Racial turmoil seems to be simmering again in the US as of late. I put the blame squarely on the media and the way they slant the stories in a way that will incite the most emotion from their audience. Add to that, celebrities and civil rights activists jumping on the bandwagon and what you have is a powder keg of hatred, ready to explode.
It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and judge. In the past several months civil rights activists like Al Sharpton have been quick to gain attention for themselves by inciting the anger of their followers and pointing the finger of blame at police officers around the country, with their opinion based on little or no facts at all.
Here’s a news flash people, just because a white police officer shoots a black man, doesn’t mean the shooting is about the man’s race, so let’s quit pretending that it is. In fact, many times these instances happen so fast, the officer is making a split second decision. The wrong decision may mean the difference between life and death for not only the officer, but in many cases dozens of innocent bystanders. If the danger is there, the police officer is going to shoot, it doesn’t matter if you are black, white or purple, that’s just how it is.
Sure, it’s easy to judge when you’re at home on your comfy couch saying to yourself; “That was racist, that stupid cop shouldn’t have done that.” My point is, you don’t know that. You weren’t there. To then go out and protest, burn down businesses and loot makes absolutely no sense at all. If you are upset that “innocent” black people, and I use this term lightly, are dying, then do something about it! Burning buildings and looting makes the people doing it, look like a bunch of uncivilized animals and helps no one.
I have seen NFL stars chanting “Don’t shoot me” and “I can’t breathe” and wearing t-shirts that are labeled the same. All this type of behavior does is perpetuate the hate, it helps no one. If you want to improve racial relations, you need to preach understanding not hatred.
If these NFL players really wanted to help they would put their money where their mouth is and use it to educate children and police officers. I guarantee the outcome would be much better than the hate they are perpetuating, by carelessly placing the blame on the police. Why do I say carelessly? Because I can almost guarantee none of these players knew any facts about the cases they were protesting, instead they are using the moment for their own selfish reasons, seeking to make themselves look better in the public eye. They make millions of dollars, did any of them actually donate money to help any of these communities? I would personally like to know if they did so I could congratulate them, but since I have not heard anything of the sort, I am thinking this did not happen.
What do I recommend? Education! In today’s sometimes very violent world, everyone needs to be more vigilant, including our children. As a parent, your job is to make sure your kids know that they shouldn’t talk to strangers and they should respect authority. This learning needs to start early, as early as they can possibly comprehend it.
Learning respect is so vital to a person’s life. In fact, if Michael Brown and Tamir Rice had been taught respect, they might still be alive today. Michael Brown could have stepped to the sidewalk when he was asked to do so, but he didn’t, a conscious decision on his part. If he had, the police officer might have went on his way, instead Michael Brown chose to pick a conflict with a police officer. A police officer has no idea if a suspect is armed until they get the chance to pat down the suspect. Darren Wilson, the police officer that shot Michael Brown never got that chance.
The case of Tamir Rice was completely different. This was a 12 year old boy who was actually brandishing a weapon. Frightened bystanders had called the police and no one was entirely sure if the weapon was real, or fake. From the pictures I’ve seen, the weapon looked incredibly real, so in this instance the police officers were facing a different problem. In their minds, not only were their lives in danger, but also the lives of many innocent bystanders. Think about all the people, some of them mere children, that have went on killing sprees lately. No one saw these sprees coming, none of these victims had weapons and it was planned that way by the killers.
If this is a real weapon, and this twelve year old boy shoots even one innocent person, everyone will say that the police officers didn’t shoot him fast enough and blame the innocent deaths on the police. Of course, if they shoot the boy they would also be ridiculed, so this is a case of you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t. In the end, the police commanded the boy to drop the gun, which he didn’t do. This was a fatal mistake.
I’m not trying to blame this on the boy’s parents, but this should be a lesson learned for everyone with young children. Please, teach your kids to respect the police, their teachers, and you. If kids don’t learn this early, I guarantee you will have problems. In fact, teach your children to respect everyone! Teach your kids to respect weapons, weapons should be used for hunting and self defense. Children should learn, if they are holding a weapon, real or fake, and the police ask them to drop it, do it! Why would you not? Twelve years old is definitely old enough to know that most people will be very intimidated by a gun, so brandishing one, real or fake, in public is just wrong.
If you’ve ever had a gun pointed at you, you know exactly what I’m talking about. That moment you are staring down the barrel of a gun, leaves your heart racing and your bladder feeling like it might just betray you and empty itself on it’s own free will. If you’ve ever been in a public place and someone is carelessly waving a gun around, you’ve probably had this same feeling. It was different when I was a kid, my brother and I both had cap guns. They were cheesy looking toys that couldn’t possibly be mistaken for the real thing, and besides, our parents would have never let us out of the yard with a gun, that’s just how it was, we had rules.
If you want your child to live a long and happy life you will lay down rules to them. Teach them to respect people of all races, sexual orientations and religions. Children don’t become successful members of society by accident, it’s a lot of hard work. Children need education, rules and constant parenting. If they come from a broken household they will need even more love and nurturing. Don’t let your children grow up on autopilot. It doesn’t matter what your background is or how much money you have, so don’t make excuses. Don’t let one more person die that doesn’t have to, but realize that life is a two way street, you get what you give.
I ran across this very enlightening video today, about a civil right’s activist that has a very eye opening experience. He gets to experience police weapons training first hand. Believe me this video is a must see. Especially, if you are one of those people who is skeptical about the police.
Guest blogger-Jean Marie Stanberry
Author of “Laying Low In Hollywood”, “One World United”, “The Illusion Of Order” and “Blood, Sweat and Fears”
jeanstanberry.com @jeanstanberry
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