2020 made a big step in social justice and education about racism. Although many people have been educated in the past year, 2021 has been filled with many more racist acts. Recently, there have been a few instances of racism, leading to death. VOF has covered the topic of racism many times. To find these articles, click here. 

On April 11, 20-year-old Daunte Wright, police officer Kimberly Potter shot him in a very close range. He had gone to jail in the past, but was able to leave with $100,000 bail. In this instance, he was at a traffic stop when the cops noticed his license plate was expired. They went to pull him over, and as they gave him a ticket they saw that he had possessed a gun without a permit. Because of this, they tried to arrest him, and when he resisted, Officer Kimberly Potter pulled out a gun and shot him. She said that she was going to tase him, but she, allegedly, mistakenly pulled out a gun and shot him. When Daunte went back into his car and tried to drive away, there was only a few seconds until he got into a crash and was pronounced dead.

Yesterday, 15-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant was shot and killed by a police officer in Columbus, Ohio. She was wielding a knife and screamed at two unarmed women saying “I’m going to stab you b***h”, until the cop saw and shot her. Although her acts were very harmful, it didn’t deserve death. It was even said and seen that she didn’t hurt anyone. She was only 15 years old; she had at least 65 years ahead of her. There were many other things that could’ve been done to prevent her from stabbing anyone without killing her, such as tasing her.

Police brutality in the United States has been out of hand this past year. Although racism is calming down, officers have not learned their lesson. To learn more about racism and other community issues click here.