Dear Mr./Mrs. President,

When it comes to the topic of racism, most of us will readily agree that racism is wrong. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of who is being racist. Whereas some are conceived that only white people can be racist to colored people, others maintain the thought that colored people can be equally as racist as white people. Therefor I will explain the wrongdoing of both sides. I will do this by logically breaking down racial protests, past discrimination and police shootings.

Before I start I want to go back in time 1,155 years to the start of the Civil War. If you know your history you would know that sometime into the war Abraham Lincoln made the Civil War about slavery. In other words he geared it towards racism, which brought me my belief on the subject. I believe all forms of racism are wrong; whites to blacks and blacks to whites. I agree that white people were wrong and did wrong against colored people. Now if we fast forward 1,155 years to the present, I believe America has made a grand leap to fix our wrongdoings that have occurred in the past.

Yet some readers may challenge my view by insisting that America has not changed, but statistics consisting of professional athletes, artists and political groups tells us otherwise. The website “www.diversityinc.com” tells us that 47.7% of professional soccer players are colored, 76.3% of NBA players are colored and 66.3% of NFL players are colored. As you can see, three of the biggest sports in the world are equal in their ratio of white to black athletes. And in some cases there are more colored people than white. This doesn’t only involve sports but also politics. Look at our past president. A colored man that people look up to and trust with running the United States of America. President Obama was also elected for a second term in office.Although it is easy to dismiss these facts and percentages, they speak for themselves. They tell us that colored people have the same opportunities as whites. Change has occurred in 1,155 years.

It is often said that there are more colored people in prison. Which is true, but then they go on to say that it is because America’s police departments are racist. And the number of colored prisoners help their argument. The website “www.americanprogress.org” tells us that the American population is 30% colored, and 60% of that 30% are in prison. This only helps their argument if we know the cops are racist. But I know most policemen are not racist do to multiple story’s I have heard and scenarios I have experienced.

This past year I have visited a church leaders conference. At this conference a pastor came onto the stage and explained a police shooting that he had a personal connection to. The story begins with a policemen proceeding on a routine patrol. During his patrol he noticed a man suspiciously lurking down an alley with a bag in his left hand. This lurking man was in all black from head to toe, he was muscularly fit and had an object protruding out of is right jacket pocket. When the man spotted the police officer He immediately started to run. After a short chase the policemen jumped out of his patrol vehicle and proceeded be foot. Once the policeman was on foot the man pulled the object out of his jacket pocket and started directing bullets at the policemen. As the policeman sprinted for cover an extreme pain exploded from the top of his head. As his knees started to buckle under the weight of his body and his thoughts started to fog over, the blood from his wound flooded over his eyes. Out of pure terror for his life, he decide to use his only form of protection he was given. He fired his weapon in the direction of the man blindly. After help arrived and the lurking man escaped he received information that changed his life. One of the bullets he fired, out of pure terror, penetrated and killed a young black girl that was walking by, across the street perpendicular to the ally.

It has been common today (and in the past) to dismiss the actions of the policeman that were out of pure terror, and think of the white policeman as racist murder. And many people thought this way. So much so that people sent the policeman hat mail and threatened to kill his little white girl. The commotion excelled due to news crews highlighting the “murder” of the little black girl, and the street protests screaming for racial justice, the policeman lost his job and became an alcoholic. And to make matters worse, the policeman was put on trial for the “murder” of the little black girl. While he was awaiting his trial in a couple weeks he was drinking at a bar, and beside him was the pastor. As the pastor realized that there was something more to the man then just an alcoholic he asked what was wrong. The drunk policeman explained everything. The pastor was given the thought to tell the policeman he needed to go apologize to the little girl's mother. The policeman built up the courage and went to the mom’s house and cried his apology to her. After they both started to heal together the mom forgave the policeman and then, unexpectedly, decided to become the defense lawyer for the policeman’s trial. Later she explained she did this because she new he wasn’t a racist policeman, but a normal man put in an awful situation and making a choice to protect himself just as we would do.

In conclusion, defenders of the thought that white people can only be racist to colored people can’t have it one sided. They also can’t proclaim they have less opportunities than white people due to the percentages of colored people in professional sports and the color of President Obama. Lastly, there can still be a low number of immature white people in America. And they need to see the danger in their thoughts concerning racism. But America’s police departments are here to protect everyone. Not only certain races. But mistakes happen. We are all sinful people that make mistakes. And we should forgive them and move on because we are no better than the person next to us.

Sincerely, Casper Schichtle 

Citation Page:

Https://www.facebook.com/DiversityInc/. "Major League White: How Pro

Sports Aren't What They Seem." DiversityInc. N.p., 30 Apr. 2014. Web. 27

Oct. 2016.

Kerby, By Sophia. "The Top 10 Most Startling Facts About People of Color and

Criminal Justice in the United States." Center for American Progress. N.p.,

13 Mar. 2012. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.