Who is Truly at Fault for the Violence?

saba-picBy: Celeste Petradelis and Shane Grady

 

Black Lives matter is a campaign against violence and racism toward minorities. The founders of this movement are Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi. They came up with the #blacklivesmatter in 2013 when the movement began. The movement came to be when Trayvon Martin was shot by George Zimmerman. Most of these Black Lives Matter protests take place in the United States. The first in person protest was in August 2014 in Ferguson Missouri.

Many people believe these protests are turning violent. We also agree with that statement. These protests are becoming way out of hand; innocent cops are dying due to them. People apart of these movements are using vandalism, which is the wrong answer. They are becoming aggressive towards police when the police are just trying to do their jobs. They want to be heard by others but the way they are doing it is not the right way.

We interviewed Saba Whitmore on the issue and asked her what she thought about these protests. She feels “ the protests are the perfect response” to how the cops are handling them. She also believes that some protests have turned violent in some way due to “boundary pushing expectations”. Her take on how cops are handling the protests is that “ a lot of cops aren’t doing their jobs but there is a good amount of cops that are protecting the people they promised to serve.” She also feels that these protests don’t need to be handled by the police because it is a “freedom of speech.” When asked about if there is police brutality with dealing with these protests, Whitmore stated “ Yes absolutely, the whole reason there is a black lives matter protest is because police aren’t being brought to justice when they commit brutal.”

Officer Daly and his daughter Kelsey Daly had similar views on this issue. They both believe cops are holding their ground with these protests but it is also hard because they don’t want to get wrapped up in all the drama. Officer Daly does have respect for what the views are of people in support of the movement. He then stated, “But in a scary situation cops can make a quick judgement when they are scared.” Cops are constantly thinking about whether they will come home to their families or not, so when in a threatening situation, they take it very seriously. Kelsey Daly believes that “A change needs to be made between cops and citizens.” There needs to be more trust between the two groups. Officer Daly agrees with Kelsey on the fact that the media has a huge impact. They both said that, “The media drives it all, which makes people more engaged in an issue.” People look to the media to find out information and also the answers about different issues.  

Mr. Krieger had some of the same views; he mainly is just standing back and not trying to get to into the drama that the situation comes with. Most of his answers were that “People have the freedom of speech” or “People have the right to protest.” Mr.Krieger also thought that the police are doing a good job of handling the situation as best as they can. He says that they can’t really do much more  than what they are already doing, and believes that the protests are peaceful for the most part.  Mr.Krieger does not  see why the protests would get more violent. Mr.Krieger does not see the protesting ending any time soon for it is at its peak right now. Also, black people have been fighting against racism for many years.

In all, there is definitely a real issue that needs to be addressed. Cops and citizens need to come up with some type of compromise to meet in the middle. We as citizens need to understand the hard task police are taking on by keeping us safe. They put their lives on the line for us. All of us need to respect what police officers do each and everyday. We should come together as a whole and not gang up on the people who go to work everyday to protect us.