Dear U.S Congress,

My name is Shawn B and I am a young African American male, who is a high school student in New London, CT. I am not the typical negative stereotype that society seems to perceive me as. I am writing with many concerns because there has been an ongoing epidemic  of African Americans being killed and murdered by law enforcement. I am asking you to change laws within law enforcement and states that prevent police officers from being convicted and prosecuted when they commit a discriminatory crime on duty. Police have been killing African Americans more and more each year from Oscar Grant, to Trayvon Martin, and Lashano Gilbert. There needs to be a change and with your help it will happen.

For the past 4 years, America has seen a tremendous increase in  police brutality against African Americans and there has been an increase with police brutality world wide.  Police have been using excessive force on African Americans daily, and we’re tired of it; we want this matter to change. Police are not being prosecuted for their unfortunate behavior among citizens, particularly Black Americans. There are certain laws that are unconstitutional and need to be revoked from society.

One of the main fractious laws is the Stand Your Ground Law.

This law states that people are allowed to stand their ground instead of retreating if they believe doing it will ‘prevent death or great harm’. There have been many instances where police have encountered African Americans and scourged them by either killing or harming them and were able to get away with it, without no conviction or consequences. A law professor at Stetson University stated that "I think a reworking of the statute would be to the benefit of the criminal justice system in Florida," he said. "It's a fascinating combination of good intentions, bad politics and bad legislative drafting. This particular statute has a lot to do with the right to bear arms and not a lot to do with self-defense" (Stanley). Even professors are seeing that this law is not about self defense but really about abusing authority, which police officers are doing and they're getting away with the crime because of this law.

For example Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old African American male who was fatally shot by a man named George Zimmerman. He claims he feared for his life, so he followed Trayvon because according to Zimmerman he looked “suspicious” so he shot him. Zimmerman was found not guilty for the crime. Put yourself in Trayvon’s parents’ shoes. Imagine your child shot because of someone feeling threatened by them and the aftermath is that your child is dead and the shooter is not guilty. Thats a big slap in the face to you as a parent and the child who is no longer on the Earth anymore.

Not only should the government terminate this law but another law should be put into action that state’s Law enforcement cannot discriminate against a person based on the color of skin or the way that he or she may dress. And the consequence of not complying with this law will be immediate termination from the force  without pay and a mandatory settlement with the victim from the police’s own income. However this law will only apply if the police officer discriminated against the victim without deadly harm and/or injury.

An additional example of laws; are police officers will get 20 years in prison for aggravated assault. Another alternative would be life in prison without parole. The death penalty will also be considered only if the officer is convicted of first degree murder. However a minimum of 25 years to life would apply only if officer is convicted of second degree murder. The 4 laws above that were just mentioned would only apply if the cop murders the victim.
However if the victim is just injured from the police then the officer will get 5 years in prison.  In my opinion these are logical laws that will give police officers a consequence for discriminating and murdering citizens. Without a doubt I can infer that the killings of African Americans will decrease due to these laws.? According to A USA Today “analysis of the FBI database found an average of about ninety-six police homicides a year in which a white officer kills a black person” (Madar). There is no way that the crime rate should be this high among African Americans being murdered by police. However if theses laws above are put in place then there will be a decrease of deaths within the African American community due to White or Caucasian police officers complying with the laws above.

The 4th amendment clearly states that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue without probable cause.” (Amendment). Even though the 4th amendment states this officers are not complying with it. There have been numerous  recorded videos of white police officers and officers in general violating and searching black citizens and their belongings without a warrant. And when the victim addresses it the police officer will get very vulgar and heinous then he would start abusing his power. Recently there was a case of white officers doing an illegal cavity search on a black man in South Carolina because of an unwarranted traffic stop. The white officer called the adult African American man “boy” which is a highly racist term used to belittle black men. And they later found that the man did not have drugs on him at all (Bult). Having a cavity search in public illegally is humiliating and bizarre. Imagine yourself getting your private areas searched and the officer has no remorse for doing it illegally. Police must be accountable for their actions and if new laws are in place they can properly serve the community instead of unnecessary killings, hurting, and searchings in the black community.

Many people believe that police misconduct can be justified because if citizens look suspicious police have the right to search them. Some also may say that the black community gives the police a reason to be so heavily prevalent in the area. According to ex Mayor Giuliani “...responsibility is on the black community to reduce the reason why the police officers are assigned in such large numbers to the black community. It’s because blacks commit murder eight times more per capita than any other group in our society. And when I assigned police officers with Commissioner Bratton and Commissioner Safir, we did it based on statistics. We didn’t do it based on race. If there were a lot of murders in a community, we put a lot of police officers there” (Baragona). One might say since they ( African Americans) want to dress like criminals then they should be treated like one and profiled so law enforcement is doing the right thing by taking it in their own hands. And more will say that the ‘Stand Your Ground’ law is needed if a burglar breaks into your house without permission; what do you do then? People think that this law is the only one that applies to self defense.

This is an incredibly unwise thought. The fact of the matter is that police officers are killing unarmed citizens, mainly African Americans. The police are discriminating against them everyday and there is no prosecution or indictment. There are videos being recorded of the illegal misuse of conduct when interacting with a police officer. However society seems not to hold law enforcement accountable for the negative impacts they have on society. As an African American male I am more in fear of getting stopped by a police officer than a hostile criminal due to police having no boundaries by abusing their authority. Wouldn’t you be in fear of your life if you’re looked upon as a threat just by being the skin color you are and officers racially profiling and targeting  you?

Congress, there must be laws added and subtracted within the system because I can’t stand to see any more homicides because of officers. I urge you to agree on this and the other laws I mentioned because without a doubt this would save many lives.

Sincerely,

Shawn B.