Kaitlyn Tambasco, Tangerine clerk

Since Donald Trump was sworn in as president more attention has been drawn to the controversy surrounding police brutality and diversity, issues that were controversial long before he took office.

On Sept. 21, students and staff gathered in the Pioneer Cafe for another discussion about diversity, police brutality, as well as many other concepts and issues. The event was hosted by the Black Student Union and the K. Della Womyn’s Resource Center.

Members of the Black Student Union began the night with surprising statistics about police brutality, then the event moved into a video of Trump saying he encourages police brutality.

Students then got the chance to share their thoughts after watching the video.

“I actually have a really good family friend that is a police officer, but was hurt by that video,” student George Archundia said. “It’s not giving a good representation of police officers.”

Gi Boone, who is a member of the Black Student Union, also shared her feelings after some other police brutality videos were played.

“The duty of a cop is to protect people,” Boone said. “We do have a right to rally and protest, but what point is enough?”

The talk then turned to a video of the shooting of Philando Castile. Castile was shot by a police officer on July 26 after being pulled over.

The officer thought Castile was involved in a robbery that happened that day, but really pulled him over because of a tail light on his vehicle. While the officer was at Castile’s car, Castile told the officer that he did have a licensed gun in his vehicle.

The police officer told Castile not to reach for it, even though Castile didn’t even have the gun in the front seat. The officer started yelling at him, and then shot and killed Castile. Meanwhile, this was all videotaped by Castile’s wife and put on Facebook Live.

“We also need to rise above and stand up for what’s right,” said Alison Franklin, a counselor at UC’s Counseling Center.