“I’m not on the outside looking in, I’m not on the inside looking out. I’m in the dead center looking around.”

  As a young adult in today’s society, I see many problems with how situations are handled. With platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, you would think it would be easier to unite and solve our problems. The problem lies, however, with a mass of biased opinions that in turn forces people to turn against one another — Not to mention trying to solve a serious problem in 140 characters or less.

  The incidents across the country in the past few days have left me feeling extremely uneasy. From the Alton Sterling shooting in Baton Rouge, to the Philando Castile shooting in Minnesota, all the way to the attack on police officers in Dallas that left five dead and seven injured. So many times when I see people weigh in their opinion on matters like this, I see a changing of sides. This is exactly what I want to stay away from because instead of turning on one another and causing further problems, we need to come together as a collective and solve these issues.

  When I was in high school a few years back, I saw a similar situation in the case of Trayvon Martin. At the time, I was ignorant to the situation — not ignorant in the sense of not caring, but ignorant in not understanding the situation and why people were so upset over it. Having had time to grow older, however, I can now understand the problem with a young man losing his life. And coming from someone who was ignorant to the situation before, I can honestly say I see this issue FAR more when the victim is a person of color. This goes further than race because yes, all lives do matter, but right now this issue mostly affects the black community and black lives are being targeted out of simple fear.

  I completely understand the fear behind putting your life on the line every day and want to thank the police officers who keep me and my community safe night in, night out. My respect for you is tremendous — I would never bash officers who put their lives on the line so they can truly make a difference in the world. But, sadly, that isn’t always the case.

  When a police officer kills a man in cold blood, people like to jump to “well, don’t break the law and this wouldn’t have happened.” This is the saddest excuse I have ever heard, and that’s exactly what it is, an excuse: An excuse to get away with murder. Where does our law say that if you break the law, you will be shot and killed? Because, I thought this was the 21st Century, not the Dark Ages. It sickens me that, even after watching these videos, people can say with a clear conscience that someone deserved to die. NO ONE deserves to die. And how can you get mad at families for trying  to bring light to their situations in search of justice? Because if someone (not to mention someone who you’re supposed to feel safe around) killed someone close to me, I’d be devastated too.

  I have been passive on this situation for far too long and it’s time to shed light on the issues that I see. I am past turning to social media to voice my opinions because nothing I say on there will be taken seriously. What’s done is already done and there’s no changing that, but how these situations are handled still need to be determined. I pray justice is served to all of those who have recently taken a life.
-Michael Beck