Racism. It has been the one thing that has haunted this Earth through it all. Whether it is in the form of prejudice, racial discrimination, or bigotry; it all comes down to the same thing, blaming strangers for your own mistakes. The human race has forever been known to draw hatred towards those that are different then their own kind. Yet hasn't it always been individuality that has taught us new ways, made us more knowledgeable, and more dependable?

I was born into a world that I forever thought was free from the disastrous times of racism. I, myself, had no idea what a "black person" was, even at the age of ten years old. My grandparents, refugees of the Hungarian Revolution, had helped raise me. With their accents and the conversations at the dinner table constantly belonging to that of another country, it still had never dawned on me that they were different. I can remember clearly for the first time when I was told that people saw, my very Mama and Papa, as foreigners. The whole idea, I couldn't comprehend. To me it had always been just a tan; some people just were darker than others. My grandma had dark skin, my dad, my aunt, my sisters, and I, but it all meant nothing; I mean wasn't really the same as blue eyes or brown? This is what had always led me to believe that an African American was merely just a tan Caucasian. Even though I now know the true political version of the difference, isn't it still the same? My childish view on it all is the real truth. Nationalities and different cultures are just a way of making the human race even more unique. It's not a reason to point hatred towards others, or to blame different races for their own mistakes.

I was raised in the north; which must be another reason as to why I so fully believed that the Civil War was far beyond finished. In my own perfect, little world it had been centuries since the dispute over whites and blacks had occurred. Even though my school had few minorities, it went unnoticed. We all saw everyone the same, never crossing our minds that we were all different. It was when I moved to North Carolina that racism and prejudices poured into my mind, poisoning me of my once so innocent thoughts.

Now being a citizen of the south; the confederate flag waved before my eyes on every car in the high school parking lot, teenagers sat segregated in the lunchroom, unable to speak to others not within their "racial groups", teachers described the Civil War as the Northern Aggression. It

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