I was sitting peacefully in my dorm kitchen when the two girls started violently attacking each other, grabbing hair and swinging fists. I looked to my roommate for help and guidance, while she looked over just as frightened as I was. They continued to fight, simultaneously tearing apart our kitchen. A laptop was smashed and our ashtray was used as a weapon, eventually the police came. 

We were surrounded by cops when I noticed the uncomfortable, silent racism that was taking place right in front of me. We were both seen on camera with the girls, we were both there for the fight, and so we were both allegedly at fault. Immediately I felt relieved when I was pushed to the side, unnoticed while my roommate was being aggressively questioned. My ignorance got the best of me as I automatically assumed their reaction was random and accidental. She sat quietly for questioning yet terrified as they verbally harassed her, made  empty threats and convinced her she was going to jail. Were they legally allowed to be saying this? Should I intervene? She looked at me with pleading eyes asking if I could talk to them. I wonder why and she tells me it’s because Im white. Deep frustration rose inside me as I came to understand what was playing out. They were treating us differently because of skin color. She was being viewed as a criminal, while I stood by completely unseen, absolved of all wrongful doing. They told me to get out while they continued to question her. I tried to stay, knowing that being alone would be even harder for her, but they were aggressively persistent. I sat in the hall glaring at them through the glass trying to comprehend the disgusting situation we were in. How was it morally okay that I was let off with a “thank you for your cooperation”, while she was antagonized for hours. I could see the terror in her eyes as she quickly answered their intrusive questions.They looked down at her with disdain and distrust painted on their faces. 

 I had never encountered a situation like this. I have never had to worry about this happening to me. Upon interviewing my roommate, (Kemo Robinson) about this topic, she confidently responded “racism can be seen and unseen”, with my other friend chiming in and agreeing. When I pressed her on what this meant, Kemo looked at me sadly saying simply that “you have to experience it to understand it”.

This all helped me to acknowledge that racism is still a huge underlying factor in American society.  It might not be as blatant as it once was, but it is still extremely prominent in people’s day to day lives. After witnessing the situation with Kemo, I realized how current this issue still is. Discussing with many friends I discovered that I was alarmingly ignorant to the amount of racist acts that were happening. It was disappointing hearing all the things that people have seen or experienced. Despite our ever progressing society, we are still seeing racism in the police force, justice system, school systems, government, economy, jobs, politics and generally all over society. 

A potent example comes from the NYPD’s “Stop-and-Frisk” policy, used in the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations. Cops could question and possibly detain or search any pedestrian that they had “reasonable” suspicion of.  In a study released by the New York Attorney General, less than 0.1 percent of stops lead to weapons possession, and less than 0.1 percent of stops resulted in a violent crime conviction. In one year with Bloomberg’s administration, almost 700,000 people were stopped by police. This policy resulted in massive racially biased  actions, and became a huge form of racial profiling that cause emotional and physcial damage. Black and Brown New Yorkers were nine times more likely to be stopped than whites. Black men ages 14 to 24 years old were stopped more times than the number of black men living in New York City. These statistics highlight the harassment that some individuals have to face just based on how they look. It’s frustrating that the government will continue to act in a racist manner, when they should be pushing everybody to see past race and eliminate inequality. 

It’s unfortunate that we are living in 2020 and people are still not grasping the idea that racism brings negativity and extreme judgement. It’s a serious issue when people are still having to protect themselves against racial attacks. We seem to be trying to eliminate racism, however there is still factual evidence showing the opposite. The New York Times wrote about a study done on 101 black teens to measure how persuasive racism truly is. They found that over a two week span, the teenagers collectivity reported over 5,600 acts of racial discrimination. That number continues to prove the continous cycle of discrimination. 

Pushing society to take action against hateful acts of racism is crucial in allowing an individual’s safety and fairness. Continuing in this manner is a disgrace to humanity and will only worsen people’s lives and mentalities. There are steps and solutions that we could use to help cut out the continous discrimination in our world. Unfortunately racism is a long rooted part of American culture whose effects are still being felt today. It’s important for people to stop commenting and stop using race as an excuse to treat people a certain way.  Forcing society to change their ways will hopefully help to improve these devastating issues in society.