10/20/16

Dear Future President,

Could you imagine your child being afraid to walk outside or to the store thinking he/she is about to get pulled over by a police officer? Many black people are afraid to walk outside because they are afraid to die for no reason or just for being their skin color. It’s sad for a family to hear their daughter/son just died. Police brutality needs to stop because people are dying everyday by police for no reason and the police gets away with it because they call it “self-defense”. As you continue reading you will learn more about why we need to stop police brutality.

Trayvon Martin, Alton Sterling, Kendra James, Michael Brown, and Terence Crutcher were innocent black people who lost their lives to police brutality. Can you believe that according to the Guardians police killing database, it is reported that in the first half of 2016, around 532 people have been killed by police officers (Smith). It’s crazy, to me, it’s like everyone is affected by police brutality because all different races are dying, getting beat to death and getting shot. The only people I feel as though aren’t affected are the police officers. You may be wondering “why is this so important to her?” This is important to me because you should never go a day where you should be afraid to leave your house and go somewhere and worry about a police officer stopping you and end up beating you to death.

This needs to stop because blacks, whites, and mixed are dying everyday and it’s not right. Sometimes I just be wondering “Why don’t they deserve to live, What did they do, or is it just the fact that yall have to much power that ya’ll don’t know what to do with it other than kill harmless people?” Some officers are prosecuted and convicted but I don’t think that is enough. I think they should be fired or suspended for a while. Dear next president, please hear the cry of the mothers and fathers that are out there losing their children to police brutality. I ask that you give the police extra training on when it is the right time to shoot. Create a law where police officers aren’t allowed to shoot unless the person is armed or if the person tries to shoot at the police officer.

Sincerely,

Jazmine Collins