Since the shooting in Ferguson happened in early August its influence has spread across the nation. That means that for the last eight months there have been marches and protest happening constantly. There was even a sit in on our own campus. The question that many are asking at this point is whether all the fuss is worth it. Others are confounded by the fact that this is still an issue. “This happened over half a year ago so why are we still talking about it? It’s done at this point.”

I would like to say they are wrong. Yes it happened over half a year ago. And yes people are shot almost every day. While I could go on another tangent about that another day, the issue at hand is simple: racism. The Ferguson shooting of Michael Brown, regardless of whether or not it was warranted, was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

There is too much conflicting evidence and corruption involved to ever be able to tell whether or not the shooting was necessary and that itself is truly tragic. However unwarranted police brutality against black people has always been a terrifying reality. There have been countless incidents where a black teen was clobbered while just walking down the street wearing a hoodie. Black mothers have been arrested for protecting their children while a white mother would get off. Eric Garner, an asthmatic, was strangled by the police while saying “I can’t breathe”.

These are only a few examples of police brutality but if I were to list them all it wouldn’t be a newspaper article, it would be a thesis.

Riots and protests have seemed to be dying down and suddenly flaring up again. I think it is good that it won’t die. This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed without guns and addressed with laws changing. We say we are a free country, but we aren’t all free. Anyone who is not a white heterosexual male is frightened to walk down a street alone at night. They are terrified when they are pulled over, and it’s not the fear of receiving a ticket.

As a white female I can never know the struggles that black Americans face today. I understand my privilege in that respect. I also understand that as a white person people will listen to what I have to say more readily than someone of color. It is for that reason that I write this column. Listen up America. Other countries are realizing what a mess we are making of ourselves. We need to stop fighting each other and start helping. We are all Americans here. It doesn’t matter what the color of our skin is. We are supposed to be the UNITED States. It’s about time we started acting like it.