THANK YOU! I was actually in the process of gathering my statistical information for my own post regarding this matter. I am absolutely disgusted at the amount of focus and attention (not to mention riots) given to the deaths of those who are shot simply BECAUSE of their race. In this most recent case, the officer himself was also black, whereas in other publicized cases, the officers were white, leading to even more cause to call "racism" in these shootings.
But, ultimately, you are exactly on the wavelength that I am on this matter. ALL lives matter. And the lives of citizens should not be put in jeopardy by those sworn to protect and serve them. Regardless of race, religion, creed, sexual orientation, or any other reason. It's staggering the number of deaths caused by police officers, especially in recent years. Last year the number was just over 1,000, and so far this year we are at between 790 and 850 citizen deaths at the hands of a trigger happy cop. Those statistics vary based on the source, which is yet another issue altogether. Regardless of the source, it is noted that this year alone 194 of the between 790 and 850 killed by police officers were black Americans. That leaves somewhere between 600 and 660 (roughly) deaths that were NOT black Americans. Where are the protestors and internet outrage, or public outrage in general, for THESE people?? Why are the deaths of other races not publicized the way that black deaths are?
Police are given military grade weapons these days, issued armored cars, and militia style weapons and vehicles. WHY?? And why are we not focusing on these facts instead of the race of the American gunned down by these authority figures?? It seems as though any one of us could be the next victim, and that in itself is scary. If we're going to riot, we need to riot together. ALL LIVES MATTER. The issue here is the liberties taken by authority figures against citizens. The issue here is the lack of punishment given to the men in blue for killing innocent people. We stand back and allow this behavior to go unnoticed and unpunished all too often, and this is becoming an epidemic in our country. If we would step back and see the big picture, here, we would see that it's a matter of us vs. them, citizens vs the authority figures appointed to protect them and instead are murdering them. THESE issues are being clouded by the failure of the media to report similar cases because they can't be deemed "racial" issues, and by the herd-mentality of people who fail to fact check sources, and go along with the crowd in nationally televised situations instead of stepping back to realize that we are ALL in danger as long as the authorities are allowed to be our judge, jury, and executioners at a whim, and have no fear of repercussions when they pull the trigger on any one of us.
I apologize for my ranting, but this issue is one I have long argued, and have very strong feelings about.