According to NBC News, 57% of Americans believe that race relations are bad. Those involved were polled soon after Mike Brown and Eric Garner were murdered by white police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York, respectively. How could America, a forward thinking, and inclusive nation ever be the location of this racial debate? Young black boys and girls are being gunned down in the street. Adult men are begging for their lives, last words being “I can’t breathe!”. The complete and utter disregard for the lives of these American citizens has sparked a debate worldwide. A debate that cannot be solved by a cup of coffee and a chat with a barista. 400 years of systemic racism will not be resolved just because we want it to. We must fight for the lives of these people, because it is suffocating, and we can’t breathe.

    I will never understand the daily struggles and oppression of a black girl; because I am white. I will never be called a thug; because I am white. I will never be told to wear my curly hair in a more respectable fashion; because I am white. My ancestors never had to use a drinking fountain labeled ‘colored’; because I am white. I have never had offensive and derogatory words thrown at me like freshly sharpened knives; because I had the privilege of being born to two white parents, and was graced with white skin. My life will not be mercilessly ripped from my body on the sidewalk; because I am white. The average life expectancy of a black transgender woman is 35 years. 25.1% of black women live in poverty, higher than any other ethnic group in America. Racism did not disappear after the civil rights movement, and this situation, the institutionalized and systemic racism that runs rampant over this country like the plague it has become, needs to cease. We need to fight against injustice, we need to fight for our brothers and sisters, our neighbors and friends, our coworkers and students; we need to fight for a better tomorrow.

    One in three black men can expect to go to prison in his lifetime, according to the NAACP. African Americans make up roughly 30% of the American population, however they account for 60% of those imprisoned. Blacks and Hispanics are three times more likely to be searched while stopped in traffic than whites. 70% of the 96,000 arrested students are black and Hispanic. African American students face harsher school punishments than their white classmates, such as suspension and expulsion, according to the Department of Education. The U.S. Sentencing Commission stated that African Americans receive 10 percent longer sentences than whites for the same crime. In Ferguson, Missouri, 34% of the population is white, and 63% is black. When stopped by police, whites were searched 6.5% of the time, while blacks were searched 12.1% of the time. However, contraband was found 34% of the time with whites, and 21.7% with blacks. Racism has been a part of this country since its founding, and through all the advancements we have made, these statistics provide the harsh truth, racism has never disappeared.

    Mothers are losing their sons, children are losing their fathers, and women are becoming widows at an alarming rate. My parents never had to teach me about how to act around police officers, and I’ve never been afraid to call 911 in an emergency. I have never had to face people like the racist scum who were members of the SAE chapter at the University of Oklahoma. I will never end up looking like Martese Johnson, the UVA student who ended up bloody in his arrest after trying and failing to enter a bar. I have been lucky. And there has become a point where the people who have been beaten and killed just become statistics, because they’re adding up fast. But they will not be forgotten, because this has been happening too often, and too fast, and people are starting to take notice.
   
    Hands up, don’t shoot! was plastered across every headline for months after Mike Brown was murdered in Ferguson. I can’t breathe! became a national slogan for protesters. Twelve year old Tamir Rice was shot within two seconds of police seeing him reach to his waist, he had a toy gun with him. Protests have spread across the country, and are still happening despite a lack of media coverage. Calls for justice have been heard from many, and regarding Mike Brown, none has been served. Darren Wilson, the police officer who killed Brown last August, was not indicted. There was no trial. The same goes for the death of Eric Garner, even with video evidence, no indictment has been made. Those who claim that racism is not a problem faced in America, of whom there are many, are gravely mistaken. Racism is often times seen as a dirty word; a dead word. The race conversation is one that seems to happen in hushed tones, and is not brought up regularly. But in today’s America, the most important and relevant conversation someone can have is one about race. Fight for your friends and neighbors, have the race conversation with anyone who will listen, fight for the ones who lost the battle, and hopefully we will be able to breathe again.