Dear Future President,

I must first congratulate you on a job well done. It’s not easy to get elected into the government and even less so getting elected as it’s head. I wish you luck in the four years ahead of you. May you have the wisdom and backbone that it takes to rule a country as diverse as ours.

Now, I must bring up the very real issues of discrimination. Even today, the discrimination statics are too high to be comfortable. Not only is it directed towards immigrants and racial minorities, but with the changing times, it has come to be directed at non-binary people, those who have genders that are not the normal male and female genders, as well as those who are not heterosexual. Now, while I understand that you cannot control discrimination, I do know you can help protect the civil rights of those being discriminated against.

In fact, let me show you some statistics. Maybe that will bring to your attention to how bad this issue really is. In a poll conducted by CNN/ORC, found at pollingreport.com, there were questions on race and ethnicity. The poll found that the majority of people found relations between races generally bad, with an astounding 69% of Americans putting that as their answer. Out of those, the percentage of blacks that agreed was 72%, and the number of whites was around 71%. Another question asked by the poll was if they felt the relations were getting worse, getting better, or staying the same. 59% said that the relations were getting worse. Out of those who agreed, the percentage of the white population that agreed was 62% and the percentage of blacks was 53%. Both of those were more than half, which should be very worrying. It means that more and more races are feeling degraded and possibly unsafe with the other citizens.

Let me bring up another statistic on pay rates. Pew Research Center, found at the domain of pewresearch.org, has a poll that points out that not only are Blacks and Hispanics getting paid lower amounts than their White co-workers, but Asians are actually getting paid higher than the average White. The statistic finds that on average, Hispanic men were paid 69% less than their White male counterparts. Blacks earned only 4% more, being paid 73% of a white man’s wages. Astonishingly enough, compared to White males, Asian males earn 117%. That doesn’t really seem fair, does it, Mr./Mrs. President? However, maybe with your interference, be it a compelling speech or two, or even a mandate, will persuade people that this is wrong and stop the unfairness at its source. With that out of the way, and everyone getting paid their equal dues, the sense of equality will rub off on other actions.

Lastly, to address the LGBTQ+ side of things. Mr./Mrs. President, I did some research and found a list of statistics on articles.latimes.com. Did you know that for every dollar a heterosexual makes, their equally qualified bisexual, and homosexual counterparts only earn $0.68-$0.90? That’s 68%-90% of the paycheck they’re missing out on, which may not seem like much. Yet, the fact that they're earning less than others because of their sexual orientation completely baffles me. It does not seem morally logical to punish someone in that way because of who they choose to love. Now, I believe we achieved a great feat in legalizing same-sex marriage in all fifty states. Not only did it allow those of the lesbian and gay orientations to marry, as well as other sexual orientations that allow same-sex coupling, but we allowed that part of the community to feel safer, more at home in America. I stongly believe that protecting that gained right will be best for our country. However, problems are now starting to pop up over the transgender and transsexual communities. One recent event includes Target openly allowing Transgenders to use the restrooms they feel most comfortable using. Naturally, people threw a fit and started rioting against the notion. I, on the other hand, believe that this is another small, yet crucial step forward in ensuring that every American is comfortable in their own skin, and with the people around them.

If we implement these policies on pay rates and bathrooms, much like we implemented same-sex marriage, I believe it will take us one step further into the future of a non-discriminant and nation, which is what this country needs in order to become a stronger country.

I sincerely thank you for your time,

Aria Hunt