We've all taken tests and filled out paper work asking us to fill in those daunting boxes asking what our ethnicity is. They're in standardized tests, applying for anything (colleges, credit cards, a new house, etc) filling out a job application. They're everywhere. We've all filled them out at some point in our lives and they aren't necessarily a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with wanting to know about the statistical diversity around you.

For me, I never know how to approach them. I am a biracial woman, composed of African American and Caucasian. Those strict few boxes left little room for a mixture of races. When given the option to only mark one box, I never knew which one to chose. After staring at the cold black boxes for what felt like eternity, if it was optional I would leave it blank. It still stumps me but if it says mark one and if it's a physical paper, I always mark both.

Among all of the friends I have had throughout my life, I have been primarily the only black friend. I never really minded this fact. To be honest, most of the time I forgot about it, to me it wasn't a big deal. Whenever racial issues would emerge, they would all look to me to gauge the severity of the issue. I could see the look in their eyes as if to say, "if she reacts to this, it'll be uncomfortable for everyone else. If she doesn't, we'll ignore it the way she does".

Most times, I never reacted. I wanted everyone to feel comfortable at whatever expense, even if it was at my own expense.

I have experienced racism throughout my entire life, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. I remember when I was younger and my family decided to take a trip to southern Missouri. We were eating breakfast at a little restaurant and everyone else in the restaurant was white and staring at the interracial family seemingly invading their space. I can still remember the cold, disgusted glares we got and that's only one example.

I debated whether or not I wanted to write about this. I went back and forth, weighing the pros and cons of writing on the touchy subject of racism. As I thought about it more, it kept getting heavier and heavier on my heart, especially with the current state of racial shock our country is in.

I'm not writing to say I know everything or I have a master plan to fix everything.

I can't help but wonder if those little boxes are how our country's politicians and law makers see Americans: in boxes. With one-word-fits-all stereotypes.

Black, white, native american, Asian.

I think, in order for things to get better every American needs to search deep down inside of them and agree that racism and prejudice is still very prevalent in our country. Once we all agree on this injustice we can begin to move forward and end it once and for all.

When we sit and generalize an entire group of people for the actions of a few, we lose sight of what makes America truly great: the melting pot of our people. Generalizing people is what got us in this mess in the first place. If we nipped our preconceived notions about other people in the bud, I believe we would have a chance at being the country we think we should be.

In the past few weeks, I have spoken with people that altogether deny racism and I immediately feel those ice-cold stares at that tiny diner in the heartland of America when I was 8-years-old.

I have a younger brother who just turned 18. He's 6"3 with the stature of an NFL player. To anyone who doesn't know him, at a first glance he might seem intimidating or even "threatening". To anyone who actually knows him, they all call him a gentle giant. He loves everyone he comes in to contact with from the bottom of his heart.

It is very concerning, that I am afraid of what may happen when he walks out of the doors of our house. As his older sister it would be horrifying to find out that my best friend had one day been misjudged for his stature or the color of his skin and it ended fatally.

This needs to change.

I believe there are good people in this world of every color. I believe there are good cops in this world. I don't care if you're white, black, democrat, republican, independent, 15 or 85, world class citizen or convicted felon. We all need to agree that racism is not just a black problem or a white problem. Racism is an American problem and all of us united is the solution. We just have to be brave enough to own up to the fact that we are the problem and move toward finding a solution.