Philando Castille

Last year, a man named Philando Castile was fatally shot during a traffic stop by Jeronimo Yanez, a Minnesota police officer. After his girlfriend used Facebook Live to broadcast the aftermath of the shooting, Castile's death quickly picked up widespread attention and spurred protests over the negative use of police force all over the country. This awful incident raised the same question yet again: would this have happened if the driver and passengers were white? Officer Yanez claimed to have smelled marijuana, which led him to believe that Castile matched the description of a recent robbery suspect and saw him grabbing a gun – "I didn't want to shoot Mr. Castile," Yanez testified, "That wasn't my intention. I thought I was going to die."After five days of deliberation from a jury of twelve, including two black people, officer Yanez was found not guilty of second-degree manslaughter and also acquitted of two counts of intentional discharge of firearm that endangers safety. The verdict left many outraged, Castile's family and friends especially: "The system continues to fail black people," his mom said, "My son loved this city and this city killed my son and the murderer gets away! Are you kidding me right now?" As similar incidents are becoming more and more common in our nation, it seems that our civilization is only devolving and going against progress. What is it going to take to change and solve these issues?