by CaCee Walsh

Created on: August 21, 2007

America, home of the free and land of the brave, founded on the blood sweat and tears of a hodge podge of nationalities and races. Yes, we have a bloody and terrible racial background, but how can we ever expect to overcome that by abandoning the cause to integrate and get along? I dream of an America where we are truly color blind, and where cultural differences and individual heritage are celebrated.

The human race has become so advanced in some ways, yet we are stuck in the past in others. With all of our science and learning how can anyone still possibly believe that the color of one's skin makes somebody more or less than another? Today we see racism from every angle, black hates white, white despise brown, brown detests yellow, and yellow thinks they're better than black, and vice versa and so on. The ignorance and drama never ends. Minorities feel angry and bitter at their years of mistreatment and abuse at the hands of the majority, and some of the majority still hang on to the idiotic notion that race actually makes a difference in the quality of a person.

Running from integration will not solve these problems it will only inflame them. We have to teach our children not to fear or hate based on the color of another's skin, but to embrace differences and to be the change we want in our world. I want a world where a black and white couple wouldn't face "a whole lot of stupid, from a never ending train of ugly" (Motor Mouth Maybelle, played by Queen Latifah in Hairspray.) Where racial pride doesn't equal anti-semitic attitudes and where people don't care about things like skin color for any other reason than which clothing colors might suit them best.

Integration is vital and it will work if we can encourage our schools, teachers and children to celebrate each other's differences. We can't change history, but if we dwell in it then we can't move forward either. Every single race needs to let go of the mistakes and the hurts of the centuries past and work together to move forward into a better tomorrow. Let's make racism a sad footnote of the past and not the defining characteristic of mankind. Integration must be here to stay.

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