Two weeks ago on May 17th, a 7 year old girl was accidentally shot and killed when Police raided her home while looking for a murder suspect. This horrific tragedy is yet another on a long list fatal altercations between the police and the African American community. What further complicates matters in this instance is that the officers involved in the raid were being filmed for the A&E reality show “First 48″. Apparently the officers were excited to be on television and might have been a little overzealous in their actions when raiding the home. When I initially read the details concerning this incident I was exasperated and outraged. A little girl had lost her life, a mother lost a daughter, and our community suffered another loss at the hands of the careless police. I watched the news and searched for somewhere to direct my anger when I noticed Al Sharpton approach a podium to read the eulogy for fallen Aiyana Jones. Normally I don’t listen too much to what Al Sharpton has to say, but this time he said something that struck me. “I’d rather tell you to start looking at the man in the Mirror, we’ve all done something to contribute to this.” I thought about that for a moment while trying to understand how this tragic event could have been avoided. By no means do I want to shift the blame from the officers involved in the shooting; they have to pay for their flawed attempt to detain a suspect that ultimately lead to the death of a innocent little girl. But we do need to look at what lead to them searching the home in the first place.

Firstly, they were searching for someone who murdered a 17 year old, yet another life that was lost. This man apparently choose to hide at a home where there were innocent people and children. The fact that this is where he decided to hide is the true tragedy; he brought chaos to his own friends and family when they had nothing to do with his actions that led to him running from the police in the first place. This is a time for to reflect on ourselves and accept responsibility for our actions. Far too often we see innocent people suffer for the ill advised actions of others, and in some way, shape or form we contribute to these incidents as well. We often glorify these individuals who are out destroying our communities and taking the lives of our children. I’ve had plenty of unwarranted conflicts with police officers, my trust in those who are sworn to serve and protect us has wilted significantly after countless incidents have proved otherwise. But there comes a time where we have to look beyond the surface and figure out the root of the problem. There are plenty of questions that we need to ask ourselves. Who are we letting into our homes? How often are we interacting with people that are involved in unlawful activity? Are we paying attention to what our children are doing or who they associate with? What can WE do to avoid unnecessary loss of life in the future?

This was a terrible tragedy that will alter the lives of Aiyana’s family and those that were close to her forever. This was something that could’ve been avoided and all parties involved need to be held accountable. We have to be willing to stand up and do what we can to stop something like this from happening again. I’m tired of mourning and seeing images of young people whose lives were cut short; let’s look in that mirror and figure out how we can stop this atrocious history from repeating itself.