If you are over 10 years old, male, poor and/or a member of a racial/ethnic minority group anywhere in the world and have never been abused, lied against, killed by a police officer or known someone who has, you should count yourself very fortunate and pray that this continues to be the case.
The composition of people demonstrating across the United States in reaction to the (in)action following recent police murders are teaching us what some people don’t want us to learn: that this is not just a racial matter; it is instead a matter of humanity and a question of what kind of world we want to live in. Those who prefer to maintain the unintelligent argument that the victims of police bullets die because they resist arrest need to ask themselves what arrest attempts or orders 12 year-old Tamir Rice of Cleveland resisted from a cop who came out of a cruiser shooting at him and killing him within 2 seconds of the cruiser arriving where the child was. What orders did Akai Gurley resist when he walked innocently into the hallway of his NYC housing with his girlfriend and was immediately murdered by a police officer without even as much as word spoken between him and the cop?
The time for making excuses for police officers should be history. We do not pay or arm them to kill us. They should protect us from criminals; not be the criminals. We shouldn’t have to fear the police more than we fear criminals. For as long as our society (indeed our world) continues to make excuses for irresponsible, self-absorbed, empty, blood-hungry and racist police officers, for so long shall we continue to be victims of their abuses. Enough is enough!
This is indeed becoming a global issue and a BIG irony in that those who are meant to protect us are now our enemies…