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Too Many Unjustifiable Cases
By Kaleiah Carpenter,
Rosary Cathedral
I strongly believe that
some law enforcement officials do target and mistreat
African American men because of the color of their skin. Not
all officials are the same, but there are many law
enforcement officials that will judge African American men
just by their appearance and the neighborhood they live in.
There has been many
unjustifiable cases involving police officers using extra
force and aggression towards African American men. This
makes me very sad and scared because police officers are
supposed to be good cops, that keeps us safe and protect us.
Seeing the videos all over
the news and internet makes me think that they can not keep
me and my family safe, because my family is African American
as well. The videos I have seen recently involve different
incidents when African American could just be asking the
police officer a simple question about why they are being
pulled over and questioned, which triggers the officers to
get angry and start attacking the innocent men for no
reason. I have realized that this issue is very important
because every time I go over to a different family member’s
homes, they are always talking about it and it is always on
the news. The issue of law enforcement unfairly targeting
African American males has been going on for a while now,
and I wish things could change.
Recently, I have read a
story that happened in November 2016 about a 19-year-old
African American male teen named Kajuan Raye who was being
chased by a Chicago police sergeant before the sergeant shot
and killed him. Kajuan did not have any weapons on him when
this incident happened. He was shot in the back, which means
the police sergeant should not have felt threatened. This
was the second time in three years that the sergeant shot an
unarmed suspect. The investigation on this case is ongoing
and I hope the family of Kajuan gets justice.
I think that police
officers should wear mini video cameras on them at all times
so that if something happens, law officials can go back and
look at the incidents quickly.
I think that police
officers should have training on different scenarios yearly.
Many innocent African American men are being targeted daily
and nothing is changing. How many more innocent victims are
going to be harmed and killed before change happens? I may
only be in the sixth grade and 12-years old, but I
understand a lot about what is going on in my country.
I understand that there
are some bad police officers and I also understand that
there are some god police officers. What I do not understand
is why bad police officers are getting away with the crimes
and not being punished. I am thankful for being given this
opportunity to write about an important topic that affects
everyone, but mostly African Americans. This has been an
honor to share my opinion especially since it is Black
History Month.
Work Cited
Horning, Eric and Nagy,
Liz “ABC7 Chicago.”
http://abc7chicago.com/news/chicago-police-fatally-shoot-man-19-in-west-englewood/162356.
February 17, 2017
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