UNITED STATES—By now, I’m certain everyone has heard about the South Carolina police officer who fatally shot an unarmed African-American male last week. The story drew so much media melee because footage of the actual incident was captured by a bystander.
What America and the rest of the country soon learned was that this cop was looking to cover his tracks in a murder that should have never happened. The victim, Walter Scott was stopped by Officer Michael Slager, and what later happened is hard to describe with words. Officer Slager used a Taser gun to halt a fleeing Scott. He later shot the man more than 5 times in the back.
Officer Slager’s account of what transpired, with the footage captured failed to add up. This guy was literally going to get away with murder had it not been for this person, who captured this footage. What’s scary? This epidemic is continuing to happen more and more it seems.
I mean 2014 and 2015 has been one story after another about African-American males being killed by White police officers. In plenty of these cases, there is no just cause for the actions and has plenty screaming racism.
Would I like to believe that racism isn’t playing a role in these incidents, yes, but a person’s gut instinct says otherwise; these repeated incidents are no coincidence in my opinion. It seems like every week, I’m hearing a story about an African-American male being fatally shot by a White police officer. It’s like an epidemic is taking place against a particular race.
While we’ve had this debate in the past, it seems we’re still not getting at the core of the issue. Racism is still a MAJOR PROBLEM in the United States. For anyone to look a person in their face and say, well race no longer matters because we have a Black president is a load of crap.
If we’re continuing to hear story after story where the police are fatally shooting unarmed individuals without just cause it raises questions. Are all police officers corrupt? No, but it doesn’t shed a glimmer of hope for Americans who are continuing to suspect the police are out to get them.
The only way to rebuild such suspicion is to discuss the issues at hand. Without a healthy discussion, I defer from the term debate, because this is not an argument, it’s a goal aimed at getting conversation going about how we can prevent such atrocities happening, over and over again. I just heard this week about another incident, where a 73 year-old cop ‘accidentally’ killed an African-American male; he thought he was grabbing for his Taser. This is beyond crazy.
There is a group of Americans who suspect that it’s an all out war against African-American males and the police are at the center of the issue. There has been avid discussion that arming all officers with body cameras could be one source to perhaps eliminate an epidemic. Do I agree with the body camera? Yes, as it captures all that is taking place. There is no opportunity for the officer to attempt to weave a story that works in their favor, because the camera does not lie.
Others are concerned that it’s an invasion of privacy for police officers, as they are likely to be a bit more constrained with their behavior. They know they’re being watched, so what they say and what they do will be examined with extra scrutiny, and you’re a government official. It comes with the job.
This is not an attack on the police force because I’m well aware from having family as officers, not all police officers are bad, not all are racist, but when you have a few bad apples it does shed a bad light on things. This isn’t a discussion we should have, we MUST have it. If it was a random incident that’s something else, this has become an ongoing trend since 2013, and its time someone do something about it.
