Jeffrey S. Oregon

Racism and Police Brutality

Racism is still a huge problem in the U.S. People of color are getting assaulted, and sometimes killed because of the color of their skin. 896 people have been killed by the police so far this year, many of whom where unarmed, people of color, and mentally ill. The police are supposed to be the protectors of peace but how are they going to protect the peace when they are the ones sometimes it.

Racism and police brutality are big problems, we've all seen the videos of Unarmed men and women being shot or beaten by the police for just standing there. I believe that a lot of these acts of violence are because police still have a racist outlook on the whole thing. They think that just because you are African American you are more dangerous than if you are white, the color of your skin should not come with this stereotype that you are a criminal,  or you are up to no good. Stop judging people just because they look different than you do.  Just because they are African American doesn't mean they area criminal, Just because they are from the middle east doesn't mean that they are terrorists.

One of the biggest cases of racism is the case of Trayvon Martin. He was a young man who according to an interview "looked suspicious." He was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch member. Zimmerman described martin by saying, "This guy looks like he is up to no good or he is on drugs or something." Why do you think he made this assumption, would he have made the same assumption if this young man were white.  When asked why he looked suspicious Zimmerman had "no comment." 

If these protectors of the peace are committing acts of racism are they really fit to be protecting our country from crime. How are we supposed to trust police officers that have murdered an innocent man who was just standing there.  I'm not saying that all police are like that, but there are enough of them for us to notice and that is the problem. This problem doesn't lie in how they are taught but how they teach themselves. Our society is still very racist against people of color and it needs to change.

Kennedy Middle School

Henderson Period 3 Social Studies

What's important to you? This is a forum to write about the issues that matter to YOU!

All letters from this group →