We presume the police force exists as a safe haven for citizens, people who ensure we are free from harm and injury in their presence. However, recently in schools across the country this obligation has not been fulfilled.

Police officers have been showing increased examples of being the issuer of undue violence and brutality to civilians.

Not far away from here in Round Rock, a video has gone viral after a police officer is shown grabbing a 14-year-old male student, Gyasi Hughes, by the throat and slamming him to the ground.

What started out as a call to the police to simply break up the fight between two students over sports goggles, eventually escalated to a horrific injustice.

Depicted in the video, the student was unarmed, not showing any act of defiance and simply standing in the school cafeteria cornered by two police officers when they dragged him to the ground.

The Round Rock Police Department defensively said that Hughes “refused to calm down” which provoked the police officer to take him down for “his safety and the safety of others.”

There is absolutely no vindication for what this police officer did to this innocent student. I, like many others learned in school that you counsel both students when there is an altercation between kids and talk it out.

The way young black men are being treated within the American justice system needs to change. Movements like Black Lives Matter are needed today in the U.S. more than ever.

Too many officers in the country today have an incorrect ideology surrounding an “obey me” attitude. Each officer should learn that they are supposed to prevent violence in the country, not use it to control citizens. 

The incident that took place at Round Rock High School by the officer was unjust abuse used on a minor. The country needs to redefine what it means to be a police officer.

The police need to be taught to rely more on their critical thinking practices rather than learning how to use an assault weapon. If police are taught to be protectors, not fighters, I think the world would be a better place for everyone in America.

Police officers should believe that black lives do matter in America. This incident puts into perspective what it means to be black in America and what it means to be blue.