I’m about to state an incredibly obvious fact. We are living in the year of 2016. Compared to most countries that we share the planet with, America is incredibly young, only 240 years old. Through the span of our country’s history and even before we declared independence from Great Britain, there has been a major problem. Are you ready for it? Americans have had this mentality that white citizens have some sort of superiority over the rest of the population. Considering all of the different ethnicities that make up this beautiful country, whites are close to or are even at the point of being the minority group. What makes this crazy is that even people of other ethnicities have grown to believe that whites are holier than thou and that they are lowly people. Don’t get me wrong. A lot of people have very non-discriminatory hearts. But for those that do not, I’m here to try and open your eyes so please just hear me out.

While other races are experiencing just as much discrimination, black lives have been more appearant in the past few months. With the fairly recent attacks on Dallas police officers and Alton Sterling, it’s safe to say that for some reason people are scared of and are fast to accuse black people. It’s understandable that with every race, even white, that there are going to be some trouble makers. But why are people so fast to accuse every member of colored background of being all around horrible people?

I share my college campus with an abundance of black people. In no way shape or form has it ever bothered me. Parents of some may be quick to say that I hang around black people, particularly guys, to cause trouble. It’s always been said that it’s never a good thing when a white girl spends her time with a black guy. But that’s one thing that I don’t understand. At least at my university, black guys are some of the most gentlemanly and kind hearted people that I know. Some of them may even be more respectful than the white males that I share classrooms with. Blacks and whites get along on my campus as if there were no color difference between us. My college campus is diverse and that’s what drive so many students to attend here. Segregation is not a huge prominent thing anymore. White girls date black guys, not to cause issues with old fashioned family members, but because they make them happy, happier than any white guy has ever made them. Sororities and fraternities with a majority of white members welcome new black members with open arms not because we have to to be considered diverse but because they are genuinely amazing people.

What a lot of people with racist attitudes don’t grasp is that black people and Hispanic people and Asian people and people of every other back ground are just that. They’re people. They’re normal people. They’re friendly people. They are respectful people. They are people that I want to spend time with. They are people that I’ve grown to love. They are people that have become family to me. They are not all like the bad guys that get flashed up on our television during the evening news. They are not all drunk, high gang bangers. Eyes need to be opened to the fact that we aren’t living in the sixties anymore. We are making our marks in 2016. We are becoming friends with people that are different than us. We are loving people that have a different skin color. We are being accepting of other people. We are being love.