Dear Next President,

I am writing you this letter to address a topic our country is still struggling with to this day, racism. The civil rights movement is almost 50 years old, and yet racism still exists in our country. According to CNN, 49% of people in the US see racism as a big problem. Racism is an unpatriotic and deplorable practice, which infringes upon other people’s rights. If it infringes on another person’s rights, then it should be illegal. All the government has done is allow colored and white people to go to the same places and use the same things. This is not abolishing racism. This is abolishing its causes. Racism still exists in the world today and I want to stop it.

One of the main reasons racism exists today is because we tend to group people into stereotypes, for example, all African American people are dumb and bent on criminality, or that Asians are nerds. Because of this, black children are 3.5x more likely to be suspended than white people, and 1 out of 3 African Americans will be incarcerated, according to PBS. Not all people of color fall into these stereotypes based on their race. I think that we should encourage our children to mingle with others, regardless of their color. I also think that we should encourage people to bring out the best in each other regardless of what stereotype they are given. I think that we should hire more colored people in government places dominated by whites, which may spark the realization that black people are just like them.

Secondly, I think is that the movement to end racism has gone too far. Time recently put out an article about how Disney released a racist costume based on the new movie “Moana” which features Polynesian Islanders. This is good because this group of people is not well represented in Hollywood, but the costume features brown skin and tattoos, which is unacceptable. You can’t just dress up in a skin and all of a sudden pretend to belong to another culture. The tattoos on the bodies of Pacific Islanders are deeply meaningful and it is taboo to wear tattoos of something you are not physically or spiritually connected to. This is what is called cultural appropriation, and it is wrong as well. I think that you should help raise awareness for this practice and that you should address this in one of the many speeches that you make.

A third problem is that some people find it funny to make fun of people with different color. Recently BBC put out an article about a college student at Kansas State University who posted a picture of herself and someone else in blackface and had a racist caption I will not mention. After it got negative feedback, she insisted that it was a joke. Another example was from CNN about the fraternity at the University of Oklahoma that was caught on video chanting a racist slur. The topic of race is still a sensitive topic to some and should never, ever be joked about, and what these people did is very disgraceful to their respective colleges.

Some people such as Lil’ Wayne argue that racism isn’t there anymore, because of a new generation who say racism isn’t cool, according to USAToday. Lil’ Wayne may think that because at his recent concert the majority of the people attending were white and the art form they want to see is of black origin. But as the Washington Post says, white people listened to black music in the 50’s and 60’s, like Chuck Berry and Chubby Checker, but racism still wasn’t over. Another argument against the black community about the shootings going on is that blacks are a minority that commits the majority of the crimes. These people may argue using facts such as blacks made up half of the homicides in the last 30 years but are only 13% of the population, from Breitbart News. But there should not be a distinction between black people and white people. You don’t know anything about their personality, so you shouldn’t judge them based on color.

So, Next President, as you can see, racism is still a problem almost 50 years after the Civil Rights movement. This utterly disrespects them, because some of them died for this noble cause. So I plead you because you are who the country looks up to, please end racism.

                                                                                                                      Sincerely,

                                                                                                                            Melvin

                                                                             Works Cited:

Sholchet, Catherine E. “Racism Is a 'Big Problem' to More Americans, Poll Finds.” CNN, Cable News Network, 25 Nov. 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/24/us/racism-problem-cnn-kff-poll/.

Amurao, Carla. “Fact Sheet: How Bad Is the School-to-Prison Pipeline?” PBS, PBS, 28 Mar. 2013, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/education-under-arrest/school-to-prison-pipeline-fact-sheet/.

Dockterman, Elaina. “The Internet Isn't Happy About This 'Moana' Halloween Costume.” Time, Time, 20 Sept. 2016, http://time.com/4501213/disney-moana-halloween-costume/.

Mazama, Ama. “Racism in Schools Is Pushing More Black Families to Homeschool Their Children.” Washington Post, The Washington Post, 10 Apr. 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/04/10/racism-in-schools-is-pushing-more-black-families-to-homeschool-their-children/?utm_term=.f16e0449a997.

“Blackface Selfie Student Says Sorry after Racist Snapchat Picture Went Viral.” BBC, BBC, 19 Sept. 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37405949/blackface-selfie-student-says-sorry-after-racist-snapchat-picture-went-viral.

McLaughlin, Ellot C. “U. Of Oklahoma Fraternity Shuttered after Racist Chant.”CNN, Cable News Network, 10 Mar. 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/us/oklahoma-fraternity-chant/.

McDermott, Maeve. “Lil Wayne Thinks Racism Is over, Because Millennials.”USA Today, Gannett, 14 Sept. 2016, http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/09/14/lil-wayne-thinks-racism-is-over-because-millennials/90347466/.

Jabbar, Kareem Abdul. “Lil Wayne and Bill O’Reilly Don’t Get Racism and Sexism. Boycott Them until They Do.” Washington Post, The Washington Post, 20 Sept. 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/09/20/heres-what-lil-wayne-and-bill-oreilly-dont-get-about-racism-and-sexism/?utm_term=.a18e0972edb3.

Dixon, Benjamin. “Racism Doesn't Exist Anymore and Blacks Need to Get Over It -.” The Benjamin Dixon Show, 10 Apr. 2015, http://thebenjamindixonshow.com/racism-doesnt-exist-anymore-blacks-need-to-get/.

Rika, Arieta Tegeilolo Talanoa Tora. “How Did Disney Get Moana so Right and Maui so Wrong?” BBC News, BBC, 21 Sept. 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37430268.

Hudson, Jerome. “5 Devastating Facts About Black-on-Black Crime - Breitbart.” Breitbart News, Breibart, 28 Nov. 2015, http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/28/5-devastating-facts-black-black-crime/.