Are the Police Fighting Us or Protecting Us?

October 12, 2014. St. Louis, Missouri, at least 17 people were arrested after refusing police orders to disperse from a sit-in outside of a convenience store. Aside from the arrests and some pepper spray, the protests were peaceful. The protests were taking place in a St. Louis suburb very close to Ferguson, where earlier this summer an unarmed black teenager was shot dead by a white policeman.  To make matters worse, according to the Chicago Tribune, another "fatal shooting of an African-American teenager by an off-duty cop last week inflamed tensions." The fact that there have been two shootings similar to one another is causing lots of chaos and the people of St. Louis are getting very upset.  It is horrifying and frankly disturbing to me that these two deaths have occurred in such a short period of time, very close geography wise and by the very people who are supposed to protect us.  This brings up a very important and serious issues of race and discrimination.  People were protesting the Ferguson shooting because of how it brought up the fact a white police officer shot a black, unarmed teen, raising the ongoing dilemma that discrimination is truly still a major problem in our society today.  We saw the protest bring police to the scene to make sure that everything stayed peaceful.  However, just like in Ferguson, police were fully armed and equipped with face masks.

Comparison of Ferguson to Birmingham in 1963

This picture shows the similarities between Birmingham in 1963 during the Civil Rights movements to Ferguson.  The photographer who took this photo was quoted saying, “It looked like soldiers. And soldiers’ job isn’t to protect. Their job is to kill people and to be ready to die.” A policeman's job is to protect and if they are being compared to soldiers ready to kill, the people won't feel safe. 

I think it is very interesting to now add this third image in.  All of the police still look as if they are soldiers instead of police officers and it is crazy to think that perhaps we are fighting against the desire to eliminate discrimination with soldiers.  Is everyone truly protected?