2015 so far is beginning to resemble the 1950’s in white people’s attitudes towards people of color. According to the Washington Post, 40% of the 60 unarmed deaths caused by police officers this year have been black men. Racial discrimination is becoming more and more prevalent in cities all across the nation, and this is not something we should take pride in.

Recently, another incident involving a young black person and a white police officer occurred in a South Carolina high school. A school resource officer forcefully removed a student from her desk when she refused to go to the office, and was reported to have been told to take action in the situation.

The video released depicts officer Ben Fields flipping a female student’s desk over and then dragging her across the room with her still in it. I don’t know about anyone else, but that to me doesn’t sound like the ideal way to handle a teenager’s stubbornness.

This officer should never have gotten involved in the first place. Yes, he was called upon by faculty to intervene in the situation, but law enforcement should not be brought in to handle one teenage girl who simply refuses to do as she is told. Teachers are trained and should know what to do when a student decides to be difficult and talk back to them, or so you would think.

However, instead, this girl found herself being brutally dragged across the floor in her desk and manhandled by someone who is supposed to protect her at school and ensure her safety above all else. What’s worse is that the entirety of this situation could have happened just because of the color of her skin.

Until the officer steps forward, no one will know exactly how he justified this situation to himself, but, in 2013, Fields was a defendant in a court case that claimed he targeted African-American students with allegations of gang membership or activity. So, I would not be surprised if this turned out to be another case of a white police officer abusing his power and using it to commit a hate crime because of his prejudices.

Unfortunately, cases such as this are increasingly common throughout the nation, which is why this could even happen in the first place. I’m not saying that racism was absolutely the reason why Fields decided to overturn a student’s desk and drag her across the floor without reason. I’m just saying that in this day and age, I would not put something like this past the heads of our largely white government.