The killing of Michael Brown, Jr. an unarmed black man by Darren Wilson, a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri last summer, caused a lot of controversy.  There are many that think that Wilson was wrong for firing his gun. Others think he acted in self-defense, and Brown attempted to steal his gun first. In November, the St. Louis County grand jury decided not to charge Wilson, which only served to extend the bad feelings between opposing sides of the issue.

All around the U.S. there has been debate about this incident. Some believe it was an act of racism, even conducting a “black lives matter” campaign and participating in peaceful marches. These types of protests are acceptable, because people are just stating their opinion.

However, a problem arises when the protests turn into rioting, causing problems that are not needed. I do not think this event was caused by racism, but everyone who does has the right to their opinion and the right to participate in peaceful protests. Conversely, the problem-causing riots that are taking place are totally unacceptable and must be stopped.

In addition to the peaceful protests in Ferguson, stores were looted and burned.  The riots quickly escalated all over the country.  The events got much worse. Police officers who had nothing to do with the event have lost their lives, specifically two New York City police officers; Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos. The murderer also took his own life.

In Boston, protestors blocked Interstate-93 leading into the city. The activists were protesting what they call “police and state violence against black people.” The riots seemed to stop, but then on March 12, there was another incident in Ferguson. Two police officers were shot in an ambush at the Ferguson Police Department by shooter Jeffrey Williams. Williams is an African American who has previously participated in the Ferguson protests.

These riots cause so many problems and need to be stopped. Even Michael Brown’s family put out a statement saying, “We reject any kind of violence.” People need to think about their actions. Two innocent men (the NYC Police officers) didn’t deserve any harm, and were killed.  Then two other officers were severely injured in Ferguson.  These officers have families whose lives have also been ruined.

When the highway was blocked there were people trying to get to work that could not. An elderly car crash victim had to be re-routed to another hospital. There could have been a lot of more serious problems affected by this act. The rioting is only causing more problems. It must end.