According to dictionary.com, Islamophobia is the "hatred or fear of Muslims." Due to recent events, I have seen a great deal of Islamophobia from politicians, the media, and from people on social networks. Scrolling through my timeline, I see post after post of people spewing their hatred and misinformation about Muslims. It's honestly sickening. Personally, I think that Islamophobia is becoming a huge problem in the United States.

In 2015, you would think blatant racism wouldn't be a thing anymore. However, it obviously is. Scrolling through Facebook and Twitter, I see people post and repost horrible things about Muslims. Most recently, I've seen posts such as, "this person does not give a Sh*t about hurting any Muslims feelings." I've also seen multiple posts of people claiming they hate our president just because they believe he is a Muslim. Not to mention, I see people using horrible racial slurs, such as "towel head" or "sand monkey." I find this all to be a little disheartening. I used to feel like we had come so far in terms of race relations in the U.S., but as the days go on, I feel less and less sure of this.

The problem is that it's not just everyday people spewing their hate for Muslims. It's politicians too. You have politicians such as Donald Trump, wanting surveillance of some mosques in the U.S. Another politician, Ben Carson, made a comment saying he "does not agree with a Muslim being elected president." Also, Ted Cruz has recently been talking about how we should only let "Christian Refugees" into the U.S. Politicians like these only add fuel to the fire when it comes to Islamophobia. They fuel people's fears and their hatred, which is absolutely wrong. I think it's important for politician in this country to be open minded to all races and religions. While some politicians believe that this is solely a Christian nation, it is not. The U.S. was built on the idea of religious freedom. It was built on not persecuting people because of their religion. However, I think that many people forget this, which is simply un-American.

I think that it is very important to realize we are all people, no matter what the color of our skin is or what religion we choose to follow. It is important not to stereotype and make someone feel less human simply because of these characteristics. It is important to be open minded and educate yourself about different types of people. It's 2015. it's time we stop acting so hateful and start acting like decent human beings.