Which Lives Matter More
“Black lives matter”, is an arrogant near-sighted quote that only serves to protect half of a population. It is important to consider and take heed to the fact that people are dying at the hands of law enforcement, however “Black” isn’t the only victim in this fight for justice and equality. “Black” is the term used to describe African-Americans, and there is little debate against the fact that their lives matter. However their lives do not matter more than any other human beings lives. There is a problem with a small minority of law enforcement officers who are much to quick to bare arms and draw their weapon. Sometimes a firearm is fatally discharged by a police officer in an altercation, but it isn’t always a mistake. In fact the majority of the time it can be seen as justifiable. The Black Lives Matter campaign has spurred off of the few times when an African-American is unjustifiably killed in a police related incident. These incidents need to see light so that the officer responsible can be properly disciplined, but media coverage can’t be so irresponsible that a war is sparked between two groups of human beings. A story needs to be shown true and the facts need to be put on display, but nothing should be hyperbolized or dramatized just to draw more attention to the situation. No irresponsible assumptions should be made to suggest that there is more to a situation. Americans as a people cannot be so foolish and believe that African-Americans can do no wrong and Law enforcement is evil. There are two sides to every argument, but one side cannot be heard over the roar of drama coming from media. Police officers are being molded into villains and no one should sit idle while they are being buried.
There are important statistics that should be known by all before looking into the Black Lives Matter or BLM movement. The activists of this movement believe that police officers are targeting African-Americans to murder them in cold blood. This couldn’t be further from the truth when in reality only twenty-six percent of fatal police shootings were on African-Americans. Fifty percent of these same shootings were on White-Americans (Bandler). The argument against this stat is that white people make up sixty two percent of the population and black people make up eighteen percent. Another statistic shows, that of all violent crimes such as homicide, assault, and armed robberies, sixty-six percent of them are committed by African Americans (Bandler). It’s strange that even though the majority of the crimes in which force is most frequently required are committed by African-Americans, they are killed the least by police force. In the eyes of the BLM movement activists this means that their protests are working. In reality the movement is being blown up out of proportion by the media and this in turn is hurting police effectiveness.
The media scrutiny along with the activists has created an immense amount of pressure for all police officers when handling a situation. Due to the constant media and BLM activist pressure police officers cannot properly perform their duties without the fear of being thrown at the mercy of the unforgiving world. A world that is influenced heavily by the media is not a fair one to be judged in. If a police officer reacts to a situation and fires his weapon to defuse a situation, in which he felt he had no other option, and an African-American dies, it surely means the end of his career. An officer almost can’t be a hero anymore. The media in today’s world is who should be made out to be the villain, but sadly they have the voice, and they decide who the bad guys are. The media will tell people when African American dying is a hate crime and they will tell people when police officers are wrongly killing unarmed African-Americans. What the media conveniently won’t tell people, is when a police officer saves lives, or when a police officer gives back to his or her community. The media irresponsibly paints a picture of police officers being trigger-happy bringers of wrongful justice. This only applies to the smallest minority of officers. Most police officers sign up for the job because they want to have a positive impact on society. They sign up to protect people who otherwise can’t protect them selves. They want to protect and serve as they are taught to do. The majority of officers has a passion for their job and couldn’t fathom the idea of killing an innocent civilian because of the color of their skin. In an interview with an anonymous officer of the NYPD when asked if he has ever seen racism among his fellow officers he replied, “Never, no officer in the department ever has any racist remarks or comments” he also stated, “Many believe that police officers target people who fit the build of Urban, Hip-hop culture, but there are many officers that when out of uniform fit the very same build. With the sagging pants, cornrows, and fitted hats. It just doesn’t make sense that we would unfairly target these individuals.” (@newsone). Anyone with eyes can see that many of the people who are involved in these police shootings that are blown up over the media do fit the hip-hop culture build. Those same people also need to understand that the culture is a violent one.
Artists of the hip-hop community preach violence, and calls people to action against the police force. What the media fails to show the world is when people take this call to action seriously and act on it. The only times this action can be seen is when the magnitude is too large to be buried under the other side of the equation. For instance most recently the killings of five Dallas police officers was place all over front pages raising the awareness that there is more than one side to this battle for equality. The stat earlier showed that twenty-six percent of people killed by police officers are black. On the other end of the spectrum forty percent of police officers killed, are killed by black men (Bandler). That’s a staggering number nearly twice as high. It’s hard to believe that with this information the people still believe strongly that the police officers are the bad guys.
