Saturday, Sept. 12, two Los Angeles police deputies sat in their parked car. A man walks up to the window and shoots both officers multiple times. The critically wounded deputies were loaded into an ambulance and taken to the hospital, only to be inhibited by protesters blocking the emergency entrance. Protesters could be heard screaming, “We hope they die.” We hope they die because of the career they have chosen. We hope they die, knowing nothing about them, except for what we can see; their uniform. You stand outside a hospital calling for justice and equality in the same breath you use to say cops deserve to die just for being cops. That is blatant discrimination based off first appearances, the very thing you claim to be protesting against. Let’s not gloss over the autonomous zone of Seattle, either. A three-week period of no cops that resulted in four gunshot victims, one a 14-year-old boy, and two murders. No cops, but still there was violence. This reaffirms the idea that de-funding police makes less crime? This reaffirms that only the cops are at fault? Throughout history these moments rise. People commit atrocious acts of violence. Now we read about them and wonder why they were so blinded by hate, and how those who didn’t participate could have stood back and let it happen. What will future generations think when they read about the summer of 2020?
Hannah Clark