This is a major cop out (no pun intended).

WARNING: Controversial opinion ahead! I know this is a very controversial issue, but I want to try to be fair to both protesters and the police. I am angry about what happened, but I'm also angry at the chaos that's going on because of it. DO NOT leave any racist or derogatory comments directed at black people or any other minority or else I will block you and delete your comments. I mean it.

I know a lot of people have been following the killing of George Floyd and the outrage and protests over it (some of which have descended into chaos). I tried to remain silent on the issue, but it was bothering me so much that I feel like I have to break my silence on it. I've been following it, last night I spent hours researching the events, and today I just found out one thing that is just mind-boggling.

Recently, the city council of Minneapolis (where the incident happened) has voted to disband its police force.

Wow. Just...wow. This is so stupid it simply defies logic. You're punishing every single cop in Minneapolis because of the actions of four men. Thanks to this decision, hundreds of cops are going to lose their jobs, and for many of them it's their only source of income. (Oh, and a little tidbit on this, one of the people who supported the decision was none other than Ilhan Omar. I absolutely despise that woman. And no, it has nothing to do with her being black or her being Muslim - she's just an ignorant, vile human being. I hope we can get her out of Congress in the next congressional election.)

Don't get me wrong, I was outraged by what happened to George Floyd and I understand why people are protesting. (I do realize George Floyd was being arrested and had a past criminal record, but what Derek Chauvin did was much, much worse.) I am also concerned about police brutality, racial profiling, and cops who think that they're above the law. But I feel like now things are getting out of control. (As for cancel culture rearing its ugly head once more, I'll go into that another time.)

I'm sorry, but hear me out: racist cops or no racist cops, abolishing the police force is a terrible idea. This makes me think of a line form A Car's Life: Sparky's Big Adventure. "If you lived somewhere without policemen, you'd wish there were cops." (Amazing how a terrible animated movie could be so right about the police.) People rely on the police to protect them from criminals. Without the police, crime will go unchecked, gangs will take over a lot of areas, people will be moving out in droves, and of course, more people are going to get killed. Even worse, this could end up benefiting far-right extremists since they could use it as an excuse to commit violent hate crimes directed at black people. What if something like the Charleston shooting happened in Minneapolis and there were no cops to stop the shooter?

I mean, the police force was at fault for not doing anything about Derek Chauvin (who had a history of using excessive force on people) until the incident, but because of this, cops who did nothing wrong are also going to lose their jobs, and yes, that includes cops of color. (I just love how in issues like these, cops of color often end up being silenced. So much for anti-racism.) Derek Chauvin and those three other cops deserve to be punished, but not all cops deserve to be punished.

And what does the city council want to replace the police with? They want "community-led safety initiatives". I literally have no idea what they mean by that. Does it mean they're going to be protected by people who have no experience in law enforcement? Also, something like this could be exploited just as easily as the disbandment of the police. I'm sorry, but there's no such thing as superheroes, so the police is supposed to fulfill the role of protecting us.

What we need to do is to reform the police force, not get rid of it altogether. We need to crack down on police brutality and racial profiling, and enforce a better code of conduct for police officers so they know that even they can't do whatever they want. The police are supposed to be the good guys - they're supposed to protect people and enforce the law. A monster like Derek Chauvin shouldn't turn society against the police. Reforming the police force isn't easy, but it should be done.

Both black lives AND blue lives matter.