We sit in awe in front of our television screens, witnessing the horrific events of racial hatred unfold before us. Buildings are on fire, heating the faces of those who set the flames. Mobs of men and women form in the streets, stomping toward the barricade of police who are trying to protect their citizens, and businesses are looted while store owners are left to deal with the sickening damage.

These acts of violence do nothing more than dismantle their own cities.

As citizens of this country, it is up to us to resolve our country’s issues, such as racism.

As defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, racism is “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.”

An act of racism is driven from pure prejudice to a specific ethnic group, not just one specific person or a specific group of people. Racism falls to all those in the ethnic category.

It’s not a problem of racism; it’s a problem of people not being able to get along.

Blacks and whites have not been competing for the impossible equality. Instead, they rally against each other, against our police and against our government. Arguing about visual differences will never resolve our issues.

To resolve the issue, society, which WE are in control of, needs to realize our own ignorance that RACE, which is defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as “a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics,”  doesn’t exist, but RACISM does. We are all just people. That’s it.

Riots and unrest in places like Ferguson and Baltimore are a perfect example of how people use a war on racism as an excuse to cause pure chaos.

Though these events mainly take place in urban areas and have no initial impact on us, we are still members of society.  As members of society, it is our duty to create a respectable environment to live in. If we continue to watch others while they commit acts of racial hate and do nothing of it, we are no better than those who commit those acts. It is our job to stand up to the wrong doers in society.

We are the generation to raise the upcoming adults in the world. If we ourselves can not act like adults, we can not successfully raise one.