Police officers across the United States are all being lumped into one large group of thugs, and are being unfairly characterized as people who do more to hurt us, than to protect us.  A group that is to feared and loathed.  This characterization is not only unfair but completely untrue.  Shame on the Mayor of New York City whose name is unworthy of mention.  There are more than 300 million Americans.  Most will never be beaten up or shot by a member of law enforcement.  We have seen a couple of high-profile cases lately and they become the basis of the movement.  It is typical of the American way of thinking; one or two exceptions becoming the rule.  But everyday, our men and women of law enforcement save lives and help those in need.  Why don’t we focus on that?  Why doesn’t the media send out crews with them to show just how much good they do each and everyday?  It’s because misery, anger and hatred feed ratings.  Sensationalism works!

This outrage is as much about the human condition as Michael Brown or Eric Walker.  It’s about jobs and the fact there will always be people who don’t have as much as other people.  But those same people never look inside to say, wait, I hated school so I didn’t finish.  Working sucks and I don’t make enough money, so why should I work?!  I’ll turn this anger outward and blame everyone else instead of blaming myself and my parent or parents, which is where the real anger should be directed.  America is still the land of opportunity if you are willing to go out and stake your claim.  But it will never simply be handed to you and that’s the way it should be!

Police officers have a very difficult job, particularly in the inner cities across the nation, where crime is higher.  In cities like Chicago where black on black gun violence is some of the worst in the country, officers are doing everything to protect honest, law-abiding citizens while trying to stay alive themselves.  Why aren’t there marches across the country about that?  Because black on black violence in Chicago is their business?  It’s an internal issue?  Where is the outrage?  In middle class neighborhoods, whether Black, White, Latino or Chinese, families teach their children values that are conducive to becoming productive, law-abiding citizens.  In many inner cities, the streets are the teachers and that Never works out well because the streets are run by, uneducated, unproductive thugs that do nothing more than add to the bad reputation of what otherwise might be considered a hardworking decent community.  These communities should be working with police in order to make them safer.  These neighborhoods are unsafe not because of the police but because of the community’s unwillingness to work with the police.

And finally, if all of the decent, hard-working, law enforcement officers across this nation suddenly walked off the job and out of these communities, what would be the result? Certainly not a lot of hand holding, peace and harmony.  The fires and the looting in Ferguson was not a result of the Michael Brown Grand Jury decision, it was a result of police allowing the criminals to do exactly what they would be doing, given a lack of police presence.  The decision was merely an invitation, an excuse, an opportunity.  Crime across the country is at historically low levels because of our local law enforcement agencies, not despite them.  So if there are a few so-called bad cops out there, let’s retrain or remove them from their positions, but let’s not make the tremendous mistake of profiling all law enforcement based on a few high-profile, media driven cases.