Growing up, a cop was a man that you would help you if you needed help. We had a volunteer fire department and I knew most of them and several of them were family.  In school they taught us policemen were our friends, and I had faith in that idea, faith in the police. Then  the day came when protesters to the Vietnam War at Kent State, Ohio were murdered by the National Guard (cops). I cried. I screamed. I lost my faith in cops.

 

Now, we have cops killing a lot of people. A frightening number of people. Often they are minorities, some of them have even been entitled whites. Almost all have been innocent and trying to explain and/or being compliant with the cop.

 

Now cops are killing children. The first event took place in Cleveland, Ohio. I lived there 20 years. I know the city well. A black child, Tamir Rice was playing with a toy gun at a neighborhood park. A person called 911 and reported a suspicious person having a gun. They said it might be a toy gun. Meanwhile, Tamir is just minding his own business playing on a cold winter afternoon. A police cruiser comes racing down the street and quickly pulls up a few feet from this child. The cop in the passenger gets out and shoots Tamir dead. One second he is a child playing and the next he is lying on the snowy ground as his life force ebbs out of his body. His big sister then arrives and tries to go to Tamir and the cops refuse to let her near her brother. They made sure he died alone.

 

Tamir is not the only child or teen to be murdered by cops and most have been black. This has made me a staunch supporter of Black Lives Matter. Tamir was black. When he arrived in heaven, he looked like everyone else because we are all the same. The blood floods through our veins and arteries the same, our kidneys work the same, our hearts beat the same, our skin is the only difference.

 

I have attached stories about more of the same. I want to write about happier things, but the National Rifle Association and the cops won’t let the subject be out of the news for very long at all.

 

The way to positive change is for as many people as possible to know what is happening. Knowledge is power to make the changes that are required. Please feel free to give me your honest feedback in civilized language. I guess I should mention, if anyone hasn’t deduced by now, I don’t trust cops anymore. I am sure there are some good cops but recent event make is seem that there are not enough, not nearly enough. The bad and/or racist cops appear to be growing in numbers too fast to ignore.

 

Namaste,

Barbara

 

 

 

 

 

Video of police shooting that killed 6-year-old

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