If elementary school taught me one thing, it was how to say the pledge of allegiance correctly. “One Nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” I recited these words every morning without fail. We are taught the preamble of the Constitution. We are taught that our court system is meant to protect our liberties and freedoms. I maintained my patriotism and sense of pride in my country until recently.

My faith in America and in the justice system has died. I believe that overwhelming bias and prejudice are ingrained in our justice system. To me, the seedy underbelly of our capitalist neo-liberal foundation has been exposed as systematically racist. Socio Economic repression, inadequate educational opportunities and immobilizing irrational fear of black men and “bad” neighborhoods have  resulted in the continuation of an oppression that began with the Middle Passage.

The laws and systems in place are meant to protect those in power. Those in power, protect their own interests, as well as those of people from similar backgrounds.

The  grievances and fury stemming from unfair prejudice have finally been heard. The Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice cases have served as vehicles for the greater community to finally recognize the race problem in America.

Time and time again my parents told my brother that he was different. They reminded him that he had to “play a different game,” than the other people he went to school with.  “You’re black, you can’t do that.” I used to get angry when my dad would say that. As a child I preferred to think that  people were color blind. I preferred to believe that they neither saw nor cared about the color of my skin. The blinders are off now.  There wasn’t necessarily one instance that changed my perception. But now more than ever, after reflecting over the past 18 years, I’ve realized how true that statement rings.

My dad lived through the bigotry. He lived through the hate.  He knows that being a black man in society is one of the most challenging things to overcome. It’s sad that he needs to look at his race as something to “overcome.”

My brother walks down the street, with his principle nomination to the Naval Academy, Rockhurst’s first wrestling state championship title and acceptances to Brown and Harvard under his belt. Yet people don’t see those accolades. They see the color of his skin and because of that color, perceive him as a threat.

“It bothered me when I was younger, because I didn’t want to be seen as different. Now I know  I’m seen in a different light and people expect less of me,” Drew said. “When I mess up or do poorly on a test people are like oh yeah not a surprise. My parents hit the nail on the head with that.”

That is a mindset that people will instill  in their children. I even have a friend who wasn’t allowed to take a biracial boy to Winter formal because he was part African American. People tell me often that my dad is “scary,” and “intimidating.” Why? Because he’s quiet? Because he lifts weights? Or because he’s a black man?

A diverse environment is not characterized by a mere 10 percent  of people that are something other than caucasian. To me, diversity is characterized by faculty and that are representative of the city in which the institution  is located. Kansas City is 29.9 percent African American, 59.2 percent Caucasian, 10 percent Hispanic, and 2.5 percent Asian, according to the United States Census Bureau.

I believe that many people gravitate towards those who they feel they can relate to. Consequently, many students in schools gravitate towards those of similar socioeconomic and racial standing. There is nothing wrong with that. The issue is, that many schools that educate students from more prosperous backgrounds tend to receive more money than those that educate minorities and families of lower incomes. Institutions that enroll 90 percent or more caucasian students spend $733 more per student per year than schools that enroll 90 percent or more non-caucasian students, according to a report by the Center for American Progress.

This can be rectified in public schools by increased diversity in their districts and an integration of ethnic enclaves. The Kansas City, KS school district is composed of 83.7 percent minority students-students who identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander or American Indian-and 16.3 percent caucasian, according to Location Inc, an independent data collecting service for neighborhoods.

Whereas in Overland Park 66.5 students are caucasian and 33.5 percent minority. The Overland Park public schools spend around $304 million total per year. The Kansas City Kansas Public schools spend $248 million total per year. Consequently, I believe that districts with heavier concentrations of minorities spend hundreds of thousands of dollars less per year on their students than districts that have a higher concentration of caucasian students. Instead of heavy concentrations of Blacks on the other side of Troost and Whites in South Kansas City, and Johnson County, there could be a relatively even mixture of both. Consequently, the school systems in formerly struggling areas would improve.

I believe that in Johnson County, race is taboo.It’s not something that we talk openly about but we need to. Ignorance is a choice. As far as I’m concerned, people choose to ignore the bubbling tensions just under the surface. It isn’t hate, it isn’t cruel. It is a failure to recognize that racism is still around. It may be covert and not as simple as hating an entire race, but it still exists. Simple microaggressions like “You would like rap music, wouldn’t you?” are evidence of this.

There is no one to blame. I don’t blame the majority for their obliviousness to the plight of the oppressed. Yet it is up to them to look outside of their scope of privilege to recognize that something is wrong here. People don’t understand that white privilege still exists.

Then there is the socioeconomic side of things. We have moved from racial segregation to economic segregation. For the past 50 years, the black unemployment rate has consistently remained twice as high as the white unemployment rate, according to an Economic Policy Institute Report. The income gap hasn’t narrowed in the last 50 years either according to a 2012 census report.

The one tool that can help to bridge these gaps is education. But when the educational resources provided are lacking, there isn’t much that young African Americans can do. Except for the few anomalies that rise from rags to riches. Schools are more segregated today than they were in 1980 according to the EPI. The largely minority-filled institutions have less resources according to the EPI.

There are more black men in prison ages 18-35 than in college. I acknowledge that for some of them its of their own doing. For others, they are sad products of the warped system that houses them. Every 29 hours a black man is killed by the police, according to Dr. Cornel West, professor, political activist and author of “Democracy Matters.” With the recent remarks that have arisen from law enforcement regarding African Americans, it’s become evident to me that the incarceration rate is also in large part due to racial bias.

The racial disparity in the prison system is greater than in the 1960s. Black men are incarcerated at six times the rate of white men according to an analysis of the 2010 Census by the Pew Research Center. According to a 2014 CNN article, Black juveniles are almost twice as likely as their caucasian counterparts to be imprisoned for a drug offense. According to the Sentencing Project, Black teenagers are more likely to be locked up for committing the same crimes as other people.   Inmates produce items for many major industries and are paid anywhere between $0.93 and $4.73 per day.  Some are not paid at all. They receive no money in exchange for reduced sentencing, according to a 2012 Huffington Post article.

The heavy concentration of African  American males in the prison system may stem not only from socioeconomic injustice, but a continuation of racial injustice as well, as shown by #CrimeWhileWhite.

At 16, I got in a wreck, gave a fake number & left. Cops found me, told me it was a felony & “don’t do it again” #CrimingWhileWhite-Clay Aiken

Remember that kid who killed people drunk driving but was too rich to jail #CrimingWhileWhite-Affluenza defense- Jenn George

Age 17: I bought gas but forgot to pay; an hour later I came back and they said they told the cops two black men did it. #CrimingWhileWhite-Jacob Harold

At 13 I stole a car with my friends & drove it 2wks before we got busted. Only one charged was black. #CrimingWhileWhite-Cecily Kellog

I shoplifted when I was 14 and they let me go because my parents came down and we “looked like a nice family.” #crimingwhilewhite-Joel Watson

I went to a Ferguson protest rally on the Plaza. We marched for about four miles all the while chanting “No justice, No peace.” What happened to Michael Brown is not okay. What happened to Eric Garner is not okay. What happened to Tamir Rice is not okay. Criminal or no, they did not deserve to die.  It is up to me to stand in solidarity with those who believe the same.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.” We are  the next generation so why is it that so many of us continue to support and follow the traditional ignorance that has plagued our society for so long? By consciously working to eradicate unconscious bias and prejudice, we can improve our society.  Hopefully then, every student will once again believe the words “with liberty and justice for all.”