I'm sure by now you've all heard, seen, and read a million times that the year 2016 is one big joke in terms of justice, fairness, and politics. Everyone is talking about how much Trump sucks, how much Hillary lies, which race or profession 'matters' more than another today, how often women are discriminated against, how men aren't allowed to be discriminated against, and so on.

Now, I don't know about you guys, but I am done with it. Every single time I hear anything on the news, read anything on Facebook, or see anything on television, there is someone attempting to pit a certain group of people against another. If you are aware of a recent objective news story, please sent it my way, because I have yet to see a single one this year. A typical headline will read: Black Man Shot By White Police Officer or White Man Stabbed By Black Man. Why does a person's race have to be included in this headline at all? For what purpose is it necessary to state the ethnicity or appearance of a person before explaining their crime? Unless it is a specific description for the purpose of sending out a warning alert, including race and ethnicity is irrelevant. It does nothing but charge and promote racism within our country, and I believe it is necessary to speak out about how serious of an issue this is.

Shouldn't it anger us enough that someone shot or stabbed another person? How is their ethnicity relevant to the fact that they have performed an illegal act and harmed another human being? It isn't. Someone's family member was taken from them, loved ones are grieving, and communities want criminals to be held accountable for their actions. This is true no matter what the race of the criminal is. Believe me, I am aware that there is a problem with racism and discrimination in the United States. That is exactly why I chose to write this article. The reason everyone is so fired up about racial discrimination all the time is because the media portrays certain events in a matter that pits people against those that look differently than them. A divide has been created within our society, and we are only continuing it by representing every single crime, controversial issue, and debate as a race-driven problem.

As aforementioned, the sole fact that a crime took place should be enough of a problem for citizens to care about it. News outlets should not have to point out that it was an African-American person who was shot, or that it was a Caucasian person who was stabbed. Someone was shot. Someone was stabbed. Neither of those events are legal or morally right, which should be what is concerning people. Instead of focusing on a bigger problem that exists - humans constantly harming other humans - we are subconsciously directed by the media to focus on which ethnicity these humans are.

I understand that the claims I have made may be controversial. It is not my intention to offend any individual or group of people. I am completely aware that certain racial groups are targeted within the United States, and nothing I have said in this article is meant to discount that fact. I am also completely aware that hate crimes exist, and that those types of crimes are a completely different story. However, it is time for the media to put a stop to their biased headlines (likely only worded that way in order to get more views). According to the Pledge of Allegiance, our nation claims to be indivisible. So far this year, all I've experienced is a growing divide. We all need to stop focusing on the racial characteristics of people and remember this: no matter what the color of their skin is, they are a person, just like you. It should not be hard to simply treat them that way.