Papers Gallery

A recent shooting involving a white police officer and a black man has created a widespread controversy. Officer Amy Guyger claims she was trying to unlock her apartment door on Thursday night, but her key wasn’t working. Before realising she was on the wrong floor, Botham Shem Jean opened his apartment door. Amy Guyger believed Jean was an intruder and claimed her commands to Jean were ignored. Guyger fired her gun and caused serious injury to the victim. After shooting Jean, Guyger called 911 and began to perform first aid on the victim. When 911 asked for the address, Guyger realized she had entered the wrong apartment. Jean was not instantly killed, however, he passed away later in the hospital. Guyger was placed in Kaufman County Jail, but was released on Sunday evening after posting a $300,000 bond. This investigation has been handed to the Texas Rangers to assure people that this case is 100% unbiased. I believe that this story was very much front page worthy for 1 main reason. It is very important for us, the people, to be aware of what happens in our society. A very popular topic that has come up recently on social media in multiple forms is the accusations police are facing for abusing their power. There has been several cases in the past year that involved police abusing their power, especially in heavily populated african american communities. It is especially important to be aware of topics like these, which are related to discrimination between races. It is under no circumstances debatable that there is a significant amount of racial discrimination recently between white cops and african american citizens. It is very important to be aware of these issues so you can accurately voice your opinion and to know your natural born rights. As the next upcoming generation, we need to make the new generation aware of these situations, and also that police are not always right. We make the police feel like they have as much power as they want by never sticking up for our rights. In the worst scenarios, listening to everything the officer says still isn’t good enough. It is also very common for cops to get away with crimes that the common man would get convicted for. We should all want to educate each other about these unjust situations so things like this never happen again. There were quotes used in the article from police officers, but I did not think they were very effective. I think that if the newspaper had included quotes from the victim’s family, it would have helped develop the article greatly. I especially think it would’ve aided in creating stronger emotional connections between the reader’s and this case. I still wonder why this trial is taking so long to be in session. There is no question in my mind that if this was a black male who shot a white female in the same scenario, the male would have already been sentenced. I also noticed that there is not a lot of blame being placed on this police officer for this wrong doing. No matter how the situation went down, Guyger shot Botham. She is the reason for his death. His family will have to deal with the fact that they will never be able to see him again. He died for doing absolutely nothing wrong, and his murdered is being catered to. Our community needs to come together and stand up for what is right. We need justice for Botham, and the many others who had their innocent lives taken by the police.