Posted by ~ Sheldon Redditt on 12/24/2014
Dedicated to Officer Rafael Ramos, Officer Wenjian Liu, their families and the NYPD Officers that lost their brothers.
"NYPD can't breathe." "Two cops just got shot in Brooklyn.... Salute the shooter." "Mike Brown mother cryed to an every other mama an wife cryed when they was killed by the police. So shut up." "Those pigs got what they deserved." These are direct quotes pulled from social media.
So, let us imagine that someone is breaking into your home, you pick up the phone and call 911. Wait a minute! You CAN'T call 911 because there are no cops. What do you do?? Imagine that you are out at a supermarket and someone kidnaps your child and you pick up the phone... to call WHO? Imagine that a man is beating a woman and you're witnessing the beating. WHO do you pick up the phone and call? Imagine if two rivaling gangs are shooting at each other and innocent people are getting caught in the crossfire. You dash for your phone and call WHO? Imagine your elderly relative lives alone, all other family members are in the same town as you and no one has heard from this family member in days! They aren't answering your repeated phone calls; you are terrified that something has happened to them, so you frantically decide to pick up the phone but it dawns on you, WHO are you calling? I could go on and on for days with different scenarios that could happen. But what would YOU do, if there were no cops?
There are over 780,000 cops in America and a majority of them are great cops. They put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe. Do we have bad cops? Of course, we do! Just like any company in America there are bad employees, but that doesn't make the entire company bad because they have a few bad employees. The same way an entire company isn't blamed for a few bad employees, that same courtesy should extend to our Police Officers. Just like in those companies, the answer is to terminate the bad employees when it's recognized. While I realize that what some officers do may, and often does require more than a simple termination, vigilant justice is NOT the answer.
Two innocent cops lost their lives for no reason at all. These men were someone's son, husband and father. One of them, only married two months. Imagine the devastating loss that would suffocate you. Imagine if someone killed your husband, son or father; just because of the job he works. Think about that. Your loved one gunned down, simply because of the job that they work. Not just any job, but a job that requires you to put your life on the line every day. A job that is the most stressful job in America. A job where you feel you are never appreciated. A job where you find yourself, answering, "just fine", "great" or "good", at the end of the day when your loved one asks, how your day went. You don't tell them the horrible truth, you say fine, every time. Most days the things you witness are anything but fine. But alas, you get up the next morning to do it all over again. That's what a cop goes through on a daily basis. We are the first ones you call when you need help. But, we are also inherently the first ones to receive blame when you don't like the way we handle giving the help, that you called for in the first place.
So many are saying, this is no different from people being gunned down for the color of their skin, but it is different. I am in no way negating the travesty that is, being black in America, but this is different. These men and women choose to take on a profession that is mostly thankless, but they strive to make our world better and safer. It's unfair to the ones, which ARE many, to fear going to work because a vigilante may put a bullet in their head, while they're answering a call or worse yet, sitting at a stop light.
Imagine if one of your coworkers killed someone and in return some random person just pulls out a gun and starts killing people at your company. They kill random people just because they work at the same company, as your coworker that killed another person. How sick would that be, just to kill some one simply because they work at the same company? Is that not the same thing that happened to these police officers? They were murdered just because they worked for the NYPD. They had absolutely nothing to do with the Eric Garner murder. Their beliefs, thoughts and feelings about the case weren't questioned before the trigger was pulled. I doubt that they even knew the cop that choked and killed Eric Garner. They were killed for what? This idiot wrote on his social media page that two pigs are gonna get their wings today. You kill one of us, we kill two of you. What us, was he speaking of because I am not in the us when it comes to killing innocent people. He was a very sick individual. I am equally sickened by many of the comments glorifying the taking of these two officers lives by this idiot. These senseless murders fixed NOTHING. What they did do, is widen an already massive divide and create a new one, between citizens and law enforcement. Don't think that law enforcement officers aren't going to be quicker to pull their guns now because they fear for their lives now. And THEY have the guns. There has to be a better way for people to speak out and seek justice for what they feel and what they believe. Peacefully protest, talk to your friends and to people that are different from you, outside your circle and color lines, petition for the officer that killed Eric Garner to lose his position with NYPD, but don't murder innocent people for going to work. And don't spew hate, as that solves nothing. Social media has been wonderful in maintaining connections and reconnecting long lost friends, but the amount of hatred that it is bringing to the forefront is frightening and disheartening. The only thing I can suggest is to not give the negativity your energy or do speak back, but in a positive fashion. There is a racial divide in America. That is undeniable. I hope in my lifetime I can see it begin to, if not close completely. In the meantime, let's strive to uplift those that protect us and honor their position and choice to do what most won't ever do; lay their lives on the line for strangers every day. Justice has to be for all, period. Remember, in demanding justice, we have to give and seek justice, even for the ones that we feel are giving us no justice. You can't want justice for one group of people and not want it for another. THAT ISN'T JUSTICE. This is my truth. What's yours?
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