“I can see why black people complain.” Is the first thing my mom says as we exit Walmart.

This past weekend, we went up to Ohio to send my brother off to college for his sophomore year. However, we had to pick up a few things. So what better place to go than Walmart?

I read recently that Walmart was starting to bring back the bag checkers, so I didn’t think twice when the old [white] lady stopped us to check our receipt. Yet, I did notice how she let other people walk past us as she continued to thoroughly check out bags.

She went down item by item making sure we had everything, and even tried to make an excuse as to everything she was doing.

Finally when she was done we moved forward, and I turned around to see if she would check the people behind us, but she let them go without even batting an eyelash in their direction.

It was a little hard to see that we had to go through a thorough check yet when the people behind us, who I may mention were white, went through without going through the same thing we did.

As we were driving back to my brother’s campus, I was sitting there thinking as to why we were singled out. There were hundreds of people there back to school shopping for their children, but we were one of the select few that were chosen to be checked.

We are just your average middle class family that so happens to be African-American. And I believe that we should not be treated any different than other people because of our race.

But, it is what it is. It is the startling reality that racism is not dead. Yes, people are not going around openly committing hate crimes around towns, but there are subtle differences in the way that people are treated due to their skin color.

So I agree with my mom in what she says, I can see why black people are angry too. It is not fair in the way people are treated on a day to day basis just because they are different. They should not be subject to hate and violence in this world because of something they cannot control.

And until the world sees that, I do not believe racism will end. I do not believe violence or hatred towards others because of their differences will end. People will be more self-aware, and subtle about it.

However, at the end of the day the world will still be filled with ignorant people who promote only hate. Change is difficult but not impossible. The world will change once the people living here do too.