Growing up as a Chinese-American in a small town in Eastern Pennsylvania, I have always understood that because my parents and ancestors came from Hong Kong I would not have the same physical features as my peers in school. Despite the fact that I have grown up in a very nurturing environment, I am no stranger to the strong reality of racism in modern day society. As I graduate from high school and begin my first few adventures far away from home and the utopia-like bubble of my town, I know for a fact I will encounter more incidents of racism.

While recently on vacation in Disney World (supposedly the happiest place on earth) with my friends from high school I was called out by a group of adult males. That day in Disney I was wearing a United States Olympic tank top. I was only trying to support the country I was born in and live in as the 2016 Summer Olympics begin in Rio de Janeiro. My exchange with the group was quick but still hurtful. One man said to me, “USA? Do you even speak English?” I was appalled by such actions of people. It saddens me that there are people in this world unable to look past the pigment of someone else’s skin and not prejudge them for being a certain race. Americans come in all different shapes, sizes, and races. There will never be one way that an American is “supposed” to look. The United States was founded on the idea that people from all different countries and background stories can come to a country and escape their oppression.

At the beginning of last week, two innocent lives were lost by the hands of those who automatically prejudged each of the men based on the color of their skin. Following the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by police officers, protests began in many major cities around the United States. Then, at a protest in Dallas, Texas, a shooter with an SKS rifle began shooting at police officers that were at the protest to protect people.

After the unnecessary killings of two black men, the whole world mourned in pain as millions of people across America watched the videos of the exchanges between victim and police officer. It is no doubt that many people of all different races and occupations felt sorrow and worry upon hearing the news of these deaths, but we cannot fight violence with violence. Fighting violence with violence only leaves both “sides” mourning the loss of life. We are all Americans. We will always come from different places and have different lives from one another, so what we need to do instead of killing each other based on negative stereotypes of race or occupation is to educate others about your group of people. Racism cannot be destroyed overnight; it is too big of a problem in the United States, and we need to take the necessary action to counteract this problem. We do not need more deaths and unnecessary killings of each other; we need to learn about the true meaning of each person’s culture. Obviously, this takes time to do, but no large problem was ever solved in the blink of an eye. In fact, this will take tons of time (multiple generations) but it is the only logical answer to the problem. This will help destroy negative stereotypes against different subgroups of Americans in a peaceful manner. I can only sympathize with those affected by police brutality because I have never faced such aggressive and absurd racism. But I am not so naive to ignore the fact that there is a major problem and as a community of humans we must work together to change the mindset of those who view different races with negative and often incorrect stereotypes.

I believe that America can eventually be the greatest country in the world again. We have been constantly facing attacks on different sub-groups because of differing opinions, but if we open our hearts to others and learn acceptance we will be able to push past the idea that we are so different from each other. At the end of the day we are all Americans trying to live our lives in peace and that will never happen if we do not start changing how people view different races and groups of people. Racism is not inherent to humans. It is taught through parenting, media, and peers, but we can reverse these teachings and bring back love.