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I should begin this post by saying that this is not just America-specific. This is across the board. This is a message the whole world needs to wrap its head around. It is beyond me, and I can only hope it is beyond others, that this message has not been heard and put into action. Furthermore, it is beyond me while this is still a topic.

While watching CNN and several political specialists talk about racism in the United States of America, along with their racial blindspots, I thought in terms of Aquinas' cosmological argument, for everyone one thing having a cause. And thus, I thought about racism and its cause. It had to start somewhere. The point of this post is not to say, "Eureka, I have found the cause of racism," because nobody cares about how it began. We (should) all care about how it should end, though.

How difficult is it for everyone, specifically competent adults, to understand the insanity and illogical nature of racism? Furthermore, why is it that the education system cannot reboot by talking about the "differences" between people? I cannot give an answer, because that would be too easy. It is too simple and easy to start children in education in the following way: showing children rocks, or snowflakes, or stars, or roses, or any other species or thing, and saying that, "there is no same one rock, snowflake, star, rose, or anything. In the same way, there is no same human. Everyone is different, but they are still human, just as every rock, snowflake, star, rose or thing is the same as the next thing, but still belongs to the family of its species."

Having read Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Booker T. Washington, Leslie Marmon Silko, we see that history has had a way of degrading and segregating women, African Americans, Native Americans, and each other. Everyone claims that racism is illogical, which it is, and yet nothing is improving. The United States Presidential debate on both Republican and Democratic parties brings racism up, but no one is speaking of solutions to end it.

Actor Morgan Freeman once said that the cure for racism is to stop talking about it. While this is poignant and easier said than done, Freeman has a point. "Whites think black people are bad." "Muslims are terrorists." "Italians are in the mob." "The Irish are heavy drinkers." "Jews are cheap." If we STOPPED making assumptions and using stereotypes to base or opinions on people, racism could end. However, the end must begin somewhere, and I believe that is in the education system. If we teach our young that everyone is different but we are all one giant family, and I stress that word "family," then I believe that it will be easier see others as brothers and sisters rather than someone of a different sex or someone of a different skin colour.

Dr. Seuss said it best: "Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!" Indeed, this promotes one's individuality, but it also promotes everyone's uniqueness. While we are all unique and different, by sex and skin colour and faith or religion and whatever else makes another different from the next, we are all humans. Humans and humans. And as humans, it is time to act like humans: the inheritors of the earth.

If there's one thing I hope someone gets from this, be it a male or female either black or white - STOP SEEING THE WORLD IN TERMS OF BLACK AND WHITE. At the moment, we are still Dorothy Gale from Kansas in the first minutes of The Wizard of Oz. It is not until we start teaching our young, and hope to understand from their naive and unformed minds, that we will enter the land of Oz, seeing things of all colour as something awe-inspiring and wonderful.

I fully agree with the above posts. In today's age, racism should not be an issue any more. I am surprised it is still a hot topic in society, especially in important and influential places that are front and centre in society and media. If presidential candidates are arguing about race, if the Oscar's are dealing with a lack of representation of blacks in their nominees, and if people in society are still complaining about the persisting inequality around us, we definitely still have a problem. I agree that children should be taught at a young age about cultures and races other than their own. The idea that we are all humans and should be treated equally is an important lesson we should all embrace. But when I hear about grown adults (I'm looking at you, Donald Trump) using their social platforms to promote discrimination instead of combat it, my faith in the end of racism diminishes. It is just sad that we still must deal with people who are unable to accept everyone for who they are, instead of basing their judgements on the colour of their skin, their gender, their sexual orientation, or anything else that contributes to their unique identity. We are all different, but we are all human. And we should treat each other with respect and dignity instead of discriminating based on biological aspects that none of us have any control over. Teaching children is definitely the starting point. It may take many more years, but shaping the future generations to behave with respect and acceptance is the only way our society will make any progress in erasing racism and other forms of discrimination.