Summer of 2016

In recent months there have been several attacks ranging from two victims of police brutality, to the Orlando nightclub shooting and most recently the terror attack in Nice, France. This summer has been quite an eventful one for negative reasons, when will a summer pass that is not filled with violence and more innocent lives being taken.

On July 5th Alton Sterling was standing outside a local convenience store celling cd’s to help provide for his wife and kids. Mr. Sterling was later approached by two cops and questioned to whether or not he was selling illegal cd’s. Upon the officers arrival an altercation ensued and as previously reported Alton Sterling was killed; it was later found that he did have a firearm on his person’s with a license to carry but reports and videos show he never reached for it. Everyday our society is faced with new challenge’s and changes that together we have to embrace and adapt too. The question is how we as a society can adapt to officer’s killing innocent people of all races and not just African American; how do you wake every morning and hear on the news “Another life has been lost in yet another police related or brutality shooting” how is that ok? Is it ok for our children to say goodbye to their brother, uncle or father in the morning and it possibly be the last time they see them all because of police brutality and something as simple as a ticket could be what leads to there death.

Society is quick to point the blame regardless of the situation, no one has ever just said “Look what I did was wrong or I made mistake let’s move forward and make some positive changes.” Instead we relish in the past and continue pointing fingers; progress can never be made and no changes can be made or seen because we focus too much of our energy on the past and the mistakes made then. We need to realize that because we keep focusing on the past the same mistake are being repeated innocent lives are still being lost, the wrong people are gaining access to high power machines and weapons and most importantly younger generations are growing up fearing the police because of their surroundings. They constantly are presented with examples of crooked cops instead of the good cops who are actually there to help the community. For example, Officer Tommy Norman is a cop who has gained worldwide recognition for the work he does for the community this includes residents and children. Through the use of his Instagram page Officer Norman displays his daily routine as cop and the various things he does around and within the community. These are the examples younger generations need to see, that not all cops are crooked that there are cops like Officer Norman who are truly there for quote “community policing” that you don’t t have to fear all cops.

Alton Steerling was killed just trying to make money to feed his wife kids, an innocent man was killed for trying to provide a source of income for his family. Dwelling on the past and pointing blame makes his death seem pointless and a disgrace. The Steerling family lost a brother, a son, a father, an uncle and instead of trying to make a change and preventing other family’s for going through what the Steerling family went through were to busy dwelling on the past and making the same mistakes. Let’s all stand together as a community and make a change if not for ourselves then for the current and future generations. Let’s not make them pay for our mistakes and faults.