Dear Future President:

In our place in time and after all we have gone through, we still live in a place full of so much prejudice, racism, sexism, injustice, hatred, and discrimination.  Decades upon decades, we have been fighting for equality, but in our situation now, we need to achieve equity. We have seen some change, but it is just not good enough, and recently it has become worse. With everything happening currently, police brutality and racism, shootings, anti-LGBTQI acts, we can definitely say that this country needs a lot of work.

Besides being only 13% of the U.S population, 24% of those fatally shot and killed by police were African - Americans. It is hard to accept the facts that are painfully true. Every 7 hours, an American citizen is shot and killed by a police officer. Police officers are indicted less than 1% of the time, while citizens are indicted 90% of the time. Does that sound correct? Does this seem fair? I am not saying that all police are responsible for this, but we need to fix the problem at hand.

How is it that in 2010 , white Americans held 88% of the wealth in America, while only being 64% of the population. Making assumptions about people based on the amount of melanin in their skin is just uneducated. We are all human. The wage gap between whites and those of color nearly tripled from 1984 to 2009. I am saddened to even bring this up, but in 2015 the wage difference between men and women was 20%. Full-time working women only made 80 cents for every dollar a full-time working man earned. We should learn how to work together and accept each other for who we are, not what we look like. So we can stand as one. The UNITED States is looking pretty DIVIDED right now, and our next leader should change that.

LGBTQI. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersexual. Labels for those who are “different”. Seriously, we now have to go against people for who they love? Is it really any of your business? Well I guess it is, because of the lengths you go to make people feel abnormal, to feel different, to feel like an outsider. One fact that really shocked me was the fact that in most states you can fire someone from their work just because of their sexuality or gender orientation, it is totally legal. In the United States, only 21 states have protections in place for LGBT employees from discrimination. Only 21. The other 29 are totally free to discriminate against women, people of color, homosexuals, or anyone else that they feel is “different” in any way. We need to change that. You need to start that change. You are going to be leading this country to be better. And better means we stand together not afraid to show who we are. 78% of transgender people experience discrimination in their workplace. 58% of LGBT people hear anti-LGBT slurs at work.

The citizens of America should feel free, and open with themselves. As the National Anthem says “ land of the free, home of the brave.” And, what about in the Pledge of Allegiance “ with LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL.” Do you honestly believe that we are at that place - where there is justice for all?

If you, future president, have made it to this point in my very lengthy letter, I want you to take all of what I have given you and make change. Change is what our country needs, but we need change for the better. We discriminate against those who have darker skin. Those who want to love someone, and those who protect us discriminate,  too.

 We have a lot to work to do on America, and you need to lead us in this change.

Sincerely,                                                                                                                                                                                Jenan O. CA                                                                                                                                                                                              SOURCES: The Huffington Post, COP CRISIS, Brandon Gaille