E. L. Illinois

Hate Crimes need to be stopped!

Hate Crimes in this country are terrible. Black men and women are dying everyday because these racist officers think they're dangerous or think they are armed which is not bad they have the right to bear arms. These officers don't even think twice before shooting innocent African Americans. Actions like this need to stop we need to make a more racially equal country where African Americans are treated just like everybody else.

 Dear Future President ,

Imagine yourself just being outside in public and being feared, judged, and discriminated.

This is what happen to Philando Castile he shot right in front of his soon to be wife and child which ended in his death. He was shot at a traffic stop, they were pulled over because they had a busted taillight. The policeman asked him to take out his driver's license, at that moment Philando told the policeman he had a handgun. While Philando was only reaching for drivers license the police officer shot him. Then what was really unacceptable was they handcuffed his fiance and put her in the backseat off the police car. After they have shot her fiance for no exact reason.

The officer claims that he told him to put his hands up but the officer first told Philando to take out his driver's license. These hate crimes need to stop. This is really unacceptable black men and women can't go out anywhere without fearing they would get shot or harassed by these racist officers just because they look suspicious or are believed to have a handgun on them.

I feel like the new president should have the police officers go through new training and take tests and surveys to make sure they are not racist.

According to Los Angeles Times 24 deaths have happened since 1999. All these deaths relate to hate crimes. According to a diagram from FBI uniform crime reports from 1999 to 2012 88,736 people have been killed due to hate crimes due to their race/ethnicity/origin. About 60% of all hate crimes are to due with Race/ethnicity/origin.

Barack Obama signed the hate crime bill into a law. Barack Obama stated that he did it to “ help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love , and how they pray. If this became a law and is in place they how come the officer that shot Philando Castile was not arrested. Instead he was left on leave from his job but then he returned to duty on August 17th. He was only off duty for about a week that is wrong he should of been put in jail for the sentence he deserves. He shot a black men just because he thought that he was reaching for his handgun, but instead he was following the policemen's order and taking out his driver's license

Kendra James - shot - unarmed - she just wanted to move to the driver seat after the driver was arrested

Shereese Francis - mentally ill women - suffocated by police officers - unarmed

Rekia Boyd - shot - unarmed - she was just talking on the phone but police believed she had a handgun

LaTanya Haggerty - shot - unarmed mentally ill homeless women - officers state that she lunged at them with a screwdriver

Amadou Diallo - shot - unarmed - pulled over just because they believed he was a rapist suspect when asked for identification he was just reaching for his wallet when he was shot 

Ronald Madison - shot- unarmed was just looking for food for his family after hurricane katrina destroyed his house

Ramarley Graham - shot - unarmed - was shot in his apartment after police followed him in for no reason

Yvette Smith - shot - unarmed believed she had a handgun

Tamir Rice only 12 years shot believed he had a handgun but later found it was only a toy gun

Out of all these nine shootings none of them owned a gun or had a gun with theme on the scene. These kind of hate crimes need to be stopped against African Americans. These cops are shooting these poor African Americans because they believe they are suspicious or are believed to have gun on them which I don't get whats the problem it's the second amendment but the policemen always think the wrong thing just because they're black that means their dangerous. All these hate crimes all this racism towards blacks need to stop. There are many types of hate crimes but the biggest one is towards their race or ethnicity. All the crimes are because the racist police officers think that the Africans Americans are armed which is not bad they have the right to bear arms. It's just the police officers are afraid that the blacks may be dangerous or may be there to cause harm. 

Ok I get there are some bad African Americans that are out there but not all of them are the same. Like I stated before, Philando Castile was a lunchroom supervisor not causing harm in any way. He was a good man but because he was armed and he was black the police officer thought the wrong thing. Philando Castile was only reaching for his drivers license when the police officer shot him or like Ronald Madison was a mentally disabled man he was unarmed. He was just looking for food after his house was flooded because of Hurricane Katrina. The officers thought they were looking suspicious so they opened fire they shot Ronald which ended in his death. Then he police officers tried to cover it up saying that the group of African Americans shot at them first which was a lie. I cant believe this is how our officers are trained. 

That's why I state that the new president should put police officers go through new training and should have them take tests and surveys to make sure they are not racist in any type of way.

Sincerely, E.L  

Gurrie Middle School

McGovern Period 1/2

Ms. McGovern's Period 1/2 ELA Class

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