Whether you like it or not, this country needs a change. Though we might all stand on different sides on the issues our country faces right now, America has become a place with a lot of tension. It seems as if everyday, some news or media publication is posting about another shooting, protest turned violent or sexual assualt assailant walking away from jail time.
We cannot continue to see tragedies come across on our television screens and then go on with our days as normal. It is growing even more difficult to see what is happening and not speak up. I am not an expert on most things, I will be the first to admit that, but one thing I do know is that tension can only build for so long before something breaks.
And something did break. Something broke a long time and, like dominoes, is continually topling onto other dominoes. For instance, this past week in Charlotte, NC, people who were fed up with the fear surrounding the possibility of police brutality pushed back against these racial stereotypes that oppressed them. Now, that is not to say that all police officers are trigger happy racists. That is just not feasible. But with so many shootings recently in the media involving black men and police officers, it creates a fear within individuals that insights a reaction.
People protested and later rioted over this ordeal. And yet, most people on social media can focus only on the broken store windows and aggressive nature of the protest rather than on what social conventions pushed these people to such desperate measures.
But, sadly, race is not the only recent news to come out that has troubled North Carolina. Recently, yet another brushed-under-the-rug sexual assault scandal came to light because the victim fought back. Delaney Robinson, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of North Carolina, came forward after the university neglected to follow through and hold her rapist accountable.
According to Robinson’s attorney, after reporting being raped at an apartment complex on Valentine’s Day of this past school year, the university and Orange County Attorney’s office chose not to pursue the case and press charges against her attacker, UNC football player Allen Artis. However, it took Robinson coming forward with the issue for any action to actually be set in motion.
So I ask, how many more shootings and protests turned violent are we going to have to see before we actively move towards understanding why these things are happening?
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I don’t know exactly how we should change this state, let alone this country, to help minorities and women feel safer and avoid these issues in the future. Obviously not every police officer or college aged male is out to commit these crimes, but there are bad apples in these bunches and we need to move towards throwing them out.
We can start by opening up a dialogue about these issues that aims to understand the victims in these scenarios. We need to focus on making changes in our nation that positively impact those who are negatively impacted by these wrong doings. We need to stop telling victims that these attacks on their livlihood are not “that bad,” that they are overreacting.
We need to start seeing each other as humans, try our best to understand each other’s hurt, and actively move to create changes that remove these hurts from the world. Obviously, we cannot do away will all negative aspects of life; that is just not possible. But we can learn about the oppression some deal with on a daily basis and push our legislators to enact laws that protect people from these things. We just have to focus on the humanity in all of us and learn that all anyone wants is to thrive in life without the fear of being wronged or hurt.
I know that some people will not agree with the actions of those listed above. I know some might disagree with the entirety of this article or with what is said about resolving some of these issues. But what I want you to take away from this is that change needs to happen, and we are long overdue talking about how to go about it.
Though North Carolina is not the only state in this nation dealing with these problems, this is our home state and we should want to change it for the better.
All opinions expressed are that of this contributor and are not shared amongst all members of this chapter.