Dear Mr. President,
My name is Milton Ceita da Costa and I am an American citizen. I am writing you this letter with grave concern about the current state of African Americans in our country. I myself am African American.
I will be honest. I did not vote for you. I do not agree with most of anything concerning you but you are the leader in charge, the Commander-in-Chief. You were legally elected and I respect that.
You could be the man to make a permanent change in this country. You could be the President to finally make protecting black lives as much a priority as protecting other lives.
I know you see the violent protestors but we cannot confuse them for the true fight we have in America. Even with COVID-19, people are risking their lives to make sure this never happens to another black man, woman or child. This shows how desperate we are. It is not just black Americans out there, but white Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans and immigrants without citizenship fighting for what we all know to be right. For the first time in what seems like ages, America is on the verge of uniting itself and it is during your presidency. If you are strong and make the right decision, it could be because of your presidency.
I have received calls and emails from caucasians expressing their outrage and concern for what happened to George Floyd, something that has happened to so many others, such as Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Philando Castile, William Chapman II, Terence Crutcher, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Akai Gurley, Eric Courtney Harris, Charleena Lyles, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice (a 12 year-old boy, not much younger than your son), Walter Scott, Alton Sterling, Breonna Taylor… The list goes on. It is endless. We are people just like you and all we want is to feel safe and know that our families are safe.
Please sir, please, no more dead children, sisters, brothers, daughters, mothers, fathers, sons at the hands of those meant to PROTECT and SERVE.
I am a son and a brother and a soccer coach, working with children of so many different backgrounds and I see the difference. In school and on TV they would tell us to go to a police officer if we were ever in trouble. I know in other countries that still holds true. I know for many of my players, that is applicable. But not all, not for people who look like me. An interaction with a police officer can be as dangerous if not more than a blatant crime.
There is one little boy in particular with whom I work. He’s black like me. Seven years old. Don’t let him grow up in a world, in a country where he has to already fear for his life, where his parents are scared to let him go out. These children are America.
The United States of America has one of the most well-funded police FORCEs and extensive criminal incarceration systems in all of the world and yet somehow we have more violence and prisoners than other “developed” countries and even countries less developed.
Transferring some of the budget from the police and the prison system to education, healthcare and awareness is the way to tackle a rampant problem in our country that only cowards say does not exist, that only cowards try to deflect from by changing the subject to something else.
This country may be divided like never before, but the man who defied so many predictions and won the election and has so much of America believing in what he says, can unite us by doing what is right. By being strong and courageous and daring.
I implore you, help save America. There is nothing bigger or more powerful you could do than stand up for your fellow Americans and take a stand against racism and prejudice and do something no other president has been able to do : prove that