Being a black life in the world, not just America, has never been valued highly. I’m not sure why it’s been like that but it’s the world. But just because that’s the way it is, it doesn’t mean we should ignore the call to action to reform law enforcement culture. For those saying the shootings and killings of blacks by police is a “black issue”, it’s not just blacks complaining or suffering from police brutality. And it’s not going to change until we have a society well-informed about their civil rights/ human rights and know what they don’t have to put up with.
Just because someone is in a place of power doesn’t mean his or her actions are right. This goes for both law enforcement , corporate America labor abuse and personal relationships. Knowledge is power. Don’t let the system abuse your rights. Not all cops are bad and not all blacks are bad or criminals. People need to judge by character and situation in how we deal with each other both professionally and personally. Misunderstandings can be lethal if we’re blinded by our own perspectives.
So what do I think is one of many solutions we can act upon? I think We need more community cops who actually live in the communities they serve. Maybe this should be similar in the fashion doctors complete residency or how people serve in Teach for America– directly interacting with said community for an amount of years. I believe this style of training community cops can really help them get to know community members so they will care about those lives and not be trigger happy.
When we know community, we build great community.
- Criminal records don’t prove murdering people. Remember, jail is a highly profitable system for various stakeholders and blacks are cycled through this system like cattle.
- Getting your wallet is not resistance. I recommend anyone confused about resistance to head to the local library. There’s great information there on this very subject.
Just a note: Blacks don’t kill blacks because they are blacks. It’s just certain neighborhoods there are mainly black people in stressful economic situations killing each other over drug wars in impoverished environments. Please people, don’t use that to try to justify police brutality. No it’s not okay to for blacks to kill each other, but slavery and other factors have divided blacks for hundreds of years. It’s hard to understand that if you’ve never lived in a ghetto or had to really struggle to survive in life. You don’t have to be ashamed of having privilege but know there are many who don’t have that same quality of privileged life or opportunity for better.