Luna Massachusetts

Racism Against Minorities

America is a diverse country made up of minorities. Everyone deserves a fair chance and equal rights.

Dear Madam or Mr. President

I wasn’t born in South America, but my parents were. When they came from another country to the United States, they were treated with respect. Some people, who didn’t know much about their culture, asked questions that could come off as rude, but you can tell when someone is just curious.

I’ve heard stories about people treated different from others. It’s not just Latinos, though. African Americans, Muslims are also often treated unfairly. Sometimes, people divide others into groups. “Normal”, and “Not Normal”. This is completely wrong. Minorities make up this nation. It makes me sad to hear about people who call others rude names or say something about an entire group of people. You can’t just group everyone together and label them. People are humans. All humans should be treated equally. When you label a huge group, you are labeling an entire group of people. You come off as disrespectful and ignorant.

I think this is a big issue in today’s American society. There have been some stories on the news, a couple years ago, about a white police officer killing an African American man. In some cases, these tragedies may have been provoked. In others, the cause may have been stereotypes or ignorance. In the cases where the cause may have been stereotypes or racism, these thoughts cost a life. An article in the New York Times on October 17th, 2016 , called “Official Apologizes for Police Roles in Mistrust by Minorities” mentions how two African Americans (Terence Crutcher and Keith Lamont Scott) died at the hands of two white police officers. A man in the article, Paul Butler, states, “Police racism is not just a relic of history. Until police leaders acknowledge that bias is a problem right now, they will not have earned the confidence of communities of color.” Police biasled to death of many innocent minorities. Laws are created to give people equal opportunity. Everyone has to be given a chance and be punished equally if guilty. Arguably, racism may started in the time of Native Americans, when the Europeans came to the New World and started to take over. People saw only differences, and differences, according to them, were bad. Things have changed now, and it has gotten better, but racism and stereotypes still continue.

Think about history. We won independence from Great Britain and created a country after struggling. People that came from places in Europe described America as “The Land of Opportunity.” They were able to send money back to their families to get them to America. Of course, we have also made mistakes along the way, but America is equality for everybody, fairness for all people that are willing to be a law-abiding person. Immigrants and minorities make up America. By turning against them, we are slamming a door in the face to a large part of the population. Every person who is a citizen of the United States deserves to be treated with equal respect. We can’t have stereotypes about any group of people. This only creates negative feelings and leads to much bigger issues like racism. And racism and bias can lead to even bigger problems in this country. We want to keep improving this already great nation. We want progress and for our citizens to be happy. How are we supposed to do that if stereotypes, bias, and racism continue?

Madam or Mr. President, I hope that whoever resides in the White House in 2017 will be mindful of what he or she says and embrace our diverse country. I hope that in this new term of presidency, the new commander-in-chief will not shut minorities out. As a role model to today’s citizens, a president should treat everybody with respect, and keep in mind that everyone, no matter who they are, deserves a fair chance and equal rights.

Sincerely,

Luna

Links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/us/official-apologizes-for-police-role-in-mistrust-by-minorities.html  

Baker ELA

Blue

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