Now entering the land of hate

Racism, it happens everywhere, in classrooms, dining room tables, board meetings and even out of the mouths of babes. It’s as prominent in this country as it was fifty years ago yet most people would like to say it’s not that bad. No one is being lynched; no one is being beaten; all that are said are words. We are taught “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” yet we obviously underestimate the power of words and language. Words resonate in soul tainting us forever but what does that even mean. When someone is beaten, they remember the pain yet after a while they can no longer feel it. They heal themselves and once again they are able to be walk yet how do you hold your head up high when someone follows you around for a year calling you a terrorist.
Maybe this is my personal vendetta against racism but I feel like minorities should stand against the majority telling them they are worthless. I’m not saying go out and punch everyone in the face who has done you wrong; you should just assert yourself. It was a right after 9/11 and everywhere I turned people were calling me a sandnigger or a terrorist. I had to sit through Arab joke after Arab joke. I had to wake up each morning to seeing that my house was vandalized. Each one felt like another knife hitting my back and then twisting. So I stopped talking. I stopped being proud of my heritage. It took me six years to be proud of who I am. I didn’t cause 9/11 and I don’t celebrate what those animals that did that to a city I love, and to those dear families in my town that lost their fathers. I see the pain in their faces and I see what hate can do.
Hate and racism go hand and hand, yet if you could only choose one to deal with it would have to be racism. I understand people have good reasons to hate a handful of people but a whole race, it just doesn’t make sense. Talk to people before you decide they aren’t worth your time. Those who use race, language, and color as a marker on whom they can talk to are truly missing out on life. If I hated every Jewish person I met then I wouldn’t be friends with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. That doesn’t mean I don’t dislike someone who is Jewish and has truly hurt me or my family with a fiery passion from the depths of my soul, it just means that I have an actual reason to not like them because of something they have done. These reasons, however, shall never include breathing the same air as me, sitting in my seat in class or standing in the same room as me because these reasons are petty and have no backing.
So have a talk with your family. Tell them the importance of embracing others because you never know when someone you hate because of where they come from might save your life. It’s about time for America to wake up to this growing epidemic because although the signs may not be clearly seen the words are surely ringing. Learn to love. Learn to grow. Learn to live in harmony.