For the past couple of years, there have been problems between police and how they handle situations. With all of the situations that happen, movements have been formed such as Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter.
Black Lives Matters (BLM) is a movement for African American communities that campaign against violence and racism towards black people. They hold regular protests speaking out against racial profiling, police brutality and racial inequality.
BLM started five years ago on July 13, 2013. It began when Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old young adult, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a member of the community watch. Martin was only walking back to his dad’s fiance’s house with a bag of Skittles and an Arizona iced tea. Zimmerman spotted him and reported him to the police. An altercation happened between the two and Martin was fatally shot by Zimmerman.
Blue Lives Matter is a counter-movement in the United States that supports the police and how they handle arresting the “criminals.” Some people think it was started in response to BLM.
Blue Lives Matter started four years ago on December 20, 2014. It began with active and retired law enforcement officers. The organization’s mission is to raise awareness and encourage public aid for the needs of police officers to help police offers assist one another, and to provide a police officer’s family with comfort and support as they go through hard times.
Growing up, I had an uncle who was a police officer. He has asked not to be named. At family parties, there was always a time where everyone started talking about the things police officers have to go through. Most of the time it was about things that happen in our town like parking permits. At other times, it does get into the serious cases about how police officers are treating people.
My uncle has made it known that some police officers are going over the line with how they handle things. Most of the time, they shouldn’t pull their guns unless that person is armed themselves. They should pull a taser if anything. If the person isn’t causing any harm then a gun should not be pulled on them.
There have been more situations then there should be concerning police brutality. It is not only just happening in the United States. It is happening widespread in many countries and territories, even though they prosecute against police brutality.
With having a police officer as an uncle, people would think that if I were to ever get into trouble he would help me out. That is not the case though. Since I do have an uncle that is a cop, I know what I should and should not do. If something did happen, I could go to him for help but I would never ask him to bail me out of something that I did to myself.
Seeing everything that has happened and seeing how things are becoming divided is sad. I thought as a country we would not judge people by how they look. Everyone is equal. It does not matter where you are from, what you look like and what your beliefs are. We all bleed the same color.
Even though police brutality occurs and it is because of how some police officers respond to situations, it does not mean every cop is that way. My uncle would never do what some of these officers are doing. I feel that some people do think that every cop is the same and they all do the same horrible things but they do not.
For the cops that do abuse their “power,” they should be stripped of their badge because it is illegal what they are doing.
