What I really want you know you really want to know

Dear Mr. Obama

Please, I am pleading with you Mr. President, I need strength not physically but mentally because my neighborhood is not helping me learn it really isn’t. The children just learn how to resolve problems with violence not knowledge. I cannot walk around securely because there is a risk of being attacked because I am of a different nationality. I would like you to come and talk to the youth of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Why would you want to help me, well, I have one reason you know how the blacks and whites were separated by segregation between Dominicans and Puerto Ricans because of hate and pride which is in the mind of many adolescents in my community. Gangs start forming and because of this many deaths and injuries occurred recently. In the story Uncle Tom's Children by Richard Wright “I never fully realized the ….environment till one day the gang to which I belonged found itself engaged in a war with the white boys who lived beyond the tracks” (Wright X), shows the relationship in my neighborhood of uprising gangs. The Sky is Grey by Ernest J. Gaines “We should question and question and question—question everything.” (The college student 95) also shows why we should not wonder how we are different but how we are alike and defeat the dichotomy between Dominicans and Puerto Ricans. Your appearance will cause many of the children to feel noticed and should initiate attention to the issue reflection and attention it should have been paid a long time ago before the deaths of many innocent and not so innocent. This introduction of gangs is causing the drop out and lowering the scores of young students of my community. Instead of learning from many perfidious comrades you can encourage the children in gangs to learn differently and creatively. A lecture, some advice, and knowledge will help me live a safer and better life. The teachings of equality are crucial to the growth of my life because it is important for me and many other people to know the real meaning of equality which society tends to ignore as a minor problem in many neighborhoods. I think because you are a person of color and intellect many will respect your words and learn to live by your teachings because you in your life experienced what we are going through that is why you are the best person for this situation. Make it known we need help. Like your campaign change is needed and it is needed now in my community. So I repeat please help me and my community.

Yours Truly
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Ray Rodriguez