Dear Mr/Mrs. President,

African American males only make up 13.3% of the U.S. population. How does a group that makes up 13% of a country’s population account for more than 15% of deaths by police? Because clearly Racial Discrimination isn’t seen as a problem to officers. According to theguardian.com “47.2% of all people killed by police are minorities.” This statistic stands out to me as nearly half of the people who die from police brutality are of color… How do we let our country go back to a point where racial injustice is a major issue? Another quote is, “Police shoot and kill blacks almost twice as frequently as any other racial group.” (alternet.org). TWICE! This is a problem. As an african american male it scares me to know that a routine traffic stop for a white civilian can turn into a life or death situation for myself if I make one sudden move. The color of my skin shouldn’t determine how big of a threat I am to an officer. “when factoring in threat level, black Americans who are fatally shot by police are, in fact, less likely to be posing an imminent lethal threat to the officers at the moment they are killed than white Americans fatally shot by police.” (vanityfair.com). Even though we don’t pose an imminent to police officers, we still get shot twice as likely than our white counterparts. Frightened would be the word to describe how I would feel to be pulled over by a cop if I am in any way of color. Just think, you get pulled over for a tail light being out, the officer comes to the window and ask for your license and registration, you make a move for your wallet and bang! You’ve been shot because apparently the officer felt his life was in danger when you reached for your wallet. This NEEDS to change as there is already tension between the police and minority communities and without change this tension will grow stronger and stronger. As our President, I need YOU to make sure every police officer in America is retrained and taught other ways of de-escalating a situation.

Sincerely,

Shiloh