Dear Future President,

I watch the news and see so much hate. African-Americans being brutalized and murdered, women not receiving equal pay, and members of the LGBT+ community being beaten. What are you going to do to stop this from happening? When people think of the U.S, they shouldn’t think about the discrimination of different racial/ethnic groups. They should think about us being the UNITED States of America. We need to put a stop to the discrimination in this country.

As a young African-American female, I feel the treatment of African-Americans is becoming intolerable. African-American males get the worst of it. Blacks have been through enough; first, slavery, then segregation, and now murder and brutalization. We didn’t have rights back then and we don’t feel like we have rights now. We deserve to be treated fairly, the only reason we are treated differently is because our skin is darker than everyone else’s. We earned our rights just like everyone in this country, it’s time people start acting like it.

From the 1700s to the early 1900s women were treated unfairly. They were told to stay home, take care of children, and do household chores. Even when women were allowed to have jobs, it was frowned upon. Now, let’s fast forward a few decades. Some of the world’s most successful people are women. Yet, they aren’t paid the same amount as men for doing the same job. Statistics show that women earn 23% less than men. Many politicians think it’s fair because men are more likely to have jobs that are “physically dangerous” and earn degrees that are more marketable. It’s time to change how women are treated and looked at in this country.

While I don’t know how it actually feels, but I imagine being gay is hard. The LGBT+ community is being treated poorly because they aren’t what society deems as “normal.” Youth LGBT go through the similar problems as adults. Many of them drop out of school from mental, physical, and verbal abuse. Parents force their kids to go to “gay conversion therapy.” This type of therapy can harm any child who is coerced to go through it. What happened to parents loving their kids unconditionally no matter the circumstances? Adult LGBT have trouble getting married, adopting kids, getting good healthcare, and even having jobs because so many people are biased when it comes to the LGBT+ community. In the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, it states that all men have “certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Shouldn’t we start respecting that?

America is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. People come to America seeking shelter, protection, and all the good things it has to offer. They shouldn’t live in fear in this country because of their race, gender, sexuality, etc. When I see this type of violence, I worry about my future. More importantly, I worry about the future of my brother and sister. Discrimination, in general, is a huge problem that needs to be addressed.

Sincerely,

Trinity S.