Makayla H. North Carolina

Equality

Are we really equal? Are we segregated?

Dear Mr. /Madam President,

Today I would like to address my concerns about race equality. In the following letter I will talk about segregation of blacks and whites and how it relates to police brutality. Just because we are middle schoolers, doesn’t mean we don’t know what’s going on in the US.

For several years we have said that all races are equal. In reality that's not true. Almost everyday on the news there is an issue somewhere. Whether its police brutality or plain segregation. We (the US) need to work as one to fix this issue. There isn't a law that can be passed saying everyone needs to be treated equally. We can't force people to do something if they don't think is true. Some citizens don't think they are equal to the other races. This leads to police brutality.

Police brutality is a growing problem in the US. According to mappinpolicevilonce.org, at least 102 unarmed blacks were killed in the US in 2015. One of these was Keith Childress, killed 12/31/15. Police saw an “object” in his hand, assuming it was a gun they shot and killed him. He was really only holding a cell phone. Jamar Clark interfered with an emergency response. He was reportedly unarmed and handcuffed when he was shot. No police officers were charged in either of these cases. There’s always an argument over what really happened. The police say something then all the witnesses say separate things. We never know who to believe. In order to help this situation we need to get vests with video recorders on the left and right side. This may make it easier for us to determine the true story from the lies.

I hope you take some of my points into consideration. My fellow students and I are the future of the US. our country needs to start acting as one to solve our problems.

Sincerely, Makayla