Megan Nicholas

10/19/16

3rd Hour

Dear Future President,

Every Night when my mom turns the news on I have to leave the room. I’ve had nightmares, I’ve had anxiety, and I’ve had sadness. All because the world around me is filled with hate, violence, and fear. I don’t think you could relate to the situation for myself and others. I don't know if you’ve ever wanted to go to a friends house and then have to endure a twenty minute interrogation. Have you been taught to memorize all your emergency contacts? Were you asked ten pop quiz questions every time you went somewhere without your parents? With my dad being a police officer I have been asked all of these. I’ve experienced twenty minute interrogations, I’ve memorized the phone numbers of both my parents, my brothers, my grandpa's, and my uncles. When I was dropped off at dance, a friends house, or anywhere else, I was asked safety questions. Such as, “If someone comes up to you and says, ‘Your mom and dad have been injured and they asked me to to take you to them’ what do you do?” or “If you were at the mall and a women comes up to you and says, ‘Your mom told me to take you to her.’ What do you do?”. I’ve become adapt to walking into a place and go through a thought process of, “How do I get out if a robber comes in?” or “Where are the exit doors” “Where could I hide and call for help”. I’ve learned to profile people, analyze if I could trust them, see if they would hurt me, and so on. I also see my dad walk into a place and sit facing the door. He’s always been ready to jump into action and save the families around him. We always say, “When things happen, most people run away, but police run towards it.” Quite honestly, he is my hero. I’ve never felt unsafe around him, I’m always proud of who my dad is and what he does. But, some people don’t feel the same way I do. Some people feel it’s necessary to say “F the police, racist pigs” all over social media in the comments. This discrimination and hatred towards police and law enforcement needs to stop.

On July 7, 2016 the FBI issued a potential threat for, “Violence Against Law Enforcement Officers”. When many social media threats surfaced and then Alton Sterling was shot there was a, “calling for a planned ‘Purge to kill all cops in Baton Rouge July 9’”. Along with this alert was an image of a masked man beside a police officer on his knees, along with a knife at his throat. Also, on July 7th Micah Xavier Johnson, a former army veteran, fired upon and ambushed a group of cops in Dallas Texas. He killed five officers and “police have said at least ten officers were shot by a sniper” along with one officer who got shot in a parking garage while engaged in a shootout. On top of it all people were celebrating the murder of five innocent victims. People tweeted messages that read, “Shoutout to them dallas shooters !! rapping pigs in a blanket😂😷 ” “F**k yes! After all these shooting, it’s nice to see someone taking some action against these F***in pigs! #Dallas” “wtf! Is when whites think their superior than us! Dallas must burn, black lives matter now, get the message pigs!” (1). There’s also videos of people “celebrating” the shootings. A video captures people dancing and celebrating-even in front of dallas officers- the death of five police officers. Furthermore, the number of officers shot and killed increased by 78%, making the total number of deaths 32 for the year- mind you this is only the first six months of 2016. This number compared to the 18 total deaths in the same six months in 2015 (2). When you look at the statistics and the behavior of our country it really does hurt. My only question is how? How can these people say it’s what they deserve? Is it what their families deserve?

I could never picture my life without my dad. He taught me some of the best life advice I could ever recieve, he’s kept me the safest he possibly could, he protected me from literal and figurative monsters. When I was young I would tell all my friends what my dad did as a living. I said it with pride and happiness. As I grew older I started to keep it to myself. I started to keep the pride and happiness inside. And now when someone asks if my dad’s a cop, I answer with sadness and fear. Although violence against police may seem of concern to only a small group of people, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about equality and respect of all race groups. At first glance, many people might say that this issue isn't a big deal and that the police may have had it coming. But on closer inspection you realize that this is just adding fuel to the fire of violence against all people. Groups of people say that police are targeting them. But, people are choosing revenge against innocent victims rather than trying to solve it. If people stopped to think about it, many of them might simply assume that you can't solve this issue, it's too big. I have fallen victim to that, when my peers ask me how to solve this issue all I can say is “it’s too big, there’s no way to solve this issue”. However, through my research I can conclude that the only way to fix this is to build that respect bond between law and order. On the one hand I agree that building a real connection in the community between the people and the law could help limit the hate toward the law. But on the other hand, I still insist that having the respect between two people can go farther than a connection. If when you get pulled over and you follow the rules out of respect for the law you will drive away safely. But if you get pulled over and you are asked to do something and you refuse and start to get in a brawl you will get hurt. The best way to keep innocent people from being hatefully murdered, families from being teared apart, or prevent a daughter or son from growing up without a father or mother, is to respect the law. It's your job as president to keep the peace and prevent people from being murdered. Restore respect in the law it's your duty.

Citations

By Susan Duclos - All News PipeLine. "FBI ALERT - Planned "Purge To Kill All Cops" - New Black Panther Party Advisor "Attack Everything In Blue"" FBI ALERT - Planned "Purge To Kill All Cops" - New Black Panther Party Advisor "Attack Everything In Blue" N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.

Lewontin, Max. "Are Police Deaths Really on the Rise? It Depends on How You Look at It." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 2016. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.