Am I Racist?

Imagine living everyday, knowing that everywhere you go, everything you do is being observed and judged. Imagine walking into a convenient store or a clothing boutique, knowing that you’re always going to be watched and followed. Not because your a valuable customer, but because the employees think that you are going to steal an item or reveal a bomb beneath your clothes. Imagine being mocked at school because you don’t look a certain way or look like everyone else. None of us like being left out but then why do we judge? Why do we hate and let it spread like wild fire? Or worse; why do we remain silent while our fellow human beings cry out for justice and freedom to simply be who they are? Everywhere we go and everywhere we look there’s always going to be someone different, because differences are a good thing or so we say. But then we use those differences to justify our hatred and defend our discrimination. Racial discrimination is everywhere; it is the belief that a particular race is inferior or superior to others, racism is not only wrong it is disgusting. Whether we’re beating someone with our words or our fist. We are literally destroying them over things they cannot control. How can we beat someone down because of their race?? Yes, they are different, they dress differently, they look differently, they talk differently. To try to pretend they aren’t different would be ignoring the obvious and insulting what makes them beautiful. What a shame that we obsess so much over what’s on the person, that we miss the depth of what’s inside the person. Do we ever stop judging them long enough to find out who they are, what makes them tick, what drives them, what gives them joy, or what breaks them down?? Someone can be black or white or red or brown but they are still human. They know what it means to cry and to bleed and to dream and to die. They know how it feels to lose a loved one and how it feels to pursue a passion and how it feels to love another human being and to be loved. And deep down we all know this, we say we’re nor racist so why does racism still exist? We claim to be the most tolerant generation, yet reports of discrimination, violence, and Hate crimes are blasting non stop on social media. Maybe we should all ourselves if I’m not racist, why am I not doing anything to stop it? If I’m not racist, why am I not speaking out against racist comments on social media? And why do I not stand up to the hate that presses down on our society. These are hard questions but we’ve taken the easy way for far too long. We stick our heads in the sand, we ignore the facts because as long as we don’t think we see a problem then we can’t think that we might be part of the problem. Have we ever asked ourselves why we hate to think about how racism makes other people feel? Is is because then we cannot pretend that they deserve our hatred? Is it because then we couldn’t ostracize and marginalize and criticize.? Are we afraid of them? Do we believe that they are less of a human than we are? Do we believe they are human at all? Have we ever asked ourselves,

Am I Racist???