Why in 2018 does it feel like we are so divided? 1 John 2:11 says, "But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them." Is the world blinded to the issue at hand or do we choose not to discuss because it makes us uncomfortable? Can we not finally break this mold of division or has the darkness blinded every generation? The racism and the chaos in our world linked to it, I can not even begin to relate. I am a Caucasian female who has grown up my whole life, not totally realizing the privileges I was given because of my skin color. From a young age, my parents taught me to love people for their hearts. Although, I was never blinded by someone being "different" than me, I always loved the people for their hearts. Do I really feel like the normal and what is normal in all honesty because America is such a melting pot of so many different races. Just cause I'm white do I deserve more than others' who aren't...NO, but in reality it happens every day.

I write this article today because I feel like the issue of racism has been brought up a lot lately and burns me to the inner core. Sometimes unintentional like when my sister talks about being interested in attending historically black universities because an agricultural program she did this summer which introduced her to some really great opportunities. Regardless, in normal conversation she got judgmental comments like why would she want to go there. I wish I could have been there to be like the African American race is regular people just like all of us and I think it would be a privilege for my sister to attend one of those universities. It needs to be brought to light that just being the minority for once does not make it a terrible path to travel down.

One of my favorite songs is "We all bleed the Same" by Mandisa. It talks about how we need to come together through love and unite to overcome. As much as I want to pop off on someone when they make a racial slur or subconsciously discriminate in the end this song it reminds me how that's not the solution. If I want to make a change in society it's less about verbal debating someone or physical altercations, but fighting for each other and letting love be the motivation for all of it.

"We all bleed the same" has an intro to the song where Kirk Franklin is addressing the chaos and calamity in the World, but it was one line that really made me feel like a hypocrite.

And when we DON'T say something, We're saying something."

So, yes I cannot even begin to relate to the struggles of growing up an African American could've been like. I know from being an RA it has really opened my eyes to the amount of times people grab there pursue when a black man walks in the room, or the amount times you weren't allowed to do something, or the circumstances where people treated you differently in a public place because they looked down on you. Heaven forbid if a black women goes out to dinner with a white man or vice versa, it's 2018 if it doesn't progress now when will it? I am here to say I want to put an end to this, I know my generation has begun such a trend of breaking the barriers with sexuality, but still we sit in this mountain of division. I want people to realize we are not our parents or grandparents, this World is filled with so many beautiful people who may challenge us to step outside of comfort zones, but in the long run it makes us a better person.

You may struggle with even realizing how much subconsciously you segregate yourself. Don't claim just cause some of your best friends live right next door to black people that you really can relate. It starts with you educating yourself reading articles more than what we were taught in school and learning to hear from their point of view. We live in a me me World, but I think it's time we stand for something greater. Stop this hatred and show the love we were meant to show to really make progress. I am just one person, I know I am not the most well versed or written. Let it be known though that I want some day to be standing proud with my children knowing we have finally moved past all this brokenness of the past.