This letter is in response to the editorial "More action needed on Scott case," published on April 14.
Let me start off by saying one simple word — stop.
Stop trying to create conflict where there is little-to-none. Stop acting like nothing was done when actually it was quite the opposite: the cop was charged with murder and was fired. It was an open-and-shut case — a cop shot a man who posed no actual threat and was punished accordingly.
My problem is that you try to compare this to Ferguson, when the only thing that they have in common is a white, male police officer and a black, male victim. But unlike Ferguson, we saw the crime happen, with video, while with Ferguson we could only go by rumors and half-truths.
You keep saying we as a student body should do something — what exactly would you have us do? The man was punished accordingly; should we go down to his jail cell and rattle his cage?
Now let me be clear, I am not defending the officer for his actions. Rather, I condemn them. It was unfortunate that an innocent man lost his life in our great state and my condolences and prayers go out to his family, friends and to the rest of the North Charleston community.
People of different races kill each other all the time. Would this story have gotten as much attention if a Latino officer killed an Asian man or if a Black officer killed a Native American man? Probably not. When we focus on race we lose sight of what really happened, and barriers are built and it becomes black vs. white, when in reality it is gray.
A human life was lost and justice was served. If this world is to be truly unified it can't be "Black lives matter" but rather "We stand as one." Just dwelling on what happened does nothing. Rather, we must learn from it and move forward in order to create a brighter future.
- Derrick Chariker, fourth-year English student.