The world has always its dark times, but it appears to be getting worse.

Or is it?

On August 11, white supremacists and Neo-Nazis violently protested in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was not just about the taking down of the Robert E. Lee statue, but it was about these individuals attempting to preserve their white superiority in general. They chanted disgusting, anti-Semitic remarks, something that we would not expect to hear in the supposed progressive nature of 2017.

According to what a witness at Charlottesville discussed in an article by the Los Angeles Times, counter-protestors to the Neo-Nazis were also hitting others with sticks, spraying chemicals, and committing various other acts of violence.

There has been a profound division in this country ever since the time of the 2016 Election, with Conservatives, Liberals, Independents, and Libertarians having trouble agreeing on economic and social issues; protests, both violent and nonviolent; and social media arguments. However, this is now a different type of divide we are currently seeing. The issue of race is something that we as Americans have improved on, or thought we did, since the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

In recent years, with the issue of some police officers shooting and killing unarmed African American males, race has clearly become more of an issue in America. It has brought about the Black Lives Matter movement in order to bring awareness to the issue of police brutality in certain scenarios. Evidently, racial tensions in America have been building up for quite some time, so this Charlottesville attack is unfortunately not out of the blue.

Implicit bias is something psychological in one's brain that cannot be changed. Opinions and stereotypes of those of different races, whether the person is White, African American, Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, or Native American, are natural and uncontrollable. It is up to the individual to decide to act or not act upon those preconceived notions regarding different races.

In the year of 2017, where most individuals say that they applaud diversity, shouldn't we be more accepting and nonjudgmental?

The media, not shockingly, is making the Charlottesville incident about politics. It is not Republicans versus Democrats here. These despicable Neo-Nazis do not represent the Republican party in America. In fact, they do not represent America at all, because most Americans are not Neo-Nazis. ANTIFA, the anti-Fascist group also present at the Charlottesville attack (although are nowhere near as bad as Neo-Nazis), do not represent the Democratic Party.

These are people with extremist views that most Americans do not have. They use violence as an answer. From the Charlottesville riots, we should learn that the answer is not to fight fire with fire. True, effective protest is nonviolent civil disobedience, the kind that Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for.

The answer for America is for all of us to come together as human beings. We need to stop labeling people. Why does it matter who is White, Black, Asian, Conservative, Liberal, Independent, etc.? We are all Americans and that should be the most important thing. We need to preach equality and not division, whether this is division is because of race, gender, religion, or political party.