12 year old Cleveland, OH youth shot by police. What is going on in society?

*Thoughts by B. Brown --- BREG

This is another tragic situation.

I stopped a black male youth (maybe 12 - 14 years old) in the West-End area of Atlanta, GA doing almost the exact same thing that this Cleveland, OH youth was doing a little over a month ago. I did not know him, but I stopped my car, got his attention & said, "young brother, please put away that toy gun & do not play with it outside your home. As a matter of fact, I would like for you to throw it away. I don't want you to be killed out here by someone mistaking your toy gun as a real gun."

He didn't say anything, but he apparently understood what I said because he did put it up (in his waistband however) & ran on down the street with his friend.

I saw the orange tip in this youth's toy gun, but it has been said that the Cleveland youth did not have the orange tip in/on it.

Our youth have a responsibility to follow directions from authority figures (parents, teachers, police, firefighters, etc.) When we as parents, guardians, adults do not teach our children how to conduct themselves properly & to respect authority, some of the decisions/mistakes they make could be fatal ... Parenting the Hip-Hop Youth ... We've seen this situation and scenario over & over again. When the officers say, "Show me your hands or put your hands up," we all are supposed to show are hands with no weapon in them as soon as possible. If there are mental/learning challenges involved, not too many police officers are going to be able to assess that in the heat of the moment.

We all must do our very best not to put ourselves in position to be killed.

Education & the ability to think is lacking for too many of our youth that actually believe being in a gang & being "hard in the streets" is what they are supposed to do and who they are supposed to be. This Cleveland youth should not have had the bb/pellet gun in the 1st place, the orange tip should not have been removed, he should not have been waving it at people & he should have put his hands up immediately instead of reaching into his waistband. That's a universal no-no.

Should the police officers have done a better job of assessing the situation? Probably so. Do I believe in using body cameras? Yes, I agree that we need body cameras on every single police officer in the world & continuous training on these types of situations and more!

When humans are involved. Anything can happen. Police Officers are human as well, & they want to go home at the end of the day just like me and you.

I am Praying for everyone involved. One Love!

CNN Video Link --- 12 year old youth killed by police