I am angry and sad

I+am+angry+and+sad

Zabiba Abdi, Staff Writer

I was more than angry; it was an unexplainable feeling I felt when I first saw the video of George Floyd. I felt so mad I couldn’t finish watching till the end.

It was quite shocking for me to see the way he was handled by the police. You could clearly tell the police knew what he was doing but still didn’t care.  For a very long time, blacks have had to endure police brutality. It made me furious that nothing has changed and there is no denying that the police are targeting black people. I have seen so many cases where the police attack black people for no reason and there’s no action being taken or the police are given light sentences. I believe the work of a police officer should be to protect everybody regardless of their skin color but it’s the opposite.

I am not sure why being black makes you an easy target. Is it racism or just pure hatred?  Every human life matters. There should be a reform on the police, and they should be held accountable.  What those men did to Floyd should not end in self-defense.

The police brutality against blacks should end. It will take a strong and sustained effort by community groups to bring about real and lasting reform. Nothing comes from doing nothing.  Of course so many protests have happened since his death, resulting in one major change.  Many police departments across the nation have banned the police chokehold. Black Lives Matter needs to continue and of course, every life matters, but right now black lives are undervalued in America.

I was sad and disappointed by some of the protests that have taken place. Destroying properties and looting is not going to solve the problem. It is only adding more problems. This is not normal, and if we really cared about his death, people could have kept doing the more peaceful protest. I won’t say everybody but some of the people, who were part of the destruction, were just there to do unlawful things. Even after all that has happened, some police are still aggressive and abusing their power. This needs to end.