To those that cross the street when you see my minority contemporaries and me, it’s 2016, grow up. You’ll never know what it feels like to be avoided like that. Have you ever thought how I might feel about seeing that? Acting like I didn't notice you cross the street while jogging just to avoid me. I just find it hilarious that people are so intimidated by someone’s amount of melanin in their skin. You realize that you're not only enforcing prejudice stereotypes but you just communicated your high-level ignorance without even opening your mouth (which I must say is very impressive). I’m tired of walking around feeling apprehensive because of the recent influx of overt bigots and their random outburst of discrimination. Is it fair to the kids that didn't have a choice to be who they are? Is it fair that I will have to go through life with a little more perseverance than any other Caucasian male or female you compare me to? Just because of the fact that I have a last name like Torres and my skin is a little darker. These are things that not only I but people of my ethnicity, heritage and culture must deal with.

Why must we be the ones that have to do more? Why must we live in a society that pushes separatism for hits, likes and shares? Why has money become the catalyst for hate and divide? People tend to feel better and begin to belittle those without money. Why must we depend so heavily on this little cotton paper? We can go back to the roots of the problem and see that people tend to feel powerless and will conform to authority faster. Sound a little familiar? Sounds a little like oppression and you crossing the street to avoid me enforced it. You see how your “unconscious“ action could, in turn, continue the ripple of prejudice in the river of racism? We live in a time where a Bigot with no political background whatsoever is running for president! Don’t you think it’s time to stop with all the racial dividing? I mean shit, the last time I checked, my race was human with a Puerto Rican ethnicity. Saying my race is Latino is like calling an antisemitic a racist, doesn’t make sense but because of media, surveys and almost everything that has ever asked you about yourself we tend to believe it is a race (some people actually believe that the Judaism is a race, how sad).

I mean, I just don’t know what else to do. I write articles that could possibly trigger a neuron in your brain to realize “Hey, we are all equal and nobody should ever be treated wrongfully for the benefit of another” but hey! I’m just a city kid with bigger goals than this world can even imagine in this day and age. I’ll give you a hint, it begins with “world peace” and “Global Unity.”