Currently, in my American Literature class, we are studying an influential book by Harriet Jacobs, called Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Although she uses fake names, she makes sure to let the reader know that the whole story follows closely to what she endured in her own life as a slave. The book was edited and published in 1861 by Lydia Maria Child, a white woman who is known for her similarly abolitionist piece The Quadroons, and for publicly denouncing slavery. Although it was edited, the story wasn't changed in any substantial way rather than fixing grammatical errors and condensing some chapters, so every heart-wrenching trauma that occurred in Linda's life in the book was what really happened to Harriet Jacobs.

Jacobs was a house slave, so she didn't bear the brutal beatings or the harsh slave labor. However, she did bear all the emotional abuse, the every-so-often lashing out of her master, and she endured sexual abuse in her everyday life. The life of a slave was a bitter, hopeless life that Harriet, and her character Linda, didn't want to live. It was horrifying to read all the things that happened to her and to people in her community as she told it.

This is one example of what racism can do to people, and this was in the 1800's. Racism is still alive and well today, and although now we have laws in place to protect African-American people from such tragedy, we still have cruel, hateful, white supremacist groups in America that are determined to disturb a peace that we are all trying to come to. We are denying black men the right to protest peacefully because they feel they are not being represented by their government. We are still making racist remarks towards people and showing intolerance, and it needs to stop now.

It has been approximately 200 years since these practices have been in place, yet we still feel tensions between our white and black neighbors. We still clique together with people who look more like us rather than the latter, We are still afraid to step out of our comfort zones to openly help our friends trying to help themselves. If you know there is an injustice in your country or in your world, and you do nothing to raise awareness or fight against the cause, you are contributing to the cause.

In the face of injustice, in the face of inequality, we stand together with those that feel underrepresented in our current society. This not only includes our African-American friends, but our friends of all races, religions, sexual orientations, and genders. This includes every person in the United States who feels our government hasn't done enough to ensure each and every human being has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Maybe one day we will live in a country where angry white supremacist groups will put their tiki torches down in exchange for putting their hand out to help someone in need. Maybe one day we will follow Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's wishes, and "judge people not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." And maybe one day we will live in a country where every person is proud to stand and put their hand over their heart for the National Anthem. But until that day, we need to fight to make sure our friends and fellow citizens feel safe, protected, and loved in a country that should be representing them.