Many of our immigrant parents and families moved to America for a better life, filled with opportunities. They were told it was the land of the free, the land of the great. Time after time America has proven itself to be quite the opposite, especially under the current culture of divisive politics. America has become a land of people that believe that might is right! America has always been the land of power, of white privilege, and the land of racism, masked in a sheet of faux equality. I am not saying everyone is a white supremacist, but if you deem yourself to be neutral or not taking any side, then you are supporting racism. You have become part of the problem. You are not standing up for those who have been pushed down and beaten up all of their lives… for generations! We need to help fight for them. Silence is pro-racism. As Edmund Burke said "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing!"

Equality should not be a gift. Race should have never been an issue in the first place. Black lives should have always mattered. However, in this current environment, all lives CANNOT matter, until black lives do.

Additionally, several Americans are hell-bent on having the ability to carry arms, urging that it is their right due to the second amendment (a severely outdated amendment in my opinion), but have no problems seeing others being tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets for protesting (which is also their right). This government appears to care more about property and firearms than it ever did for black people. When people get mad, infuriated rather, they protest. It is natural human behavior. Rather than finding a solution by creating ways to decrease systemic racism, the government sends in the national guard, which will only do harm.

We are too advanced as Homo Sapiens to not be treating everyone equally. We are all the same on the inside, and we need to start acting like it. We mustn't stay silent. Racism starts at home. Racism starts at school. Racism is all around us. We can't let small subtle comments get pushed under the rug. People need to be called out. Stereotypes need to be eliminated. These seemingly small stereotypes and subtle comments are why people are dead. When things are said so often, people start to believe the stereotypes. We must change our thinking, and it will automatically change our behavior.

Racism is REAL and if you cannot see it, you are blind to this society, blind to the current events. It is not someone else's job to teach you to respect all races. It is your own.

It is all of our duties to educate ourselves, do better, and treat people how we would want to be treated (an elementary rule). We are now grown up. We will soon become the forefront of politics and the world around us. We must change the way America has been thinking, it must feel like home for everyone, and at home no one should fear for their lives, or their children's lives, regardless of their skin color, race, or sexual orientation.

I am not black, therefore I have not faced systemic racism all my life, but I will grieve with you, fight alongside you, and help decode racism on social media and in real life.

It is time we stop going backwards in time. It is time we ACTUALLY become the land of the equal.

Places you should donate to help those in need:

https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/bailbondfaq

https://www.blackvisionsmn.org/about

https://www.aclu.org/issues/racial-justice

https://www.cuapb.org/what_we_do