Dear 45th President,

Racial Injustice. Lately, there have been many protests and riots regarding this topic. But do most people truly understand how unjust police officers are being? Do they truly understand the effects that it is having on many people’s lives? Racism has been a long time problem; as a result, racial injustice is at an all time high and needs to be addressed.

Racism has been a huge problem for an extremely long time now. Long before I was born, many people were being treated differently solely because of the color of their skin. It has gotten better, but it is still a huge problem in society today. Unarmed African Americans are being killed by policemen at an alarming rate.

As a white teenager, living in a predominantly white city and state, you may wonder why this topic concerns me as much as it does. I’ve always been a strong believer in equality for everyone, no matter their gender, race, age, sexual orientation, religion, you name it. But that’s not all. I have been a San Francisco 49ers fan ever since I can remember. The recent protests started by Colin Kaepernick, referring to kneeling during the national anthem, have really brought to my eyes how much of a problem this truly is. I hadn’t exactly thought about it all that much before, but now that these protests have begun, I care deeply about this subject

Racism is defined as the belief that one race is superior or inferior to another. There is no official cause of this, but it has always been a problem.

Many people are being affected by this issue. But of course, mainly black people. According to The Situationist, “African-Americans experience high levels of chronic stress. And individuals who are exposed to more daily stress end up having fewer resources to cope with them”. This is clearly bad enough, but innocent black families are having family members being killed for no reason. These are terrible things, and they need to be fixed. The question is, How?

Some police are getting away with killing innocent, unarmed African Americans. According to the website Mapping Police Violence, “Only 10 of the 102 cases in 2015 where an unarmed black person was killed by police resulted in officer(s) being charged with a crime, and only 2 of these deaths (Matthew Ajibade and Eric Harris) resulted in convictions of officers involved. Only 1 of 2 officers convicted for their involvement in Matthew Ajibade's death received jail time. He was sentenced to 1 year in jail and allowed to serve this time exclusively on weekends.” Approximately 90% of cops that are doing this are getting away with it. You, the president, need to change this. Cops need to be held more accountable for their actions. They are doing whatever they want and getting away with it. It needs to stop.

It’s time to make a change. Many lives are being affected. We are at an all time high in racial injustice. This is one of the biggest problems in society today, and it needs to be addressed fast.

Sincerely,

MS