I grew up in a time when gun violence was not as pervasive as it is today. Quite honestly, I wonder if anyone in my neighborhood owned a firearm. If they did, we as children certainly didn’t know about it.
The only people I knew that had guns were the police. Growing up, even through high school, we didn’t have any encounters with the police. In fact, we didn’t get close to the police much less their guns. The father of one of my friends was a detective, but we never saw his weapon.
The top stories in the news were not about someone being shot or killed by gunfire. During the summer, we weren’t afraid to play outside. There weren’t people driving around shooting into crowds or coming up to someone and shooting them arbitrarily. We have come a long way, in a negative way, when it comes to gun violence.
As we all know, now there is a #BlackLivesMatter movement that has taken hold in this country. It has made America take stock of the number of Black men in particular losing their lives because of White police officers. Arguably, there aren’t a lot of states in the union where this scenario has not played out a time or two.
Yes, it’s hurtful to see White police officers use their weapons to kill or maim young men and women of color. The level of aggression and force is unacceptable. Some states such as South Carolina have prosecuted police officers for being trigger happy and insensitive.
These incidents happen too frequently so #BlackLivesMatter has taken city and state governments to task and rightfully so. More stringent laws need to be put in place so that the police don’t overuse their power and abuse their privilege of being law enforcement officials.
We as citizens must not become lethargic in our efforts to see justice done. We can no longer accept the “administration’s answer.” Take Baltimore, for example. What happened to Freddie Gray inside of that police van? When we last saw Freddie Gray before he stepped into that van, he was alive. Now he is not. I believe we need #BlackLivesMatter because it keeps us all vigilant. It serves as a type of moral checks and balances.