Dear Mr/Mrs president,

The topic I chose to talk about is “Black Lives Matter.” I chose to talk to you about this topic because the African American death rate has been dangerously increasing due to the police shootings and other acts of violence. According to “TheGurdian.com” shows that only 2% of the United States population is African American, but more than 15% of the African American race is killed at the hand of some type of law enforcement. In the past year or so this has become a serious problem in our community. Together we can solve this problem by coming together as one and think of some solutions. Now I feel the need to tell you who I am directing this letter. I am directing this letter to those cops that use their power to control and possibly end a life in one smooth and swift movement, but for those cops that actually keep the fellow American’s of this country safe we thank you.

In order to stop this act of violence we must give those cops that are abusing their power as a police officer we must give them penalties or un paid leave. Another thing we could possibly do is possibly make video evidence more attainable and make it to wear we have actual clear video evidence of a cop abusing their powers that they would immediately be penalized. Another idea that was made know by the NFL and NBA was the “I can’t breathe” shirt which was a reference to the killing of Eric Garner. Eric Garner was killed in Staten Island, New York City and was choked to death by a NYPD officer. The worst thing about this whole thing is that the killer “Daniel Pantaleo” received a pay increase by 20,000 dollars, which is absolutely outrageous. So us as a community we must come together and address this problem because since when were people awarded 20,000 dollars to kill another human being? We should not reward people who kill other people, ironically it being a cop killing an African American.

Another unnecessary homicide to an African American with the name of “Alton Sterling.” Alton Sterling was shot and killed on July 5, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. CNN states that Alton Sterling (in case you did not know) was a 37 year old African American male who was killed in front of a convenience store. It was said that Alton was not corroborating with the officers and not obeying their commands. Sterling was then wrestled to the ground and shot in the chest approximately 4 times. This sparked a huge controversial issue on social media and around the world. Many people seen this as an unjust and unnecessary act of violence that has made many people very angry and upset, but in order to stop this problem is we must peacefully protest like what most African Americans did during the Jim Crow times.

Last but certainly not least Charles Kinsey. Fox news states that a 27 year old therapist was trying to coax with his client who was holding a “white toy truck”, and so the officer misinterpreted it for a gun and then pulled the trigger on him. Charles was shot in the leg. See this one is still not an acceptable excuse for the cop to shoot him. First off if the police officer wanted to shoot the man with the toy truck but he failed to complete that task because he shot the therapist. Second of all the officer shot Kinsey for laying on his back, on the ground, his hands were up, and he was saying that he was unarmed, so it seems that the officer was just confused on what to do in that situation.

In conclusion to all of this African Americans (is what it seems like) being targeted for no reason. Of course there are more then some cases out there that are actually fair and was handled the right way, but on the other hand African Americans are being killed for no clear reason. Yes I know All Lives Matter, but the number of black lives taken this year has made a new all time high with 1,134 deaths. Instead of the that number going up we have to make it go down by telling officers to not be so quick to remove the gun from the hollster. I hope you like what I had to say on this topic on Black Lives and I hope you consider doing something about this.

Sincerely,

C.W.