of us cannot. Either way each of us matter. We matter to the people that love us. We matter to those who count on us. You, no matter your race, occupation, beliefs, or religion, matter to me.
Even with our similarities, we cannot even begin to imagine what another person is forced to endure in life. We have no idea what someone is thinking or what they may do. All we are able to do is work from experience. All I want is for people to not judge someone from what someone else does. Every single one of us is different from the next and we each deserve a fighting chance.It blows my mind that we even have to state who matters and who does not matter. No matter what anyone else says, we matter to someone. We are all Americans who need to come together to fix any problem we may face. Violence is not the answer. I promise that violence will never be the answer. Hurting someone else will never replace what you lost.This is the Land of The Free which means that we all deserve to have our voice heard and if a peaceful protest is what it takes to get your voice heard then so be it. Protesting is one thing, killing innocent people who have nothing to do with the situation is another.
