Mr. President

Dear Mr. President,

“White America will never vote for a black president. It is impossible.” I suggest that the impossible becomes the possible. The United States of America has been inundated by racism since the Civil Rights Movement. Racism was palpable when white Americans legally tortured African- Americans. In modern America racism, lurks as a hidden danger. African–Americans are being degraded financially, psychologically, educationally and medically. Our previous heroes such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X would be appalled to see this clandestine racism.

African-Americans include 13% of the population for the United States. They only have 1.2% of the nation’s wealth. The average net worth for white Americans is $88,651. The average net worth for African Americans is $5,881(NAACP Advocate). The wealth of the nation should be dispersed in a better manner. One solution to solving this problem is to provide higher wages. This would allow them to survive in a better environment. Another solution to this problem is providing better quality education to African Americans. This would help them understand their finances more effectively. Instead of meddling into the business of other nations we should solve our own problems. Providing higher financial aid towards those who cannot afford it can minimize this educational gap.

Being the daughter of immigrants, my parents knew nothing about college. The only thing they knew is that a college degree can provide me success. They think education is the radical tool for freedom. It is devastating that African Americans fought f0r education in 1954. The Brown versus board of Education case provided equal opportunities for African Americans to educate themselves. However, only 56% of African Americans graduate high school. This means that the remaining 46% do not go on to college to become successful. They follow the path of violence and destruction. According to a study that was done in the University of Texas family background, income and parental education are factors that determine a child’s educational success. If African-Americans were provided resources, such as better schooling at an earlier point of life, they could be successful in the future. Educating more African American family members can provide inspiration for their future generation to do better. It will allow African Americans to decrease the gap towards racism.

“A Girl Like Me” by Kiri Davis depicts how African Americans are being sold into “psychological slavery.” In this documentary, the author does an experiment that instructs several colored children to pick a white or black doll. Almost every single child preferred the white doll over the black one. They label the black doll as scary, dirty and not pretty. Children are innocent and they are usually influenced by their surroundings. The media is portraying African Americans as thugs or poor individuals. This psychologically causes African Americans to become inferior to the white race. Bill Cosby has stated that African Americans tend to reproduce babies but later abandon them. This affects them psychologically because they are deprived of parents. These parents cannot help them differentiate between right and wrong. The black culture usually incorporates physical torture when bringing up their children. This causes African American children to think lowly of themselves. According to the Come on People magazine African Americans tend to end up in foster care. Two thirds of the population becomes jailed or drug addicted. This psychologically enslaves them to the white race. This inferiority travels faintly in society. Governmental aid to underdeveloped communities can increase the positivity among this specific race.

Harvard professor, Roland Fryer, stated that the health of African Americans is slowly deteriorating because of their heritage. Diabetes is a devastating disease that kills approximately 1 million African-Americans every year. One of the major causes of diabetes is obesity. Due to the horrible communities most African-Americans have to live in, they eat more because they are stressed. If the government provided money to improve their community they would not eat as much. HIV Aids is a health crisis for African Americans nowadays. Approximately 49% of the African-American population is diagnosed with the HIV virus. More money should be spent to find the cure for this rising epidemic. Safer sex education should also be implemented to inform adolescents about this disease.

Although racism exists in all ethnicities, the feud between African- Americans and Caucasians is the most evident. Lack of resources has caused one race to dominate over the other economically, educationally, and socially. For instance certain applicants for jobs have been denied because of their race. This increases violence and hatred, which is the key ingredient to more racism. This also lowers the self esteem of many African Americans, which causes them to feel inferior to the white race. Until we end the racism in the United States, other countries will not respect us. If other countries do not respect us, the United States will plummet in every way.

Sincerely,
Mohona Reza