Letter to the future president of the United States

July 31, 2008

Dear Future President of the United States,

The word nigger has been used for centuries to classify black people. They never did anything about it though. If they even acted with hostility towards the white folks who used the word nigger, they would be lynched. They feared death, so they allowed themselves to be called that word. Black people were used as slaves before the Civil War, and after the Civil War, there was segregation between whites and blacks. It is easy to see that hostility comes into play and they hold it all in. Look at the murder of Emmett Till. He was lynched just for whistling at a white woman. Now there is a different story that comes from the murderers. They say that they were not going to kill him until he started boasting about how he had a white girl in Chicago. They said that they did not kill Emmett Till while they were at trial. So, why would we believe that they are telling the truth about Emmett boasting about having a white girl in Chicago? The death of Emmett Till had sparked the Civil Rights movement in throughout the country. Then there was the Brown vs. Education case in 1954. This desegregated schools all around the nation and caused more commotion. It seemed as if they were going to start going with violence with the ongoing tension. Then came Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Montgomery bus boycott brings forth the desegregation of buses. Then his speeches begin to break through the minds of everyone all over the nation. His “I Have a Dream” speech is what brought everyone together or almost everyone. He was killed on April 4th, 1968. These movements sparked the end of desegregation in the United States. The word nigger was used but it was used by people of color and for conflicts.

I don't remember when I really started to become conscious of race or class difference. I think that I really became conscious of race and class difference when my friends and I started calling each other nigger during class. One day, when we were outside on the street, one of my friends called this black person a nigger and let’s just say there were some big complications. The guy grabbed my friend and threw him to a wall. After that, he just started punching him and going on and throwing him on the floor and stomping him out. Let’s just say that we had to take my friend to the hospital and he got many stitches. We found out the meaning of the word and that was when I really became conscious about racial issues. There was a different fight because of race between a black person and a Puerto-Rican. I don't really know the full details about what provoked the fight. All I know was that that fight made me aware of racial differences and conflicts that happen all around the world. I believe that both fights were provoked by the use of racial terms. I try to stay away from racial problems with my friends. It seems that both fights really opened me up to how the world is when it comes to racial problems and so forth. I believe that racial problems from the past will come back to haunt us. Both of these issues involved negative connotation of the word nigger. Even if you try not to get involved, it will come back sooner or later and begin to harm you in either a physical or emotional way.

The situation my friend was in is similar to Richard Wright's ' "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow". My friend was jumped for saying the word nigger on the streets by a bunch of black people. In modern time, after centuries of the word being used, act with such hostility. There is no more segregation, so what is the whole point of acting hostile now? An example of where they didn't do anything when they heard the word would be: "Nigger, don't yuh like it?"(White 26) He couldn't do anything because he was scared he would die. But if you were to look down the streets, you would see them use the word themselves. Now, if they feel such hostility towards somebody using the word, why do they use the word themselves? My friend used the word and got jumped by them, but when they use the word themselves, they're giving each other pounds. So it's mystery of where the hostility comes from. I understand that in the past there was segregation of whites and blacks. In that time period it is very easy to see where the hostility came from and towards whom. The only reason that they could not do anything is because of fear. All this pent up anger keeps them going in and out of hostility problems. These problems are the effects of racism. The stereotypes are still going on and more are getting added to them. Maybe they should have just forgotten about what happened to them with slavery and all that so the stereotypes would have not begun. It seems that each possible road that they could have taken would have had different results. More than likely the stereotypes would have still came. But now it seems as if they have better results for now. The issue between my friend and the people who jumped him is different than what happened in the past. The white people were the ones who used nigger all the time. That is what makes this different; the issues involved two different groups. The issue of the past involved whites and blacks. The situation involving my friend was between blacks and Puerto-Ricans. This means that since the situation of the past since segregation ended, the blacks have been angered. I would have to say that it was the slur meaning of the word. When black people say the word to each other, it is used to determine friends. When the word however, was used by other races than that really angered them because of when white people used it. My friend was using the word as the same meaning that they use it towards their friends. When white people used it, they used it to put down the black people. If the racism was completely conquered and forgotten, then the use of nigger would finally stop.

There are things that we need to fix so we could avoid racial problems in the future. If we really tried, in the next 5-10 years racial problems could be removed. I believe that to end these problems we need to have people with open minds. Really, there has to be respect going all around the world. There shouldn’t be any use of the word or any type of racial word that can hurt someone emotionally or bring back some old scars from the past. There may be some people that may use racial terms even after all these problems. I believe that we should use punishment as a way to get people to stop using any racial terms. Punishment however, is not the only way that we can get people to stop the usage of the words. We can also use education to get people to start using the words. During the Civil Rights movement, there were teach-ins for people who weren’t conscious of the use of the politics. I believe that we can use the teach-ins to stop people from using the word. It should begin with the use of the generations of the past and present at the same time. There may be some people who won’t stop using the words, so that is when it is best to use punishment. It will eventually get rid of all racial digression and create peace for a long time. This will mean that racism will finally be eliminated from the United States. It all depends however on the president of the United States and to see if he/she can do anything to create this peace. I believe that these suggestions will work, but the future president of the United States is the one who is needed to try to get people to uphold these suggestions.

Sincerely,
Quilvio Abreu Jr.