On June 7th, 2020, right here in the small town of Stevens Point, a protest built out of anger and passion was sparked. About a month earlier, a SPASH Junior at the time, Reggie Eaton thought it was about time someone spoke up about the injustice toward Black lives in our own Stevens Point. At the time, Eaton had only planned on at least five people attending the protest. But to their surprise, hundreds and hundreds of people showed up instead. Standing and fighting beside them. 

Since Stevens Point is such a small town, Eaton didn’t have much faith in anyone to stand up to authority and attempt to put an end to this violence. In a largely white populated town, oppression of black lives may have gone unnoticed. But that needed to be changed as soon as possible. There needs to be justice even in the smallest corners of America. 

As previously mentioned, instead of a group with five or less people, like Eaton had expected, hundreds upon hundreds people showed up to protest lining the streets of Centerpoint Drive and Water Street. In our very own Stevens Point, as mentioned in an article posted to WSAW. Each individual was filled with positive and reinforcing energy for the cause they were attending. 

As stated previously, the protests themselves were an “overwhelmingly positive experience,” states Eaton. Every single person was there for a good cause. And that positive energy flowed throughout each of the protestors that day.

Moving on, cops, and anyone else in law enforcement, find themselves in dangerous life threatening situations nearly every day. Their work and chosen profession is a very dangerous one. Nobody is denying that.

Almost everyone in the police force has had a near death experience. Whether they have told a story, or had that experience caught on body cams. And some of them never got the chance to share their story. 

However, a CBS news article shows that over 164 black lives were taken by police in the first 8 months of 2020. That number should be zero. George Floyd should have been celebrating his birthday a few weeks ago. But instead, he isn’t. 

While police work has dangerous aspects, it is the path they have willingly chosen. Black people did not choose to be unfairly targeted and murdered by those who swore to protect all lives.