I had the wonderful opportunity to start my freshman year at a college synonymous with diversity to participate in a program called Ram Camp. It’s a camp geared toward giving incoming freshman tools to further themselves as leaders in the community around them.

During this week long camp, we sat in a lecture hall to discuss diversity with the Office of Student and Multicultural Affairs. Of course, the topic of race and racism came up. The discussion turned toward minority groups being racist toward other groups.

The way we use the words “racist” and “racism” in today’s world isn’t what those word represent.

Racism comes from prejudice and the group with the prejudiced having power.

All throughout history and to this day, white people are the majority group in America.

Systematically, white people have the power and when you add prejudice you end up with racism.

When you have people of color in America, they are the minority groups. They don’t have the power like the white majority do. Hatred toward people of other races in cases of minority groups to other minority groups or minority to majority in cases of race, isn’t racism. It’s prejudice.

Maybe, the topic of what racism truly means academically is too “politically correct” or “oversensitive”. Isn’t everything “over sensitive” or overly “Politically correct”? Isnt’ that the “problem with America”?

If racism was just prejudice there wouldn’t have been the Trail of Tears. There wouldn’t have been the displacement of those who lived on our land hundreds of years before we did. There wouldn’t have been displacement, destruction of cultures and reservations.

If racism was just prejudice there wouldn’t have been slavery, Civil War and the 13th,14th and 15th Amendments. There wouldn’t have been the Civil Rights Act, no one would have needed to march on Washington.

If racism was just prejudice we wouldn’t be advocating to build a wall. We wouldn’t be able to.

The power held by the white majority allowed these events to happen not the prejudice.

We can all have prejudice not matter the color of our skin but we don't all have the power to enact it.

Prejudice is the hatred. Racism is having the power to inflict that hatred on others.

Racism has been reduced down to be a substitute for prejudice and the answer for racism in America is to disregard skin color so we can all be equal.

The destruction of the system of racism is the prejudice and the power. When the hatred is gone and the power is truly equal then we will all be on one level ground.