Incident after incident, police officers are maltreating innocent citizens, even killing them and more often than not, they all have the same excuse – they feared for their lives.

These officers have had weapons training and carry firearms daily, and yet would mistake something like a wallet for a gun.

Police officers killing citizens because of fear is problematic for all citizens, not just people of color (POC).

You can’t possibly feel safe and expect to be protected by a group of people who have declared themselves to be nothing more than a bunch of scaredy cats.  And how can one feel safe being protected by people who can’t tell the difference between a gun and a wallet, a pipe, or some other inanimate object?

How can one feel safe with police officers who are nothing more than bullies? A bully will terrorize people who pose no threat to them because their thought process is “I’m going to make this person more afraid of me than I already am if him/her.”

Since this abuse of power happens more frequently against POC, primarily Black people, the question that should be asked is what is it about Black people that cause such irrational fear? And what is the basis for this fear? What have black people done to justify this insanity?

It is also problematic when these officers go rogue and their partners either join in as if it were some kind of initiation ritual, or they stand aside and allow the abuse to happen by covering for their partner. Some officers are so fearful of the abusive officers that they remain silent. That gives us an entire police force of cowards. How then can we the people feel safe with police officers who are afraid of the citizens they have sworn to protect and afraid of each other?