Around 200 years ago, my forefathers brought human beings, primarily of a different skin color, to this land as slaves. This meant that as a slave, they were treated even less like human beings than were women. Rape, murder and isolation were a way of life. And they were born into this way of life whether they liked it or not.

Then came the abolishment of slavery, and everyone was free, no matter the race, color or nationality. But those first three amendments and following acts of Congress never said anything about discrimination or separatism. And they were only free in writing.My ancestors basically forced them into a way of life they didn't want. But there was a way out, and they found it, even though it was like trying to pass a gallstone the size of a baseball.

But now they're faced with a new problem. It seems that they're still stuck in a world filled with rape, murder and isolation. And all of a sudden it's my fault because I'm white.

The people that share my skin color have absolutely nothing to do with their current state of oppression. In fact, we are no longer the ones doing the oppressing, we are actually the ones being oppressed.

Why can't I be proud to be white? Why do I have to treat them any more special than anyone else? Do we live in a world where someone who's born white is automatically a racist?

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Just like them, I'm an individual with my own thoughts and my own perceptions. Not those of my ancestors. Not those of my own color. Not even those of my own mother and father. They are my own, and you may share them or you may disagree with them.

The decision to be a racist by automatically labeling someone else a racist is of one's own free will and choice. If you make this choice, you've also chosen to drag all of humanity through the same process our forefathers just went through. Or we could use the knowledge gained by their mistakes to help us improve today's world.

Jonathon Juvenal

Orem

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