Enlight21

Author: Zoe Byun | Category: Society | Date: 08-30-2020

A heartbreaking incident that I have heard about was the case of Tamir Rice. On November 22, 2014, Tamir Rice, a Black 12-year-old boy, was playing with his friends in the snow at a local park. Earlier that day, Rice had traded his cell phone for a toy gun that he thought looked cool. He was fooling around and posing with it, until a witness called 911 saying that there was a person outside with a gun. The caller was calm, and even stated that this person was most likely a juvenile with a fake gun. However, the dispatcher did not mention the crucial, latter information to Loehmann, one of the officers on patrol. Rice was peacefully wandering around with his friends with the toy gun tucked into his waistband when Loehmann had reached the park that he was in. Officer Loehmann, with almost no warning, shot and killed Tamir Rice within two seconds of getting out of his car. Additionally, none of the officers seeked medical attention for the 12-year-old, allowing his surrounded friends to watch him die. This story completely shattered me; an innocent little boy’s life was taken for playing with a toy gun.

Tamir Rice caused no harm to anybody. On the other hand, Kyle Rittenhouse, a white 17-year-old shot and killed two people at a protest for the death of Jacob Blake in Illinois. After fatally murdering the two protesters, Rittenhouse was able to walk by police officers with no struggles and went home. It was not until after a viral video of the shooting spread around when Rittenhouse finally suffered the consequences of his actions.

This just goes to show the major institutional  racism that is in the policing and justice system. The comparison of these two stories make me so upset; how is it that a 12-year-old boy playing with a replica toy gun was shot to death with no cautions, whereas a 17-year-old was not held accountable for shooting two people at a protest? We need to better society by opening the eyes of people who do not see this serious issue. We need to amplify the voices of the Black community for them to be heard. We need to do these things, and many more, to create a safe and equitable world. #BlackLivesMatter.

About: Zoe Byun