Dear Future President,

I know that you probably have a lot on your plate but I am sending you this letter to tell you that you should start to get a lot more involved in violence. Especially black vs white violence in our country. Most people would argue and say that there are more white people who get killed by police brutality, and I have to agree with them. According to the Independent Journal Review out of the 13% of African-Americans living in the U.S. 31% of them are victims of police brutality. Out of the 63% of white people living in our nation, 52% of them are victims of police violence. Just let that settle in for a little bit. Think of those numbers. Take it all in. There are less white people being killed compared to how much of the population they take up. While there are a lot more African-Americans who are being killed compared to how little of the population they take up. That doesn't add up to me and I know I'm not crazy.

I live in New York City, the Big Apple, and I’ve seen police brutality my whole entire life. Last year as I was coming home from an after-school activity I saw 5 police men dressed in regular day clothes trying to pin down an African-American male. They were pulling his hair and beating him until he wouldn't stop fighting. I didn’t know what was going on but at that moment I realized that we need to do something as a whole about this situation. The guy on the ground was fighting for his life. Everyone was videotaping and smirking at the situation but the fact of the matter is that this really happens. Would you want a 3 year old to see this kind of violence? I don’t think so. I do believe that at some point children should be exposed to the real world but that should happen when kids turn 5 or 6. It’s not okay for us to be sitting around doing other things that aren’t as important as this situation. I am a kid so I see that the first thing that adults want the next president to think of is the economy and how much money they have to spend for their child to go to college. I, on the other hand, think about the things that affect me and one of those things is police brutality. I’m white but does that really matter? Even if I am not a victim I feel that I need to take action.

If I were you I would take a stand. According to the National Review “For black Americans 82% die from homicide.” Where for white Americans less than 38% die from homicide. Do you really want this happening in our country? People who are fighting for their lives are scared every single minute of every single day just because the color of their skin is different? Why would you want to run a nation that is so cruel to its own kind? My suggestion is just to start small like you would with anything. You should run a couple protests and see how they go. Then you can take it from there. Maybe start a campaign. All we need to do is to try to convince most people to not hate African-American people (or at least have them consider it).

 I know that this might sound like a bad idea and not a very smart one, but try to look at the big picture. If we don’t get the desired amount of human beings to just consider treating African-Americans the same as we treat whites then we keep on trying. You can’t give up if you only try once or twice. What’s the point in trying to fight for something when you don’t feel like putting effort into it? We are all just the same. A couple million Americans that work, live, and make mistakes.

Sincerely,

Ella R.

Sources:                                                                                                                                                           French, David. "What the Amazing Racial Disparities in Gun Violence Can Teach Us About Gun Control." National Review. N.p., 23 Dec. 2015. Web. 07 Nov. 2016

Hausam, Michael. "Uncomfortable Facts and Statistics That Don't Fit the Narrative About Racial Violence." Independent Journal Review. N.p., 23 Sept. 2016. Web.07 Nov. 2016