On a New Year’s Eve afternoon, Officers ordered Keith Childress Jr. to drop an object in his hand that he was holding. When Childress refused, the cops opened fire killing the 23-year-old black man. What was thought to be a gun turned out to be a cellphone. 986 police shooting deaths occurred just last year in 2015, according to the FBI.  Childress’s death was the last of the year. This is one of the stories that has been told over and over again. A young man is perceived a threat to an officer’s security and ends up dead. Such incidents, however, are affecting mainly the black community.  This article’s intention is to ask the students of Cal U, and residents of Western Pennsylvania not to succumb to fear–not to retreat to the politics and ideas of yesterday, but begin to embrace what the American way is. To roll up our sleeves , put aside our differences and work together to solve the problem.

  My attempt is to get college students to focus on the central issue of race inequality, which is tied I believe to income inequality. When there is competition for a smaller economic pot, there is greater competition for jobs and absolute necessities. Causing people to begin to fear their economic survival. This is  something that many residents of Western Pennsylvania experience every day. Thus creating a system in which many people begin to start blaming others. Or pointing their fingers and becoming defensive and angry. However, if that energy was used by the public to call for comprehensive economic reforms, that benefit all and make the economic pot bigger  and would allow us to harness that energy to create a better life for all.

   It is my opinion that many of the great dividing forces of race are when we focus on a confederate flag, or renaming buildings, or calling for boycotts on movies  that promote police violence. While all of these issues are real and can be hurtful and cause injury,  what good does it do for the country and the people? How does it improve the quality of our lives.

    The focus we have to get have to get rid off is the idea of looking for which group has wronged the other. In cases such as these, neither side is living in a fantasy. That is why it is imperative for college students to focus not on what separates us, but what unites us. That we all have the same drive for safety, education, and opportunity. That one day we want our children to be safe, and happy, and that we all love this state and this country dearly.