Unrest in St. Louis over shooting

Hi neighbors. From the news it appears the racism riots of the 60s have returned. I will only touch briefly on the matter of a young man of 18 being shot by police in St. Louis.

I don't feel I know enough about the situation to comment in detail. My main concern was why was the man shot? Was he committing a crime? Did it appear to the police that he was carrying or drawing a weapon?

According to a witness, the young man and a male friend were walking down the sidewalk in the middle of the afternoon when the police officer drove up, said a few words, and started shooting.

It is always a shame when a young person dies; whether shot at home or at war, suffering from a horrible disease or as the result of an accident.

It is also important to remember that when out on the street, actually doing the job of a police officer, things are not as they appear on television shows. When facing a dangerous situation; as the officer or as the citizen, the sense of danger and fear of attack are major factors in any confrontation.

The personal feelings of a police officer should not be carried with him on the job, particularly racism. I would think there are interviews and testing done to determine if a person is a racist prior to being hired. Certainly other officers would pick up on racist feelings displayed by one of their own.

Whatever the outcome of the situation, the courts should make that determination. I think it unwise when people react with violence and seize on any single incident to cry racism and rally protestors to draw attention to their own agenda.

Was the young man getting shot an act of racism or one man's reaction to a perceived dangerous situation?

If the shooting occurred as the witness described, the police officer was a psychopath as well as a racist. I'm sure there will be lots of discussion, name throwing and political debate going on until some type of resolution is achieved. As I said before, I don't think the entire story has come out yet, and it is possible it never will.

I cannot conceive that a crazed police officer could remain in any department without raising some flags. It is difficult to understand why racism would be openly allowed in any setting.

Frankly, I do not understand racism. I can't get my mind around the concept that a person's skin color determines their quality as a human being.

If racial profiling and alleged police brutality are still among us, perhaps we should have learned the lesson that riots and even peaceful protests have done little since the 1960s to change the human heart.

It is understandable to let perceived injustice sway us to anger and from anger to aggression. But we can't let the advances of the last several decades be washed away by allowing ourselves to be used to further a few peoples' personal agendas.

Cooler heads and kinder hearts are required to end racism. Otherwise it all boils down to another confrontation where demands are made and anger becomes the controlling emotion. Until the truth comes out, let's show some mercy on the young man's family and let them grieve without expecting them to hold up a war flag.

Even Boadicea was granted a short rest to mourn the death of her family members and for her wounds to heal before tackling the Roman Army.

It is currently estimated that 750,000 people died in the American Civil War. A lot of that fighting happened right here in Missouri.

Let us hope that time will reveal this latest incident was not related to the young man's skin color.

As a person who lived through the 60s, I remember that many incidents paraded by hate mongers as racist turned out to not be so. Let's not judge either of the two people involved in this shooting without knowing all of the facts. Isn't that supposed to be settled by the court system?

Don't let anger be the emotion we carry away from this news. Let it instead be determination to find out the truth and see that justice is done.

Until the next time friends, remember that we can't let half-facts and opinions affect our judgment on any national news event. Particularly when many of those opinions heard most loudly are those of politicians.