Dear Future President,

I am writing on the behalf of Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice. I am writing you on the behalf of the pain-filled brothers and mothers of the fallen. I am writing you on the behalf of every single person who’s angered from the actions of your unjustified police officers. It feels like every month there’s a new black family, black mother, crying of their teenage son becoming part of the “ I was killed by the white cop” committee. And if anything that I’ve said so far is true, something needs to change.

If you say that you support and/ or fund Black Lives Matter, that simply isn’t enough. During spare time, I was able to read a few op-eds which besieged police brutality and one specifically stuck. The author, Richards, claimed to be a Black Lives Matter activist herself and said, “...through all the protests, riots, and speeches, our message is still going in one ear and going right out the other.” People are using their freedom of speech but what’s the point of speaking when no one’s listening?

Yet, on the contrary, people die everyday so it could just be a coincidence that this is common. But facts don’t lie. For example, in May 2015, there were 385 deaths recorded fatal police shootings ( this number is now closer to 700 due to time) which is more than twice as many in the U.S over the past 10 years. Also, Blacks are three times as likely to get shot instead of a white person. Another fact on police officers’ brutal ways is that 98% of the murderous occurrences include the officer not receiving any consequence for the assault or even murder of the unarmed black.

The lack of mercy shown by your officers doesn’t just affect the families of the fallen,myself, and other black children, but any and all U.S civilians of color; including blacks, asians, and latinos. These people are terrified of the ones who are supposed to serve and protect them, instead,they’re being murdered by them. But there’s one more thing that’s being killed: America. Three huge aspects are being tossed away like garbage. Those aspects: equality, humanity, and peace. America was built on these aspects and now it falls and they will be buried by the rubble. We need to save America.

Sincerely,

Chappelle Goodwin