Progress; the end to police brutality

  NO. 1

   Since the video of George Floyd’s death went viral on the internet, there have been protests across the world, calling for the policemen in question to not only be fired, but arrested and to serve the maximum in jail, and calling for . The senseless murder and case that follows brings up once again the senseless violence of police brutality and race in America once again. For me personally, seeing another black man be killed in such an egregious manner was...numbing. I also realized that events like this have become normalized for me. I didn’t exactly react because I, as a black woman didn’t know how to react. 

  The anniversary of one of the greatest race massacres in the United States occurred yesterday May 31, the Tulsa race riots, where in 1921, a white mob attacked not only black residents, killing between 30 to 300 black people, but more than 1,400 homes and businesses were burned, and nearly 10,000 people were left homeless. 

      NO. 2

I bring this up because historically, things have not changed in America. Police brutality is still the subject of attacks motivated by race. Throughout several years where we thought cases where black men have been shot and killed by the police would be a slam dunk trial; meaning that the officers involved would be prosecuted and serve the maximum in jail, and yet  the opposite happened, like the Eric Garner, Stephen Clark and Trayvon Martin, and new cases, like #RayshardBrooks and #ElijahMcCain. And yet, those officers in question were acquitted. 

The right to protest is protected by the First Amendment in the Constitution, where all citizens have the right to free speech, freedom of the press and the right to peacefully assemble. I write this because it seems like others don’t fully understand the protests going on now; the people who think that ‘peacefully protesting’ means to passively protest. And to passively protest means to erase the voices of millions in this country who already feel like their voices are not being heard. A great man by the name of Martin Luther King jr. said in his Letter from Birmingham Jail said, ‘’Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.’’

   NO.3

Too many black people have been dying at the hands of police at a dis, and the cause of it is directly tied to historic links of slavery and institutional and systemic racism. We want police to take accountability for the crimes they commit against innocent people. For eight minutes, George Floyd pleaded with the officer who had his knee on his neck. All officers need to uphold the responsibility of ‘to serve and protect’. If fifteen bad policemen are on the force, and there are 1300 good officers who do nothing to check those fifteen officers, then there are 1,315 bad police officers.           

I believe that these protests are just the tipping point, as people around the globe now are fed up with the injustice. Racism comes in various different forms, and it’s our generations time to stand up and acknowledge that these brutal acts have got to end, and that goes for anyone whose job is in law enforcement, medical fields, politics, teachers, fashion, entertainment, sports, or media, etc. All lives do matter, but until black people are treated like actual citizens in this country, then that’s a false and inconsistent statement, since it is meant to derail the black lives matter movement. Inequities still exist in this country, and pretending not to see it is just as wrong as those who are actively racist. We owe it to ourselves, and for the men, women and children who were killed over the years at the hands of police brutality, to not only research our public figures, especially in politics, and hire the ones who have our best interest at heart as a nation, but to enact new laws and bring about everlasting change.

Every last protestor who feels this is wrong, that innocent people are dying must vote. Voting sixty years ago used to be for the privileged, and now we all have that right to do so. The black lives matter movement was started by black women who feel action must be met. Black people deserve the same respect as any other human being, and the fact that it took two weeks of protesting and looting for that police officer to be arrested even though his death was video recorded is despicable, and the fact that it took even longer for prosecutors to arrest all the officers who were present for the death and didn’t help Floyd at all showed that widespread and global outrage was the only way justice was going to be served. 

So what are some solutions to this crisis? How can police officers gain the trust of their communities back? Done are the days where senseless killings are being swept under the rug, accustomed to a ‘few bad apples’. There must be stronger requirements for police officers and tougher training so that this doesn’t happen again. There is always going to be lawlessness, of course. But if white protestors can assemble on the streets of Congress with rocket launchers and AR-15’s during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis so that they can open up their businesses without being tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets, then black people must also protest for their rights.