Changes to a Hectic World (Final)

Dear Mr. President,
Congratulations on your new position as head of this country. I commemorate you on your struggles to get to where you are now however; the hardest is yet to come. I believe that this country has gone through many hard times and the worst is yet to come. I am a high school student that is concerned with the current position our country is in, its progress and society’s issues with racism. I have been witness to many racist acts thought my life and I have yet to begin to explore the world. I have been participating in a program and that has opened my eyes to the many injustices in the world, which has galvanized me to write this letter to inform you that change has to occur.
In society people are often misconstrued as being of another color, ethnicity or of a lower class. Some suggest that people are often stereotyped to be something that they are not, due to their appearance. In my personal life, I have been judged by my appearance just like the main character in the short story, “The Sky is Gray” by Ernest J. Gaines. This short story reflects the segregation between blacks and whites during the Jim Crow era. In this story the author combines the colors black and white to create a shade of gray which foreshadows the future integration of both races. The separate colors of black and white show the true Dominican I am by my boisterous side and the supposable Mexican I am by my calm and shy side.
Through my experiences, one’s life can be in jeopardy by a misinterpretation of an action. I have recently watched the The Murder of Emmett Till which is the murder of a boy who was accused of whistling to a white woman, was beaten and then shot at point blank. In my personal experience I was alleged to be a Mexican person. Even though I was not hurt as bad as Emmet Till, I was pushed to the floor, humiliated and degraded from the social class I am. In both cases, Mr. Till and my actions have caused us pain just because of a misconception brought up by a person’s appearance.
In the short story “Everything That Rises Must Converge” the author Flannery O’Connor suggests that change “… takes time, and the world is in such as mess” (P.406). In today’s world there are many environmental and racial problems to the extent that it will take a long time to solve them. During the Jim Crow era many activists like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. slowly brought this world to what it is today. I believe that people can do the same and continue this change. Even though change has occurred many of the practices from the past still remain today.
In another piece “The Eyes on the Prize, Civil Rights Reader” by Clayborne, Garrow, Gill, Harding, and Hine, one psychologist named Kenneth Clark created a focus group of children and gave them each a black and white doll. Mr. Clark asked: “Give me the doll you like to play with or like the best?”, “Give me the doll that is the nice one?”, “Give me the doll that looks bad?”, and “Give me the doll that is a nice color?” (P.79-80). Their responses where shocking because the majority chose the white doll seeing that whites were superior during that period. In today’s modern society, racism still exists to the extent that small children have already chosen the answers to those questions. The important question as to “Why?” was answered with the statements “It’s White” or “It’s Black”. Many of the children characterized the white doll as good and the black doll as bad. In a reenactment of the doll study (renamed as “A Girl like me”) originally done by Kenneth Clark the children had preference to race. Many children tend to absorb the things that they see and believe that it is okay. A possible reason is because many of the commercials unintentionally show racist views. For example, Barbie commercials which have the “white Ken and Barbie” while they just recently introduced the color ones. In one event I saw a person prefer or treat another child better because of skin color. These where not dolls but real children. I was shocked to see that people who believe in equality still have the thought of segregation because of color. This reminded me of the doctrine “segregated but equal” from the Plessy v. Ferguson case.
In my current school studies the 14th Amendment suggests that citizens have equal protection in the eyes of the law. In my personal perspective people were not really equal because even though they were given equal rights people were restricted by the laws. We still have “freedom” and are given “equality” yet in society it has lost its meaning. In the past and present, people’s actions have not only been restricted by law but also by what is morally correct. Throughout history as laws have expanded, people are beginning to have a sense of how much freedom and equality they actually have. The factor that decides equality I believe is money. Money determines if you go to jail or get bailed out. My economic situation, unlike others before me, has been currently okay but when college comes that will change. Throughout the world many amendments and rights have been twisted in order to use it to ones advantage thus, it questions my view of what is “freedom” and what people consider is “equality”.
I have been raised to believe that “Today’s generations are tomorrow’s future leaders.” I would like to move on from the past and towards the future of this country. In today’s society we have had much racism towards a variety of people. It is hard to believe there are many racist people in the world even though the Civil War is over. Many people live in the past and we need to change that in order to bring people forward and make a change in society. First, as the future president, I believe you could try to get the people together and have the “Voice of America” which are its citizens contribute ideas to the issues in this world. I suggest people should do community workshops in order to overcome racism and have it reduced. In addition to that people should inform their children of past events. A way to do this is to incorporate more current events activities during school, to upgrade their knowledge on how the world is changing. People who can’t afford an education should not be judged because of financial status. There should be more help for the poor in order to stop these misinterpretations that people get. Many should try and stop putting so many false allegations on different ethnicities. For example, that Asians are all smart, that African Americans have a small percentage regarding education, Dominicans are all centered in different Heights, Mexicans all are associated to tacos and that if you go into a certain neighborhood, one might get hurt or harassed.
As implied by the United States people have freedom. In cases where later in the future evidence is found that proves a client’s innocence they should be removed from prison and put on probation. This would decrease the amount of money that Bush put towards prisons and instead put it to schools that need funds. Since we are also equal under the Constitution and the 14th Amendment people shouldn’t have more rights than others. People should not be winning court cases just because one person has more money than another. In other situations the legal system should be reviewed and updated because there are many laws that aren’t necessary. Since America is all about justice then let there be more justice and allow people to have second trials. I believe that not all human lives should be determined on one case. With this people will be more supportive of presidential ideas and back up the country. I believe that people at war should be brought back to their countries because too much money is going into war efforts instead of supporting the country’s future which are its children. If more children are educated then they can help society slowly assimilate into a non racist world that has true freedom for people, and allows the equality that everyone deserves. I am not trying to suggest that America turn communist but the people to have the equality that they have been promised for the past 400 years. People constantly say that education is important then we must train the leaders of the future like they were trained in the past. I suggest that racism in the media and in other locations should be expunged. Many children are absorbing the information that they see and replaying them with Barbie dolls. When observing children at stores they preferred the white Barbie dolls to the black dolls because of the way they were portrayed in the commercials. Another suggestion is that schools should be more integrated. There still exist some schools that still have all black or all white student bodies. When in a captive lunch room many people tend to segregate themselves into certain categories. People already have a classification on what is a supposable “nerd” or considerably “cool”.
I encourage you to expand the minds of the country’s people and not hide information that is crucial. The people who live and give support to this country should have the right to the truth. Who knows the truth may unlock a person’s mind. I believe that the hope for society is to control the media, increase education and decrease the power that the army has. Not everything in the world is resolved with fighting but it can be done with intelligence. One person can have a voice but it takes a crowd to take actions and do something about it. I encourage you as our president to take a stand and make slow changes in order to repair the mess the current world is in. We are the voice and you have the power to change the world for the good of everyone. Thank You for your time.
Sincerely,
Katherine Rojas