In the recent last week or two, a video has surfaced everywhere on social media and news coverage that has gone beyond viral, sparking furious debate between politicians and the public alike. Said video is the infamous Spring Valley High School officer, who is captured forcefully (and borderline violently) subduing and arresting a student within a classroom. The names of the student and officer are not important here, but rather the backlash that resulted from this incident. Basically, as with any incident involving police officers and people of color (PoC) in recent months, there are two very extreme sides here that seem to be duking it out.
For sake of argument I’m going to be putting these extreme sides into to very general titles, the “Black Lives Matter” extremists and the “All Lives Matter” extremists. Both sides have very legitimate points and concerns, though both sides seem to now paint the other in monochromatic colors, creating a black and white world where really there are only shades of grey. And frankly, I’m tired of hearing about how there’s an epidemic here and a social breakdown needed here. The problem isn’t that the United States is suffering from a horrible generation of entitled kids, nor is it suffering from a completely corrupt police force. These are isolated events, that represent a minority of the country, yet are expedited by social media and news networks.
It comes down to the simple fact that you cannot apply the same rules and judgements on any of these situations because they are all different. You cannot say children are disrespecting teachers everywhere if only a minority are, likewise, you cannot say the police all need to be endited if only a small minority are abusing power. Statistically, these things absolutely will happen, and no, they are NOT okay, no matter what side of the argument they may happen to favor. You can however say, that what you are witnessing is a problem, and needs to be dealt with accordingly, and differently, when compared to every other incident.
In conclusion, we cannot be so quick to pass judgement on events like this one in Spring Valley High School or future ones we will almost certainly encounter. Bias and opinions aside, we have to look at the facts and pick out when an event is okay, and when it is not. We’re all going to be wrong eventually, it’s how life works. The sooner we begin to accept this and stop applying broad statements and opinions to isolated events that are different from one another, the sooner can begin stop focusing so much attention on who to blame, but rather why something has happened.
