Police Shootings
They need to stop.
Dear future president:
I am a young black female living in Chicago and I don't feel safe. It's not just from the black on black crime, but also from the police shooting and killing our black men. There have been multiple police shootings and not just in Chicago, but all around the U.S. When walking outside people don't know if they should be scared of the gang members walking around or of getting stopped by the police for being black or looking at them in the wrong way. I want to know if anything is going to be changed when you step into office, or will I still have to think three times before stepping outside.
Due to research, every five days, on average, a Chicago police officer fires a gun at someone. In 435 shootings over a six year span, officers killed 92 people and wounded 170 others. This is too high of a number, and yes, I know that sometimes the person that is shot has committed some type of crime, but there are also many different sources that a police officer can use. Also from what I know, police officers are trained to wound and not trained to kill. But that is happening. I feel that this is happening because most officers are scared, and if you are scared and the victim is scary, who are you protecting? Now many police officers say "I felt threatened," or "He was reaching for something." But you carry a taser. If the taser was the first thing you went for, it would put the "criminal" in shock which would make them drop whatever was in their hands. That gives the officer time to make their next move without taking someones life. So why is it that they reach for their gun first.
The killings of black men not only affects the family of the man but the people in his community, the people in that state, and the people all around the world. My question for the next president is what are you going to do to stop the pain caused by the people that are suppose to serve and protect? How are you going to change the way we look at our neighborhoods? What is going to change now that the electoral college has chosen you to be the leader of the U.S.A?