By Yasmine Law
On February 27, 2015, 14-year-old Kierra'onna Rice was tragically shot and killed over a social media dispute -- at least, that's the only thing the media has focused on. Verbal sparring on Facebook could have been a factor, but I think there's a bigger issue at hand.
We all remember the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. A majority of people around the world were upset with the outcome, which lead to protests and a popular hashtag campaign titled "Black Lives Matter." It's clear that racial issues are still prevalent in 2015 and we need to be aware and speak out against them. At the same time, we need to be aware and speak out when teenagers of any ethic background kill each other.
During the Black Lives Matter campaign, some argued that all lives matter. Well, at the time African Americans were being targeted, which was our focus. But why are black lives only valued when they're threatened by a white police officer? Murder should be unacceptable no matter how old you are, where you come from and your skin color definitely shouldn't be a pass.
It's easy to use a hashtag, dress in all black and verbally attack our judicial system but we also need to fix our own communities. I'm 16 years old, and I haven't faced many issues in my short walk of life, but just to know that a 14 year old girl didn't get the chance to fulfill her life disgusts me. We should all be angry and sad, just like we were after Michael Brown's death.
I love living in Birmingham, and there's so much potential here, especially among our youth. Murder shouldn't be excused, no matter who you are. We all have to come together and make a change, because situations like this should never happen.
Yasmine Law is a junior at the Alabama School of Fine Arts.