Only way to solve our problems is together
It’s time we all come together and face the real problems in this country. As a retired police officer, I've seen enough suffering and pain. By all means, we need to weed out rogue cops. If we don't, that would make it much more difficult for the overall good ones.
When an officer does something questionable, we have to pause. Let the criminal justice system do its job. We would want that for all of us.
Not so for the haters and dividers out there causing friction and chaos. So long as we tolerate them, we won't have peace in their community. It is certainly not fair to the peaceful demonstrators. When they go out to hurt police officers, they selfishly hurt their own neighborhoods.
When they destroy people's property, it makes no sense. But I think we all know it starts in the home. If a child is raised without love, discipline and taught respect, it only creates displaced anger. That certainly could create a problem when dealing with authority.
Police officers, and teachers for that matter, would have a hard road dealing with that individual. The police and the community have to work together. The behavior on both sides have to be examined. If only one side is scrutinized, we only solve half the problem.
I learned years ago it takes two honest sides to resolve a problem. President Obama should take Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and black lives matter by the hand. They should walk the streets of Chicago and Baltimore and demand that the gang violence stops.
If they truly cared about lives, they would make a concerted effort to combat it. Why this is not covered more by the media always puzzles me. Politically-correctness is only a way to subvert the truth. I think we all need to clean our own backyard before we point fingers. If we all took stock in ourselves and take responsibility for our own actions, this would make for a great country again.
If one side only looked at police in a negative way, would you want them to look at you the same way? Where does it end?
Gene Coscia, Murrells Inlet
This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 9:55 AM with the headline "Only way to solve our problems is together."