Sam Minnesota

Letter to President about Racial Profiling

Racial is a serious problem and needs a solution all across America.

    Dear Future President,

    I bet you are wondering what your first issues will be to take on in the white house now and make the world safer. There is quite the variety to choose from, how to deal with ISIS, gun control, immigration, and many, many more. But before you take on any big issues, I might have your issue. It’s a very solvable issue, that affects a huge portion of the American people and I think is long overdue to not have been solved. I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you about racial profiling. This is a very important subject to me and the American people, this is something that has sparked the recent shootings in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Tulsa. I think that if you take the time to read this letter you will agree this is yes, a problem and there is a solution.

But before I get into the facts and the details I’d like to tell you how this affects me. I am a mixed person, and I have not had a lot of experience with racial profiling, mainly because I am 16, don’t drive, and don’t get in trouble with the law a lot. And I’m not and have never been “Anti Cop’’. But this issue affects the people I love. I know my father has been subjected to this and I know my family and friends who have been subject to this. I’ve been taught growing up that this could and probably will happen to you, and how I should deal with it incase it does. And we have no hate for the police, but the fact that I should even have to prepare with a problem that was supposedly solved in the 1950’s is ridiculous. I would like this problem solved so my kids don’t have to deal with this, so this is something I don’t have to teach my kids.

    Anyways, now to the facts. Around the country, Minorities frequently report that the police disproportionately singling them out because of their race or ethnicity, for example; A survey released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2014 found that nationwide, 13 percent of black drivers were stopped at least once by police during 2011. When white drivers were only pulled over 10% of the time. And by looking at the statistics, black men and women aren’t the only people getting profiled by the police. A 2004 Gallup Poll found that 67 percent of African-Americans and 63 percent of Latinos believe they are the victims of police discrimination. Mistrust and experiences like this with the community can lead to some dangerous incidents and rises in crime even. But, to prevent this I believe there is some solutions to this.

    This is obviously a problem in America, and there is some things we can do to make this problem hopefully one day not exist. We, the people, can go and protest, which is one of our rights. Which I think is a good idea but can be hard to handle and sometimes even turn into a riot. But to avoid that a even better solution is use another right we are given by the constitution and vote. Vote for the politicians who will actually do something about this problem and do something to solve it. But I think I have a solution, that even you Mrs./Mr. President could solve using your resources to fix. I think that when something like a shooting by the police or something that makes mistrust with the community and police happens, the police need to investigate and own up to it. They need to say “Yes, we found that there is racial bias within the police department, but we are making changes in the department and training to fix this. This something very simple I think the police need to do, because if the first step in solving an addiction is to admit you have a problem, this should be the same for this.

    In conclusion, racial profiling by the police is serious problem that needs to be addressed in our country, and I think if anyone can get it done you can. The best way for this problem to be solved is for the police departments to say there is a problem, fix training within the police department, and get the bad eggs off the street. I say good luck to you Mr./Mrs. President, and please solve this problem.

-Sam