Kimberlee Buck  |  Contributing Writer 

This summer, I was scrolling through my Instagram timeline when I came across some graphic photos. I never thought I would see the day when a police officer was spraying young children in the face with mace. I remember seeing kids holding signs saying, “Please Don’t Shoot.”

This is the world we live in. Let me take a step back and explain the situation.

This summer, an unarmed African-American teenager, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. People from state to state began protesting and rioting, causing a social media uproar.

Here are the facts according to the victims’ side: Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson were walking in the middle of the street when they were told by a white police officer to get on the sidewalk. The officer drove up, according to Johnson, “almost hitting the two.” The officer grabbed Brown by the neck and fired his weapon. He and Johnson ran away, but the police officer chased after them. Brown quickly put his hands in the air, telling the officer he was unarmed, but the policeman didn’t listen. Instead, he fired shots until Brown was dead.

According to ABC News, a police report from the incident stated that the officer, Darren Wilson, believed Brown was involved in a convenience store robbery that took place in the area.

“After viewing Brown and reviewing this video, I was able to confirm that Brown is the primary suspect in this incident,” the police report about the robbery said.

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson and police reports said Brown was confronted by Wilson for blocking traffic. They related the young man pushed the officer into his vehicle and the two struggled before the shooting.

Prior to this case, a video was released of a woman, Marlene Pinnock, apparently being beaten by a California Highway Patrol officer. For those of you who have not seen the video, let me describe it: The officer grabs Pinnock, throws her on the ground and begins punching her in the face and in the head. She tries to shield her face, but the police officer holds her down and continues punching her.

CHP said Officer Daniel Andrew told Pinnock she was endangering herself by walking on an interstate highway and he tried to restrain her. The account of the patrol investigator said, “Pinnock resisted by ‘kicking her legs, grabbing the officer’s uniform and twisting her body,’ and … Andrew ‘struck her in the upper torso and head several times with a closed right fist.’”

Pinnock has agreed to a $1.5 million settlement and the police officer has resigned. CBS News reported the 51-year-old homeless woman has bipolar disorder. Her attorney told reporters she spent a month in the hospital recovering from head wounds, though CHP records dispute the injury.

Why is this important? Because there are continuing problems between African-Americans and police departments, and many people believe blacks are intentionally being targeted. It seems as if our gender does not matter, our disability does not matter, and it does not matter if we raise our hands in the air and surrender.

Police are supposed to serve and protect us, not brutally beat us. The scary thing is it seems incidents such as these could continue to happen even though people are videotaping them, especially if police officers get away with minor consequences. Is that justice served?

According to a survey by Pew Research, “Few Say Police Forces Nationally Do Well in Treating Races Equally,” 70 percent of African-Americans hold police officers accountable for poor misconduct. The same study showed 57 percent of blacks believe police officers fail to use the right amount of force for each situation.

I recently spoke with the co-president of the Black Student Association on APU’s campus to see how the ethnic organization is going to handle this problem. BSA is currently in the process of putting together a panel with the Azusa Police Department and representatives from APU’s Department of Campus Safety. The panel will discuss police brutality, the criminalization of black men and ways to build relationships between the community and law enforcement.

“There will be a formal and informal element where we ask specific questions to the panel as well as allow questions from the audience,” said Danielle Harris, senior sociology major and co-president of BSA. “The purpose is to understand their plight from their perspective and to seek solutions to the problem.” Working together with law enforcement might bring hope to a difficult situation.

This opinion piece is not a generalization about all police officers. But hopefully, it is an eye-opener to the people who still think race isn’t an issue or that there is no such thing as racism. For those of us who are women and men of color, we cannot get upset and resort to rioting. Why destroy our own neighborhoods? This proves the negative stereotypes right. As children of God, we need to peacefully assemble and decide the proper action as a community.