October 23, 2016

Dear Future President:

There is a problem with racial profiling and police brutality in our nation. It has gotten to a point to where even children are afraid. Someone must take action. Something must be done to keep our country safe.

A current topic surrounded by controversy around our country is that of police brutality and its relation to the deaths of innocent people of color. Whether you believe police brutality is a problem or not you cannot ignore the facts. This year alone 865 people have been killed by law enforcement (Calacal 1). White people make up forty-nine percent of those killed by police, and African Americans are twenty-four percent of those shot. While viewing these numbers you must take into account that white people make up sixty-two percent of the population, but African Americans are only thirteen percent of the population. This means that black citizens are 2.5 times more likely to be shot than white citizens (Lowery 3).

Police brutality an excessive and an unnecessary force by law enforcement when dealing with citizens (Danilinaand 1). When a member of law enforcement kills an unarmed black citizen that is an example of police brutality and in most cases racial profiling. Between January and July 2015, 175 black citizens were shot and twenty-four of those were citizens were unarmed. Within those same months, 172 white citizens were killed, and eighteen of those were unarmed. Keeping the earlier statistics in mind, this means that unarmed blacks have a higher chance of getting shot and falling victim to racial profiling by police (Lowery 4).

A recent case of police brutality was the Alton Sterling case. Sterling was approached by law enforcement because of alleged suspicious behavior. A video was released of Sterling on the ground, and although he was not struggling against the cops he was shot dead. Alton Sterling was unarmed and not considered a threat at the time. This is unacceptable. Innocent citizens should not have to die because of an officer’s prejudices.

Racial profiling and police brutality is clearly a problem in our nation. Courses to teach law enforcement about the right time to pull their guns and act with force should be required. More thorough trials for law enforcement officials convicted of police brutality should also be required. If these things were to be required our nation would be a much safer place for us and further generations.

Sincerely,

Arianna McNeal