Dear Future President,

I can not vote, but I need my voice to be heard. During your term, we as the American People need you to listen to us and take action accordingly. Police Brutality against Black Americans is out of control because the quality of training with a firearm is not effective and the racial profiling of Black Americans is the same as it was years ago. The first time the words “Police Brutality” were inked onto a paper was in the year of 1872 written on a newspaper called, “The Chicago Tribune.” According to Wikepedia, Police Brutality can be defined as “several forms of police misconduct, which include: false arrest;intimidation; racial profiling; political repression;surveillance abuse; sexual abuse ; and police corruption.” A person that is black has to deal with this brutality all the time.

Police are not receiving the best possible training on when and how to use their firearm because there was no real need to change the training regime. Their is no need to change training tactics because the justice system believes their is no issues. In 2015, only 10 out of 102 cases of police shooting and killing unarmed black men and women resulted in a charge. Out of those ten cases, two police officers were convicted and punished with very light sentence. The other officer who was convicted is awaiting sentence. What all of these cases have in common is race. This then triggers Black Lives Matters protests which eventually turns violent without the intent of doing so. A solution to this problem would be using a taser instead of a gun, especially in times were the person the police is trying to arrest has no intentions of using a gun. Also law enforcement should not shoot to kill, they should shoot to control the situation. In absoluting no times an officer should ever pull a gun on an unarmed person. The police are their to serve and protect, not serve as judge, jury and executioner.

The stereotypes the police use against Black Americans need to stop because it is costing lives to completely alter for the bad. Not all of the stereotypes that are given to people of African descent are even close to true, but they are treated as if they were. Only 10% of drug users over the age of 12 are Black Americans. Yet they make up 32% of the incarcerated populations. This is because the police pick on Black Americans more on frisks than other Americans. If you shoot the ball enough times, some shots are going to go in. Not only Law Enforcement picks on Black Americans, businesses do, too. The wages formerly incarcerated Black Americans receive are on an average of 21% less than White Americans convicted of the same crime. Businesses need to give former convicts equal pay because it will help close crime rate. This will help former felons not resort back to crime and will help benefit society. To pile on, Black Americans get longer and more punishing sentences. Former Stanford swimmer, Brock Turner was found guilty of felony rape of an unconscious girl and received 6 months of prison time. (he got 3 months due to behavior). While Turner being white received a shorter, less punishing sentence, a Black man named Brian Banks (an aspiring football player) was convicted of the same crime when he was in highschool. He was given five years in prison. After his sentence was over (sentence including his probation) his accuser confessed to fabricating the story. These stories show that an innocent black man can serve a longer sentence than a guilty white man. Drastic changes need to happen to our justice system in order for a safe and fair environment.

However, some people may argue that Police Brutality is not a race thing because more White Americans are shot and killed by Police than other races. White Americans make up approximately 77% of the US population and 732 were fatally shot and killed by the police from 2015 till now. 381 Black Americans were shot and killed on the same time span. Since the numbers that police shot and killed show that White Americans are targeted more, this isn’t a race thing, but that is were people go wrong. Black Americans are five times more likely to be killed by police than a White American Black Americans make up the 13% of the nation's population. That is 160 million more White Americans than Black Americans. White Americans being the race with the most people make up 49% of police shooting while the Black race, makes up 24%. The Black man is 40% more likely to be unarmed than a white person when he was killed by police. How can any person of color feel safe when the justice system is stacked against them? The answer is you can’t there needs to be a change fast.

To conclude, a white life should not be more protected as a black life and vise versa. Even though white lives are killed by police more, black lives are not treated with respect. Equality is the only way to become a better nation. Law enforcement needs to stop using stereotypes against all people. On the march to equality, stereotypes are the first thing to go. Better training for law enforcement need to be put into place. Using a taser instead of shoot to kill tactics would help strengthen a community, not tear it down. Overall, the only way America can become the best nation possible, is to treat every life with the same value. 

By Monique W. Morris / The New Press. "25 Things Everyone Needs to Know About the Lives of Black People in America." Alternet. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2016. <http://www.alternet.org/books/25-statistics-paint-picture-black-america>.

David A. Fahrenthold, Rosalind S. Helderman, and Jenna Johnson. "Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis." Washington Post. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2016. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/11/arent-more-white-people-than-black-people-killed-by->.

Noman, Natasha. "Brock Turner Gets Months in Jail - A Black Student Got 5 Years for a Rape He Didn't Commit." Mic. N.p., 10 June 2016. Web. 06 Nov. 2016. <https://mic.com/articles/145788/brock-turner-gets-months-in-jail-a-black-student-got-5-years-for-a-rape-he-didn-t-com>."\