There is another movement taking place that isn’t as popular, but bares the same acronym of BLM. This movement was formed in direct response to the Black Lives Matter movement and it is known as, Blue Lives Matter. Blue of course refers to the color of a police officers uniform. This cause while just as important receives only a fraction of the media coverage. Fair or not it is the truth. One thing that these activists will never do is declaring justice by way of killing African-Americans. The same cannot be said about the other side. A direct quote from a Black Lives Matter activist is, “No justice until there’s dead fucking police!” (Craven). This is a bold arrogant declaration made by an arrogant person with no knowledge of the true statistics. The same concept was referenced by the anonymous NYPD cop when he said, “Many of the people in the department are mad because the media is so quick to paint us as the bad guys. I suggest people wait for all of the facts to hang out.” (@newsone). It is important that all people wait for all facts to be clear before rushing to judgment. No one has the authority to be the judge jury and executioner of another human unless their job title entitles them to those important decisions. Even when all the facts are presented in the shooting of an African-American, no one can truly know what happened because they weren’t there. All a person can do is speculate as to what might of happened. That’s what makes the whole idea that a police officer maliciously killed a person so ludicrous. Yet another stat shows of the 178 black men killed in 2016 only twelve of them were proven to be unarmed (Bandler). One killing of an unarmed man is too much, however mistakes can be made. Nobody can truly know if a police officer had bad intentions when pulling the trigger, but these men and women have been trained to protect and serve. There are psych evaluations done on every person who tries to be a police officer and they are meticulous. Most of the bad eggs are weeded out and the ones that manage to slip through the cracks are quickly disposed of. There is no room for crooked cops in the world, and steps are taken every day to try and prevent any more of them from making it through.
Every death is a tragedy, whether it is wrongful or not. It makes sense for these deaths of unarmed people at the hands of police officers to be publicized the way that they are. What doesn’t make sense is when a death of an officer making a routine traffic stop isn’t publicized the same way. There is an eerie feeling that almost creates the sense that this is just something that happens and is how things work out. Tell that to the families whom had their mothers and fathers taken away from them because somebody wanted to avoid a speeding ticket. The media should be making the peoples who commit these crimes as the villains, but that’s just not the case. They would much rather see the controversial topic of police officers killing unarmed civilians covered thoroughly. Neither death is any less important than the other, but the magnitude at which one side is hyperbolized more than the other is a crime.
For the violence to stop it would take a great deal of effort from both sides. However so far it has been a one sided fight. With Black Lives Matter activists calling for the death of police officers and police officers living in fear of people who will act on these wishes, it creates a scary situation. It creates a situation that is unfair to officers who just want to do their jobs. The added pressure that is created from them having to walk such a narrow line on what is right and wrong only adds to the tension of the current situation. It makes the two side opposed to each other and this friction leads to chaos, the very same chaos that the police are out trying to suppress. The Black Lives Matter movement has to be the first to go for any progress to be made. They are the group that is calling for action and they are the group that is too arrogant to see the facts all the way through. It is easy to act purely off of emotions. It takes patience and tolerance to see the facts for what they are. Humans are fortunate enough to have critical thinking skills that are beyond comparison and it is time people put those skills to good use to end this nonsense.
The prospect that Black Lives matter isn’t crazy and it isn’t stupid. It is very important and there shouldn’t be any message that says other wise. The idea that police lives matter is just as serious. Something that must be agreed upon is that all lives matter. This is the message that needs to be spread by the media and by all activists. Police officers are not out to get anybody, let alone African-Americans. No officer wants to shoot their weapon ever, and even worse they never wish to shoot an unarmed person. Protect and serve isn’t an idea that is as lost as people think. The media must be more responsible in how they cover police activity. This selective hearing must end and the age of click-bait and controversy must end as well. Coverage needs to be fair an unbiased. All of these things are needed of the media, but no one can wait on their change anytime soon. The media has been consistent ever since there has been news, and in this age of social networking it has never been easier for people to receive the wrong information. Therefore the weight of change rests solely on the shoulders of the people. Everyday mean and women, and especially the activists of each BLM movements must be the ones to change. Both movements must be abolished so that the men and women proven to protect and serve the people may preform their duties to the best of their abilities. No longer can people beckon for death of others, there has to be an attempt at peace no matter how unobtainable it may be. It is important that wrongful deaths are covered by media, but society must also be sure to see all of the facts of a situation before rushing to judgment. There may be no salvation I the near future, but all must learn from mistakes that are currently being made. The world isn’t as horrible as everyone wants it to be, and there aren’t as many villains that there seems to be. Every police officer is not a hunter of
African-Americans they are just being painted in such a manor that such things can be believed. The idea police officers are villains, is not one of fact but one that is manufactured because of its controversy. At the end of the day all lives matter, but for now both sides of the BLM movement must be spoken for. The cries of the police officers are falling on deaf ears that have already labeled them killers. These men and women have chosen to sacrifice their lives to protect and serve the same people they are accused of killing in dead blood. Their lives are just as important and nothing should ever be said against that. There can no longer be questions of whose lives matter, there must only be the understanding that all lives matter.
Rowan Counterintuitive 