July 10th - Week 6

      This Sunday, I watched Face the Nation with John Dickerson. He featured guests such as Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, NYPD Commissioner William Bratton, and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. Other guests included NAACP President Cornell William Brooks, Maryland Representative Elijah Cummings, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Dickerson also featured several pundits including Terrence Cunningham from the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Sherrilyn Ifill from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post, and CBS News Correspondent Jeff Pegues. The main topic of the show was the violence between the black community and police and the uprising racial tension that comes along with it.
      On July 5th, Alton Sterling was shot several times by Baton Rouge policemen at a convenience store in downtown Baton Rouge. He was a felon with an unauthorized firearm, and there was a 911 call saying he was threatening people to buy his CDs. He resisted arrest and was then killed. A day later, in Minnesota, Philando Castille was pulled over at a traffic stop. He informed the officer he was registered to carry a weapon and as Castille was putting his hands back up, the officer shot him in the arm and side several times, and he died. These shootings have caused people of the black community to protest, but the protests are becoming violent. At a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas on July 7th, American Veteran Micah Johnson shot and killed 5 police officers, while injuring 9 others. He fled and later had a standoff with the police, but he continued to threaten officers, so the police killed him with a bomb strapped to a bomb disposal robot.
      Jeh Johnson and Mayor Mike Rawlings both stated that the Dallas shooter targeted police officers, especially white ones. People are beginning to question how the shooter was killed with the robot, saying he "should've been given a chance." The police negotiated with him for 2 hours and he continued to laugh and mock them. Micah Johnson was enraged because of the police brutality of black men and sought revenge of white officers, who were innocent and protecting other protesters from the gunfire. People who are using violence to get justice need to understand that not all police officers abuse their power and most are doing all in their power to protect the public.  As Representative Cummings said, "The police needs the community and the community needs the police." Brooks said America knows what things they need to accomplish to help solve the problem of blacks fear of police, but he says we lack the impulse to do them. I do think the solutions he suggested, such as passing of certain bills pertaining to racial profiling, would help the targeting of blacks, but there will still be racism unfortunately. I do not think it will ever come to a complete end, most beliefs do not. There are neo-Nazis in America, showing that people stick to their beliefs, no matter how extreme or unjust they may be. Cunningham stated that we should do anything we can to keep everyone safe, while giving criminals the proper consequences and discipline for their actions, no matter the race.
      To conclude, there are two sides of the recent violence in America. One is that people are criminals and should be stopped from causing any more violence or trouble. Another is that all cops are corrupt and are targeting the black community, which is why so many people are causing violence towards any police they come in contact with. I realize there are bad cops in the world who abuse their power, but generalizing all police officers as racist and corrupt, is not okay. The black community are fighting back for justice for their family and friends, but some members are becoming violent. Their violence is directed towards police officers, so I have to worry that the dirty looks my father and other family members receive at their job, will worsen into something more just because of the uniform they wear.