Arizona Passes Bill That Will Withold Information of Involved Police Violence

Arizona lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1445 on March 18, 2015 in Arizona’s House of Representatives. This bill would prevent “all law enforcement agencies to release the name of officers involved in [situations where physical force leads to death or serious physical injury].”

The side that supports the bill argues that this protects the officer’s well-being who is not a suspect. Supporters state that the community still get to know the details of the situation, just not “who”.  

Those who oppose this bill argue that this bill would just make the trust gap between police officers and the community deeper and increase tension between the two sides, especially during a time when so many unarmed black men are killed by police officers.

I feel that this bill will be a hindrance rather than a useful tool. In fact, I find this ludicrous.  One statement of this article that bothered me was that the supportive side of this bill said that this bill protects the officer’s well-being who is not a suspect. How do we know this officer is not a suspect? Have the police already produced the situation’s diagnostic? If they already know what happened, why withhold the information of an innocent witness?

We deserve to know who is involved in the crime scene, regardless of what job position he or she has. With tension between police officers and the African American community, this bill only shows that police officers don’t trust the people. Trust is the main ideal that needs to be shown to both officers and blacks during this time so that the gap between these two sides can be filled.

I feel this bill is just one of the many things the U.S. government keeps from us. We deserve to know what our government is doing if it affects us or others.

Link: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/arizona-bill-would-keep-cops-names-secret-after-shootings-n326891

Just Who Is Joe?

Hey, I’m the Joe Reyes, renowned, authentic Eurasian of the greatest Jesuit school in Nebraska. I am a part of one of the greatest minorities at Creighton Preparatory High School: the European Asians, or Eurasians. No, I am not your Asian; I’m Eurasian. My mom has a one-hundred percent European background and my Dad immigrated from Asia, specifically the Philippines. They met through working at Creighton Medical Center here in Omaha, NE. And then in August 1999, BOOM, I’m here!

Anyway, let's get the ball rolling about who I am. I went to a private Catholic grade school named Mary Our Queen. Kids from other private schools would say "Marry our queen!" like it was some sort of "cool" and "hip" burn. It's the kind of burn when they ask "Want some Aloe Vera for that burn?!?" Anyways.

Another thing is that I started participating in Speech. Aaron Sobetski and I performed a duet called "He Whose Name We Cannot Say Due to Copyright Infringement." It was a Harry Potter parody. Yeah...

A thing that I really like to do is take song lyrics and just put them into a conversation. Take the following for an example: "Why do you have to be SOOOO rude Joe?" Grant Sobetski says in the most sarcastic tone known to man. I stick out my hand in the white girl emoji way and squint at him, saying "Why do you got be so rude? Don't you know my human too? I mean, I guess I'll marry her anyway..."

 

I guess I like to use the above gesture a lot. I use it in at least one conversation each day.

 

Music is the one thing that if you took away from me, I would turn into Hulk and smash you into the concrete. Okay, maybe not that violent, but you get the picture. You can catch me humming in the halls to the catchiest, modern, hip music of this generation. You get me dawg?

 

Don't take any of the above paragraph seriously, it's me trying to impersonate a millennial teenager. Anyway.

 

On a serious note, I write song lyrics, watch YouTube videos, and play video games as my hobbies when I'm stuck inside. If it's nice out, I go for a run/walk and just hang around outside. I'm both an outdoor and indoor person. I'm more of an outdoor person when it's snowing or raining. I like to just sit in the weather and enjoy it I guess.

 

One thing I do a lot of in my free time is teach kids in grade school, both teenagers and younger kids. I volunteer to help with first graders during the school year, and a summer school in the summer. I also help coach the Speech team at Mary Our Queen.

 

That's just a brief "about me" post, but enough for you to know my personality. To summarize, I'm a sarcastic, conversational person who enjoys nature, Speech, and teaching.