“It is time that you guys know that we are no longer playing around with the police departments. Aurora and Denver, we are about to start striking fear, shooting down all cops that we see by theirselves (sic).”
This call, released by the Aurora Police Department over the weekend, is just the tip of the iceberg in what is called the war on police.
As we’ve seen, in the past four weeks, three cops have been killed in the state of Texas alone.
This is not OK. No matter what the argument is, we will not find resolve with more death.
With that being said, the argument against police is substantial.
Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, the list goes on of civilians dying under suspicious circumstances at the hands of police.
But the community will not, and cannot, be reconciled through targeting police officers in shootings.
Look at Martin Luther King Jr. versus Malcom X. Whose approach in the Civil Rights Movement led people in the March on Washington, whose name has gone down in history as the one of the most influential people in civil rights? The one against violence. Both worked to stop segregation, both went to jail, both were assassinated at age 39, yet Martin Luther King Jr. is the most widely recognized of the two.
Similar to racial discrimination, police brutality will not be solved with more violence. It will be solved with communication, transparency and restructuring.
So, on Sept. 11, arguably the most memorable date in United States history, let’s not only remember all service people that died saving the country on that day, but those who continue to do so today.
I, along with many other African Americans found that offensive and would like to meet with you to discuss why we found the article as well as take measures to prevent future articles such as these. In order to touch on why we thought the article was offensive, I will list a few problems here:
1.The article implied that it was African American people who were killing the police officers. Your use of famous African American names was what made the implication
2. There was an unfair comparison between the African Americans being killed by police and the number of police officers being killed. Statistically, police officers have been safer than they have ever been. The numbers are not equal and shouldn’t be compared as so.
3. Your comparison of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King was offensive in itself. It seemed that we had to choose the safer person. Please look up Malcolm X and look at what he has done for African Americans instead of his dislike for Caucasian people.
4. This is personal, but the next time you use African American people to make a point, please use at least the slightly lesser known ones such as Madame C.J Walker, Frederick Douglas and Ben Carson in order to establish a little more credibility