By Emily Boudreau | Observer Contributor
Candace Shivers, a Sociology Professor at Mount Wachusett Community College, talked about race relations and poverty being the two most important social issues of our time period. Poverty is affecting many different individuals today at an alarming rate.
“People who are struggling do not necessarily fight against the people who have a lot of money, they fight against each other,” Shivers replied when asked why she thought poverty was so prevalent today. She talked about how every person should have a right to education and how poverty is a vicious cycle that is very hard to get out of.
A higher education is extremely difficult to get for individuals once they reach poverty levels. Shivers also repeatedly said, “Education is the foundation of society.”
Shivers said backlash appeared when Barack Obama became President of the United States, which made groups of people believe that black people thought they were entitled. This is really where our current racial issues started. Every generation likes to believe that they are better than the generation before and that things have changed; Shivers, however, does not believe this.
In the 1960’s there was a large distrust of police officers and that issue has risen again in today’s society. Anyone that within the duties of their career that has power can easily misuse that power, and that is what some believe is happening with some of the current police officers.
“In our society there is a general distrust of police officers, no matter what their race is,” said Shivers. In the 1960’s we had the same issues of believing police were not there to actually protect us.
Jeffery Howe, a lieutenant of the Fitchburg Police Department, talked about opiate addiction being a large problem in today’s society. “Unfortunately once individuals get hooked on the drug, a lot of them cannot come off of it. We are pretty much losing an entire generation of people who could be successful and flourish in society,” said Howe.
Opiate addiction has become a huge problem in the past year in the United States, affecting many people in our society. Howe talked about addiction having to do with the easy accessibility and overprescribing of pain medications in past years. He also mentioned that to change our society for the future, everyone needs and deserves a higher education. Similar to Shiver’s views, Howe said that if we had more affordable colleges, more people would get an education and that is key to a brighter future.
“Education opens you up to many new things. Not only does it help you with a career but to introduce you to other cultures and aspects of life that you may have never seen otherwise,” said Howe.
Howe believes that media is the largest culprit when it comes to issues with police officers. The media can easily blow things out of proportion and distort stories and videos to make them television-worthy.
“We are very professional, we treat everyone the same. It does not matter what your color, creed, race, or religion is. What matters to us is our safety and the safety of our citizens. If we go to a call and you’re carrying a gun illegally, you’re going to be arrested,” said Howe. The one thing Howe wanted to get across, especially to college students, is that all police officers are human and can make mistakes just like anybody else.
“99.9% of police officers are out there trying to do the right thing. Do you get a few bad apples? Absolutely. That can happen in any career,” said Howe.
Misha Barker, a student majoring in English, believes that societies largest issue is income inequality. Unlike Shivers, Barker believes that poverty is due to the rising tension between the rich and the poor.
“There is an ever-growing divide between the rich and the rest of the world. This divide affects everyone from getting ahead, except the extremely wealthy,” said Barker. She also said that education is key to fixing many of society’s issues. Individuals who are forced into situations that hold them back from getting ahead would be able to change their lives if education was more affordable.
When Barker was asked about the distrust of police officers, she spoke about abuse of power and authority. “Police should be examples of the law, not above it,” said Barker. She said how police officers often treat students and the younger generation differently, which starkly contrasts Howe’s views.
The younger generation often feels that there is a target on them even if they are doing nothing wrong. Younger people often feel that they have less power, especially when it comes to issues with the police. Barker said there has been growth in issues of race, education, and medical care, even though there are still improvements to be made.
“There are many struggles ahead of us, but we are on the brink of change that will help our country so much,” said Barker.
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