Windows down, music blaring and it is just one of those nights that feels like it is going to last forever. Nothing feels better than this, then it happened and the color drains from my face and I feel like I can’t breath, those red and blue lights make me wonder if I will make it home.

I sat and remembered everything my parents taught me. “Hands where they can see them. Never, and I mean never, talk back. Talk them through every movement you are going to make before you even think about moving.”

The police officer approached me asking a thousand questions a second but I can barely process one of them. The pounding in my chest and the bright flashlight in my eyes, I don’t think I’m even breathing anymore. I somehow hand him my license and insurance and explain to him why I don’t have license plates on my car just yet. He looks disgusted but goes back to his car to check my information anyway.

He told me I would get a warning but I’m free to go on with my night; I finally took a deep breath as he walked away from my car, once he finally left I started balling my eyes out because tonight I wasn’t the next one.

This is why I fight alongside of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. I am tired of losing my breath every time I get pulled over. I am tired of fearing that my little cousin with the too big of attitude’s face will be plastered on the 6 o’clock news.

I’m especially tired of the racial injustice African Americans encounter everyday, especially in our justice system.

We need to reform our justice system so racial injustice won’t occur. Police officers should have more extensive training than what is in place. Currently they only have to go to at most a 16 week training course according to CBS, News.

Police officers should have take classes similar to a social worker. Such as social welfare policy, human behavior and the social environment. They need classes like these so they know how to handle the public, especially people who differ from them.

They can’t learn the protocols and standards of being a police officer and learn how to handle and deal with the public properly and safely. Imagine trying to learn all of this in 16 weeks at most, its simply not possible and shouldn’t be the standard.

In Sweden they have a two and a half year program for the Swedish National Police Academy, where they take classes from various staff members. According to Public Citizen, Sweden only has six cases of police brutality compared to the United States’s 1000 plus cases. If we just reform and properly educate our police officers, we can lower our police brutality rates and a have a safer country.