Dear Next President,

In the past few years, police brutality has been on the rise, and it clearly needs to stop. The government and justice system need to train police better and arrest them if they break laws because everyone needs to be treated equally.

I understand that it is an occurrence that is never going to stop happening, but the government needs to give an effort. Lives are being taken because certain police feel the need to discriminate an entire race. According to Cable News Network, there was yet another police shooting. A black man, Keith Lamont Scott, was shot and killed by white officers. Scott had a gun in his car, but it is legal considering North Carolina is an open-carry state. The police saw him with a gun and decided to shoot and kill him. His wife got the attack on video and there have been protests ever since the shooting.

Also, just recently, Wednesday, September 21, 2016, an African American man was shot and killed by white police while waiting for his son to get off the bus. The police claimed he had a weapon in the car, but all witnesses say he didn’t, and some that saw something claimed it as a book.

The police in these types of shootings all need to go to prison. Just because they are trained to enforce the law, it does not mean they have the right to break it. Common law means nobody is above the law, and lately it appears that this idea is not applying to police. The government needs to get this concept into the minds of cops.

Despite this, according to The Washington Post, 732 white people have been shot and killed by police officers this year. Three hundred and eighty-one black people were murdered, so statistically more white people have been shot and killed. So people may think, “Where are the protests for Caucasians?” The problem here is, whites make up 62% of our population, and 49% of those who are killed are killed by police. Blacks make up 13% of the population and 24% of those are killed by cops. This means that blacks are two and a half times more likely to be shot and killed by police officers.

I’m not saying that only black Americans are killed by police, I’m saying that it needs to stop for everyone. Lately it seems that African Americans are the race that is being targeted, and this is not okay. If someone pulls a gun on a cop, they have a right to be shot, but not killed. Something needs to be done about these occurrences. If “all men are created equal,” then why don’t we start acting like it? You as our president need to take this issue into consideration and do something about it.

All lives matter. Just because police enforce the law, it does not put them above anyone else. Cops who shoot and kill people need to be punished. Shooting and killing someone is murder. This is a felony, and people who commit them are taken to federal prison. Treat police like other citizens and make sure everyone of every race feels safe in our country.

Sincerely,

Emily B.