Dear White People everywhere,

Your skin and voice is powerful, use it wisely.

Let me begin by explaining how being black is a big disadvantage in America. People that promote the message “All Lives Matter” against the Black Lives Matter movement miss the facts that in the United States, unarmed black people are killed at five times the rate of unarmed whites. 37 percent of unarmed people killed by police in 2015 were black, that's more than nearly one in three black people despite black people being only 13 percent of the U.S. population, and the sad truth is that police killed at least 102 unarmed black people in 2015, that's nearly twice each week.

The truth is that every time a white person is convicted of a crime, they always get a smaller sentence than a black person. This is not just in North America but in other places like Asia, Europe, and even Africa. look at the results of the Oscar Pistorius case. In America, a white man in Texas can walk around with his AR-17 and a police officer will not question his right to carry, but black people are constantly murdered and slaughtered because the officer "fears for their life." Black people are executed and butchered the moment a police officer realizes the man has a gun without for once thinking maybe it's legally carried and maybe the person shouldn't die because of their petty racism. Why is that every time a white police officer commits murder, he gets paid administrative leave instead of going to jail like everyone else? Why is it that a white college student gets a slap on the wrist for sexually assaulting and raping an innocent young lady, but black people who simply smoke marijuana are given a much harsher sentence and are labeled as thugs? A crime is a crime, skin color shouldn't matter.

This is all due to something called white privilege. White privilege, for those who may not know, is a set of advantages that white people benefit from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others. The sad thing is that white privilege can exist without white people's conscious knowledge of its presence and it helps to maintain the racial hierarchy, not just in America but all across the world. It doesn't matter if you're are the poorest white person in the world, you still have white privilege based solely because of the color of your skin. It's impossible to deny that being born with white skin in America affords people certain unearned privileges in life that people of color are not afforded. If you deny your privilege, then you are just part of the resistance instead of being part of the movement, where people believe that the world is fair and that being white doesn't give them any advantages.

Confused? Let me explain. Women are arguably one of the most oppressed group of minorities in the world. The way that women have got their rights, especially in America, is when ALL people including men stood up and spoke out against those inequalities and did something about it, whether it was protesting alongside women leaders or creating and passing bills in congress that gave women rights. Passed by a majority male Congress on June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote. If there was any male that did not support or fight for this amendment, then they would have been deemed sexist because that means they believe the current system was fair. We have done this before with Lyndon Johnson and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 so why can't we unite once again for justice?

According to The Guardian, young black men were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by police officers in 2015, the study further finds that recorded a final tally of 1,134 deaths at the hands of law enforcement officers this year. Every time a black man gets killed, conservative media, such as Fox News, always focuses on whether or not the person was a criminal instead of speaking against the killing of these innocent young men. There should be no reason whatsoever police officers should take a person's life who does not pose an actual threat to the general public. It seems like it's a crime when black people are trying to make a living for their family and day after day police office carelessly kill a person's father and then go home to their family while they have broken and torn apart someone else's.

So while wearing and styling your hairs like ours, listening to our music, turning up at our concerts and appropriating our culture, speak up against the oppression of black people instead of just enjoying the positives of what black people have created! Why is that only when it benefits your own personal self is when you will get involved with helping the community? I hope all of you start speaking out against police brutality the same way you speak against immigrants, ISIS and protection of your gun rights. This has to stop and the only way it will is if we all come together-- especially white people and not just say enough is enough but start taking action.Though it’s not really news to many blacks and Latinos, plenty of middle-class whites are only now beginning to grasp the scope of their privilege when it comes to dealing with the police, and the results are phenomenal.

Trevor Noah, the host of "The Daily Show," used his platform last Thursday night to make a powerful statement, "It always feels like in America, it's like if you take a stand for something, you automatically are against something else." "With police shootings, it shouldn't have to work that way. For instance, if you're pro-Black Lives Matter you're assumed to be anti-police. And, if you're pro-police then you surely hate black people...when in reality you can be pro-cop and pro-black, which is what we should all be." History has proven that If we all come together and stand united change will happen.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Person of Color